Paul Newman Warner DVD
Box Set
(The Helen Morgan Story/The Outrage/The Silver Chalice/When Time
Ran Out/Rachel Rachel)
Picture:
B- Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Films:
The Helen Morgan Story B-
The Outrage B-
The Silver Chalice B-
When Time Ran Out C+
Rachel, Rachel B-
With the
passing of legendary actor Paul Newman in 2008 we knew that it would only be a
matter of time before more of his catalog of films would arrive on the DVD
format. Warner has now issued a box set
containing several of his slightly lesser known films, including The Helen Morgan Story, The Outrage, The Silver Chalice, When
Time Ran Out, and Rachel, Rachel. While Newman will certainly be remembered for
his roles in films like Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid (reviewed here)
or masterpieces like 1963’s Hud
(reviewed here) this
sampling of films from Warner gives a broad enough range of Newman’s abilities
even in films that were more run of the mill.
When Time Ran Out demonstrates Newman’s ability in
a disaster film as a South Pacific island volcano erupts with fury and now oil
driller Newman along with a hotel baron played by William Holden and a PR
executive (Jacqueline Bissett) struggle to survive as greed and determination
to survive settle in as the subplots to a film that could otherwise just be
another disaster flick, but the script and directing manage to work well enough
to keep our attention and make for an exciting finale.
The Silver Chalice takes us back to the beginning of
Newman’s career and this Victor Saville directed Biblical epic shows us the
early stages of Newman’s intensity and focus.
Much like The Robe or Quo Vadis (reviewed on Blu-ray here)
this 1954 film focuses on a sculptor sold into slavery and is torn between his
wife and a temptress along with his daily work routines commissioned by a evil
sorcerer (Jack Palance) who is set on tearing down Christianity in order to
become his own Messiah.
So at
this point we get an action-oriented film plus a Biblical epic, which leaves us
with The Helen Morgan Story, which
is a Jazzy film set in the 1920’s as we get the mobster side of Newman, then we
turn to The Outrage and put Newman
into the Old West as he teams up with Hud director Martin Ritt for a film that
in many ways borrows from Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon
(reviewed here)
as we have a bandit confess to rape and murder, but witnesses come forward
offering a variety of viewpoints and now justice must be done, but which story
is accurate and true is sure to throw off anyone.
Finally
we get Newman into the directors chair with his film Rachel, Rachel, The film received much praise during its release in
1968 as a 35-year old woman lives a very quiet life with her mother and has
never had a man in her life, which all comes to a halt when she is asked out by
a man from the big city and interrupts her small town ways. Joanne Woodward delivers the fine performance
as Rachel Cameron and the film has the patience and emotion to make the
material work well enough, Newman executes a good direction for the film and
it’s surprising he never didn’t direct more afterwards.
Extras
are few in the set, although all of the films are given trailers. The DVD’s present the films in their original
aspect ratio, which is 2.35 X 1 scope and anamorphically enhanced with the
exception of Rachel, Rachel, which
was shot in 1.85 X 1. The picture
quality is quite good and consistent across the board showing limitations to the
standard definition that DVD offers, color and depth are pleasing, while
overall resolution is never superb, it’s a good start for these films on home
video. We know that Blu-ray will one day
offer these films with more resolution, so until then these work just
fine. Sound is also never an issue
despite Dolby Digital mono being the only option here except The Silver Chalice, which was beefed up
to a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that is still monophonic in it’s originals and still
sounds a bit thin. We would have liked
to at least receive these films in Dolby 2.0 configuration, but just having
them on DVD is a win at this point.
- Nate Goss
