Narrow Margin (1990/Region 2 Poland DTS-ES Edition)
Picture: B
Sound: B+ Extras: D Film: A-
Director Peter Hyams 1990 remake of 1952’s Narrow Margin remains one of the best
remakes to date and just a terrific film to be seen and seen again. It’s also one of the few films that really
ages well, due mostly to the limited special effects, and its gung ho fury
rests predominately in a tight script and firm direction. Gene Hackman is in raw form in probably his
best role since The French Connection
as Popeye Doyle. This is not to say
that Hackman has not done other memorable roles, but he is in overdrive in this
film delivering a performance that very few actors could pull off with such
perfection. He is witty, charming, and
you always feel like he has control of the situation.
Narrow
Margin never lets you slip away from its suspenseful grip,
written by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard, the original 1952 film was a
solid Film Noir homerun, but Hyams’ remake manages to keep the flavor of the original
while stepping it up a notch and making the film a bit more accessible. Anne Archer is also in top form playing the
helpless woman that witnessed a murder that is directly linked to the top mob
boss. Her testimony is enough to put
him away, but they are not going to let her off that easy. Soon the mob is hot on her trail with only
one thing standing in their way… deputy district attorney Paul Caulfield
(Hackman).
Adding immediate tension to the story is the fact that
Paul and Carol (Archer) are on the run after a huge shootout at her supposed
safe location, which puts them on a train running into the recesses of
Canada. Two hit men are aboard, but
they don’t know what Carol looks like, playing to their disadvantage. However, they will try anything to remain
professional and even try to pay Paul off, but he likes the ‘air’ by being on
the good side of things. His wisecracks
in a few scenes break the tension, but also keep things moving quick and with zest.
The biggest advantage that the film has is the
authenticity over some of the other films of this caliber that use idiotic hit
men or have the characters do unrealistic things, but this film seems to go for
a more natural feel as both the good guys and the bad guys act like you would
expect in the given situations. The
predictability of this film is very low, even when you’ve seen it multiple
times it sweeps you up every time and manipulates you into it’s world making it
enjoyable viewing after viewing. Our
DVD review for this film is from Poland because here at this site we always
want the best when it comes to our DVD’s and sometimes we have to search high
and low to get the best. Poland offers
something that the U.S. DVD edition does not and that is a DTS-ES audio option
versus the 2.0 Dolby Surround Stereo from the very old Artisan (now Lion’s
Gate) release in the U.S. Germany has a
DVD edition that includes a making of and also commentary by Hyams that might
be worth exploring, but is only 2.0 Dolby surround.
The upgrade to this Region 2 PAL DVD of the film is going
to be solely for the DTS-ES audio track, which just blows away the 2.0 Dolby
Surround that the Artisan disc contains.
As expected the sound is fuller since it involves more channels of
activity. That 2.0 Dolby mix was
front-heavy to begin with, but now we have three front channels of sound with 3
surround channels as the ES Matrix kicks in occasionally offering a middle rear
‘filler’ for surround activity. There
are some minor problems with this mix still, mostly the fact that the dialogue
seems too quiet in comparison to the louder sequences making it frustrating for
the viewer to adjust the volume throughout the film in order to get the best of
everything. If you get bored with the
DTS-ES mix you can toggle to the Dolby 5.1 mix and hear just how pales in
comparison, which will quickly make you appreciate this DTS mix.
The 2.35 X 1 anamorphically enhanced PAL transfer for the
film looks good, but for some it will mostly depend on your equipment. If you are playing the disc back on a NTSC
set that enables PAL viewing and your DVD player has a good NTSC/PAL converter
that is 16MB or so, then you are in good hands. If not, then the picture will seem washed out, smeary, and pixilated. If the NTSC/PAL conversion is not smooth you
will immediately notice that some scenes look horrible and colors bleed all
over the place. However, if you have a
good converter than you are going to love the transfer and notice a great level
of detail and color reproduction. It
would be great if the U.S. would get a really clean NTSC version of the film,
perhaps Lion’s Gate could also do a DTS-ES discrete mix as they have done with
some of their back catalog. The film
was a Dolby SR theatrical release, but there is the possibility of 70mm Dolby
4.1 magnetic stereo prints. Even Bruce
Broughton, who composed the terrific score for this film was asked about this
and he did not know for certain.
This Region 2 edition also comes with a few extras
including a behind the scenes, making of, and interview section. However, while those are good the biggest
problem is that they have ‘forced’ Polish voice-over making it a bit
frustrating to sit through. Most people
will want this DVD though for sound and picture versus the extras and I can’t
blame anyone for wanting a copy of this film if you are able to playback Region
2 discs.
In a time when general cinema’s standards are so low it’s
great to go back and watch some of the finer films from even a few decades
ago. Narrow Margin is without a doubt one of the finer suspense films
that understood the Hitchcockian language well. In fact, you might notice certain attributes of this film linked
to The Lady Vanishes. Hyams masterfully creates a film that is
charming, unforgettable, and a keystone title in any serious DVD collection.
- Nate Goss
