Saturday Night At The Baths – The Director’s Cut (1975/Water Bearer Remastered DVD)
Picture: C+
Sound: C Extras: C+ Film: B-
A few years ago, Water Bearer films issued what they
thought was the best version they had of David Buckley’s 1975 Gay indie classic
Saturday Night At The Baths, which we covered at the time as this review
will show:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3528/Saturday+Night+At+The+Baths
Once again, the film is letterboxed and not anamorphically
enhanced at 1.85 X 1, with less flaws in it, as well as the color (by Movielab
at the time) looking more consistent and with wider range. The results of the upgrade is that the cinematography
by the late Director of Photography Ralf D. Bode is improved, and to recap his
career, has work that included Saturday Night Fever, Coal Miner’s
Daughter (both reviewed elsewhere on this site) Cousins, Uncle
Buck, The Accused with Jodie Foster and Brian De Palma’s Dressed
To Kill. An HD transfer for a
potential Blu-ray would be the next move and a good idea when the label gets
around to making product in that format.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is a bit more compressed than,
but less noisy than the first DVD’s similar soundtrack (hit records included)
and could sound better with some more work.
There are extras this time, including a re-release trailer and making of
featurette that reunites the makers of the film entitled Saturday Night… A Look Back. Overall, this is a worthy upgrade.
- Nicholas Sheffo
