Enchanted April (1991/Miramax Award Winning Collection DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: C+
In the
1960s and up to the mid-1980s, it was not uncommon for TV material to land up
in theaters. Production companies would
shoot 1.33 X 1 film with 1.85 X 1 in mind in case they wanted to use the
footage in theaters and for many TV series, cut the episodes together and issue
faux features in the days before home video, cable, satellite, HDTV and the
Internet. Steven Spielberg’s U.S. TV movie
Duel became a hit film in Europe and
John Schlesinger’s Cold Comfort Farm
was a U.K. telefilm that hit U.S. theaters.
Mike Newell’s version of Elizabeth von Arnim’s Enchanted April (1991) was a BBC TV movie until Miramax thought it
would make a good art house film. They
were right and it did business.
It was
also a critical success, though it was a film I did not love in either medium,
but the cast that includes Miranda Richardson and Josie Lawrence as two married
women who need to get away and go find real estate in Italy still has its
moments. Add a supporting cast that
includes Joan Plowright stealing every scene she is in, Polly Walker, Aldred
Molina, Michael Kitchen & Jim Broadbent and you get a film that is often
rewarding if you have patience. I am no
fan of Newell, but this is some of his better work. Not for everyone, Enchanted April holds up well enough and is worth revisiting,
especially if you have never seen it before.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image was actually shot in regular 1.33 X 1
16mm film, but it was theatrical film safe enough to be issued wide and looks
good for its age. Rex Maidment really
delivered here not knowing this would ever be seen outside of TV, especially as
that practice was in decline and this embarrasses many an HD and Super 35mm
shoot to this day. There are limits and
some shots are stylized to look like that, but this is not bad and I would be
curious to see a Blu-ray. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix tries its best to upgrade the old analog Dolby A-type sound,
but it shows its age and the production’s budget, though Richard Rodney
Bennett’s score is not bad. The only
extra is the fine audio commentary by Newell and Producer Ann Scott.
- Nicholas Sheffo
