Mister Roberts (1984/Acorn Media)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C- Main Program: C+
Warning: The
sound on the main menu is exceptionally harsh, so be very careful in playback.
Though
the most popular versions of Mister Roberts involve Henry Fonda, stage and
film, a declining U.S. Network TV tried an attempt at “quality TV” with a 1984
adaptation of Thomas Heggen’s classic about U.S. Navy troops in 1945 in the
Pacific. A fine work that appreciates in
value, this adaptation may have an interesting cast, but never totally added up
for me and has not improved much since I viewed its initial broadcast.
Robert
Hays has the tile role, starring alongside Charles Durning, an on the rise
Kevin Bacon, Howard Hessman and Marilu Henner set pretty much on one
stage. I give director Melvin Bernhardt
credit for making the most of the camera possibilities, but despite the best
efforts of all, this lacks a certain energy that the work needs and was just
another sign of the slow decline of network TV.
It is at least an interesting alternate version.
The 1.33
X 1 image is very soft for even a 1984 NTSC analog videotaping. This was professional equipment after all,
but this also once again shows us how so much of the history of TV since the
early 1980s has not been pretty to revisit, sometimes due to total neglect of
videotape archives, but we hope there is better first-generation of this and
like shows of the time somewhere. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 is monophonic, but still sounds better than this. Extras include text on the cast
(filmographies) and background essay “Mister Roberts on Stage & Screen”
that is adequate.
- Nicholas Sheffo
