Paramount Centennial
Collections
– Roman Holiday/Sabrina (1954)/Sunset
Boulevard (2-Disc DVD Collections)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B+
Film:
Roman Holiday B
Sabrina (1954) B-
Sunset Boulevard A
Paramount
has recently revisited several of their classic films from the vaults and have
re-issued them to DVD in part of their “Centennial
Collection”, which has further restored the films, plus added some new
extras and they are all 2-disc sets.
Could this be the definitive version of these films?
Interestingly
enough two of these first three titles are directed by the brilliant Billy
Wilder (Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina),
while Roman Holiday is a William
Wyler film. Paramount had already issued
these films previously to DVD in restored versions with extras, but were met
with some criticism over the transfers, in particular Sunset Boulevard had some chroma issues and poor filtering process
to cause quite a fuss for fans who couldn’t understand what went wrong with the
transfer.
This time
around though Paramount made some fine decisions to alleviate some compression
and dedicate more information to the disc for video, these 2-disc versions take
the bulk of the supplements and load them onto the second disc, which then
enables the entire disc (minus the commentary tracks) to be dedicated solely to
the film, the result is superior image and sound quality, which will certainly
make fans happy.
Audrey
Hepburn fans will be particular delighted seeing two of her finer films
re-issued and with more supplements this time as well. Sunset
Boulevard certainly deserved another shot to DVD to correct some of the
image problems, but is also one of the most important films of its kind and
should always be in favor of getting re-issued in a more definitive issue. It’s certainly the better of these three
films and has withstood the test of time the best. In fact, it’s hard to image that a film like
this was even made in 1950 as it is perhaps the most scathing examinations of
Hollywood and in particular the moment when the silent picture was overtaken by
‘talkies’.
There are
so many great moments in Sunset
Boulevard, perhaps one of the most genius is the one in which Norma Desmond
(played masterfully by Gloria Swanson) is in her viewing room watching one of
her old silent films, which is being projected by her butler (played by
real-life filmmaker Erich von Stroheim), and at this very moment we are
suddenly watching Gloria and Erich, they are both acting and yet at the same
time, being themselves as both were monsters of the silent era, who have been
reduced to very little once the talking pictures arrived to Hollywood.
Of course
much has happened in the past almost 60 years since the films arrival and the
silent era is much more appreciated at this point, but for this film to arrive
when it did and completely slam Hollywood is such a crafty, defined, and yet
semi-hidden way is just pure genius.
Just remember, this film arrived during a time when Hollywood was still
forgetting it’s stars that helped make it the machine that it was, so for this
film to come out and hold up a mirror to the ugly face that was Hollywood was
not only a huge risk for Billy Wilder, but one that could have ended his
directing career.
Roman Holiday and Sabina on the other hand are endearingly charming films that
demonstrate just how classy Audrey Hepburn was, and still is. She is one of the few actresses of her time
that is still cherished today in the same way, you can still find her image printed
on purses, t-shirts, posters, etc and we are talking mainstream, not small
productions. Roman Holiday is perhaps the better film and has gained some
serious popularity over the past few years, even getting more recognition than
some of her often memorable roles like Breakfast
at Tiffany’s (reviewed here http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3478/Breakfast+at+Tiffany),
My Fair Lady, and Funny Face (http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5980/Funny+Face)
although both Sabrina and Roman Holiday arrived before any of the
three films, but helped form a solid foundation for Audrey and would quickly
put her in superstar status. Also
impressive is her co-stars as she would work with some of the finest leading
men including Humprey Bogart and William Holden in Sabrina and Gregory Peck in Roman
Holiday, we recently covered the Gregory Peck box set here:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7768/The+Gregory+Peck+Film+Collection
All three
films look superior to their previous DVD releases, and are presented in
full-frame 1.33 X 1 transfers as widescreen was just around the corner in the
mid-1950s. The biggest improvement here
is the contrast that allows for more detail and ‘life’ of the transfer. The blacks look more solid with whites that
are not blown out and the grain structure seems more controlled as well. Upon first viewing there doesn’t seem to be
that much of a difference overall as the previous transfers were fairly
passable, but this re-issue cleans up the print and delivers a slightly more
accurate representation of the films black and white levels, this will probably
be as good as it gets until the films can be issued in 1080p High Definition on
Blu-ray, which could be as early as 2009.
Let’s hope!
Audio-wise
the films are presented in a virtually similar Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono mix,
which only benefits slightly from having the supplements on the second disc
allowing for less compression, which wasn’t nearly an issue before as a 2.0
mono soundtrack does not take up that much space. Sunset Boulevard also features the audio
commentary track that was on the previous DVD release and is exceptional!
There are
several new items for Sunset Boulevard,
including Sunset Boulevard: The Beginning
that runs around 22-minutes, a 14-minute featurette called The Noir Side of Sunset Boulevard, and another 14-minute featurette
Sunset Boulevard Becomes a Classic. 5 smaller featurettes called Two Sides of Ms. Swanson, Stories of Sunset Boulevard, Mad About the Boy: A Portrait of William
Holden, Recording Sunset Boulevard,
and The City of Sunset Boulevard are
all added here. There are great
supplements that really help further detail the importance of this film. The three featurettes from the previous DVD
release are maintained here, also included from before is the original trailer,
8-page booklet with photos, galleries, and Sunset Boulevard map. All great stuff!
Roman Holiday also gets some new extras, but
not quite the extent as Sunset, which is fine as these are good just as
well. Included in that set is Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years, which
runs nearly 30-minutes along with a Remembering
Homan Holiday, which also runs nearly 30-minutes in length. Then there are several shorter featurettes,
including some on Audrey, one on Dalton Trumbo (writer) and his battle with
going from A-list to Black-list during this time. There is a terrific 6-minute section on the
restoration process, as well as some behind the scenes moments and three
trailers, which are un-restored.
Sabrina also gets a few treats including
a feature on the fashion of Audrey Hepburn, a documentary on the film, behind
the scenes, and some smaller featurettes on the film, plus a retrospective on
Paramount during the 1950’s, which are all terrific supplements that help
educate people to this era of filmmaking, the importance of making this film during
this time, but also some little nuggets that most people (including fans) may
not know and Audrey fans always enjoy new material on her!
Obviously
these three Paramount films are still important classics that new generations
of film fans should appreciate and love, here they are in upgraded editions
that current owners of the DVD might want to invest in, but may also be
cautious with Blu-ray editions hopefully coming soon. If you do not own the current DVD’s then
these would be the easy choice versions to own, especially with improved
technical qualities and expanded extras!
- Nate Goss
