Scarface Gift Set
Picture:
Sound: Extras:
Film:
Scarface
(1983) B-
B- A- B+
Scarface
(1932) B-
C+ C
A
The history of Brian De Palma’s
Scarface is about as strange as the
history of the film on DVD. Of course
the film has one of the most amazing followings of any of the Gangster genre films;
therefore its short initial run on the DVD format had many fans desperately
seeking the film out. Issued early on in
the beginning stages of DVD, Universal released Scarface with a very poor transfer and a harsh audio track, which
was not even 5.1. The purpose for this
review shall be three-fold. First to
discuss how this film has survived 20+ years and whether or not its reputation
is just as solid, second to compare and contrast the film with the original
Howard Hawks version from 1932, and finally to come to a verdict on whether
this issue finally delivers the film in a edition that goes above and beyond
the previous in all areas.
The attraction to Scarface is an amazing one and also one
that reached deep into the urban community.
In fact, there is a rapper named specifically after Scarface as well as numerous references to the film in many rappers
lyrics. The film has become an icon for
the urban community and its ‘get-rich-quick’ mentality of Tony Montana is one
that reflects much of the artists’ visions and dreams in the rap movement both
old and new. Tony Montana has become a
hero to these people, but what they forgot perhaps is that the film involves
the rise and fall of a man who, because of his greed, lost all that was around
him. Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1995) dealt with this common
theme in an interesting way as well.
Scarface
stands out among the backdrop of most gangster films because it involved one
man against the world, but also stands out as one of Brian De Palma’s less
trademarked film. Most De Palma films
stand out for with his usual stylistic qualities like split-screens, music
cues, and camera movements that connect content and story. However, while Scarface does contain some of these, they do not stand out as much
as in his other films like Blow Out,
Sisters, Carrie, or Dressed To Kill. Scarface,
in some respect, has survived slightly better than any of his others films and
turned a writer like Oliver Stone into the director’s chair to become a
successful filmmaker on his own. Scarface (along with Alan Parker’s 1978
hit Midnight Express) did for Stone
what True Romance did for Quentin
Tarantino.
Most people are not
familiar with the original Howard Hawks production, which is a marvelous film
in it’s own right and holds its own even after all these years. Some have listed it as one of the most
important films for its advancement in sound technologies, since it was
released in 1932 the sound films were starting to become standard, but some
films were able to push the envelope and become adept to storytelling in an
audio/video sense. Hawks film was quite
a few years before the Noir movement and created some of the lurk and doom that
was more associated with the cinema coming out of Germany. While De Palma’s
film resembles very little to the ordinal film on the outside many of the
internal components and themes are still in tact. Stone wrote a screenplay that drew emphasis
from some of his own personal experiences near the drug ring/cocaine
world. He also was familiar with the
original and was able to suck out the important underlying themes from that as
well, which make the film all the stronger in multiple viewings.
As a great compilation
Universal has decided to issue a collectors edition of Scarface for its 20th anniversary. While the film is also available outside of
the gift set, the people willing to invest the extra money are in for a nice
treat. The gift set includes the 2-disc
anniversary edition of the film, which is only available in the gift set in
widescreen, which is the obvious choice.
As a bonus you also get the original Scarface, which has been restored as well and makes for a great
comparison since it is not available outside this set, at least not at this
point. The gift set is designed for the
real fan as it also includes a money clip, which bears the insignia of Tony
Montana and is not a cheap-o made one either.
The lobby cards inserted are a standard nice item and the box is made to
resemble a cigar box dressed in a black leather-like material with a red
interior similar to Tony Montana’s fancy pad.
The actually DVD for the
1983 Scarface has been restored over
the previous edition with a new print, still at its original 2.35 X 1 aspect
ratio, but this print does not have all the problems that the original
did. Colors are not as muddy, blacks are
appropriately deep and dark, whites look bright, and the overall focus is much
sharper. However, there are still
problems! While patterns look good
overall, there is still a detail problem that occurs from time to time and
colors are still not as consistent as they could or should be. Notice that scenes that take place inside the
mansion (mostly near the ending of the film) there is a hard distinction
between the red flooring and the white walls.
Also notice that the flesh tones on Al Pacino’s face appear grainy and
overly saturated. Two to three years ago
this print would have passed with flying colors, but with the advancements in
technology and restoration it is hard to give this print a solid grade because
of all the completion out there from other nice cleanups.
While there is no
commentary for the film on Disc One, there is a large selection of extras on
the second disc. Most of these are
devoted to the origin of the film, its acting, its reputation, etc. These are for the die-hard fans and do not
hold any punches. There is also a Def
Jam section, which interviews today’s rappers and gets their (coherent?)
thoughts on the film. Also includes is a
few examples in the film where it has been modified for a TV release and this
demonstrates the changes that took place and compares them to the film. This was a similar extra on the special
edition on Paul Verhoeven’s Basic
Instinct. Oddly enough after close
analysis the menus for the film appear to have a sharper image from the film
than that particular scene in the film!
This is strange and makes us ask again what happened with this
print.
The original 1932 Scarface looks and sounds fairly well,
considering its age and when compared to the Criterion release of Trouble in Paradise (also 1932) it is
obvious that films this old are still going to look slightly dated, have flaws,
and be slightly scratched no matter what.
Just being able to have this film though is important enough. At least the image is solid and does not have
a flickering effect. Frame by frame the
image holds its image well and does not lose softness. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtrack is
adequate as well.
The soundtrack has been
boosted up with two options, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. They are both very reserved in nature, the
Dolby Digital even more so than the DTS, which is usually the case. I was expected more punch from this film, but
it never came. Even the dialogue can be
hard to hear at times and Giorgio Moroder’s score seems toned down too
much. At the time of its initial release
more films were moving outside of just the standard stereo mixes and doing
different things from super-bass to semi-quadraphonic type of sounds, but Scarface was probably never thought of
outside of just a basic stereo configuration and while the 5.1 mixes do add
some depth, they minimize some of the impact and make the spatialness almost
annoying. The music is nice to hear
coming from all around, but this could have been boosted a tad more. Even gunshots are far too distracting because
they are on the verge of being too harsh, now that sound is coming from all
over the sound field. What went
wrong? Well, in the case with some other
DVD’s, particularly those originating in mono and then upgraded to 5.1, the
sound just sounds too thin as its forced out 5 speakers, versus just two (a
mono signal coming through left and right speakers).
We are essentially left
with three questions after careful review of this near-classic film and those
are: is this the release I want to add to my collection, is this edition worth
upgrading from the previous release, is the gift set worthy the extra
money? The answer to all of these
questions is ‘maybe’ and the reason for that is simple, it depends on the
buyer. Yes this version is certainly
better in terms of quality and extras than its predecessor DVD, but still lacks
some of the quality that it could. The
film is certainly a fun film to watch and has become one of the most quoted and
copied over the past few years. It is
memorable and entertaining, so if that’s what you want, then by all means buy
it and watch it over and over again. If
you are a true fan there is no question that you are going to want the gift set
and major film enthusiast should seek this out just for the original if for
nothing else. In terms of cost both Scarface films would average about
$20-$25/each anyway, so if you get both in the set that’s nearly $50 right
there. The gift set goes for about $60,
so if you feel that a really cool case, lobby cards, and a money clip are worth
$10 than this is for you!
- Nate Goss
