The Hannibal Lecter
Collection (Manhunter/Silence Of The Lambs/Hannibal/MGM
Blu-ray Set)
Picture: B-/B/B-
Sound: C+/B/B- Extras: D/A-/C- Films: B-*/A/A-
MGM has issued their Hannibal
Lecter Collection on Blu-ray, including the already-released Blu-ray
edition of Silence
Of The Lambs. The link for the DVD set follows, followed by
individual links for your convenience on the Silence Blu-ray and best DVD editions of the other films:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4935/The+Hannibal+Lecter+Collection+(MG
Manhunter DVD (1986)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/218/Manhunter+(Divimax+Ed.)
Silence
Of The Lambs Blu-ray
(1991)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8374/The+Silence+Of+The+Lambs+(1991/M
Hannibal DVD (2001)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/193/Hannibal+(2001/DTS+set
* This is the shorter cut not approved by
Michael Mann.
With Silence already covered on Blu-ray,
we’ll move to the other films. Though
they are better than their DVD counterparts for the most part, there are some
places they are not. In the case of Manhunter,
simply not having the director’s cut is annoying, but seems Anchor Bay may
still have those rights and not the Blu-ray rights, so diehard fans will want
to hold onto the DVD. As for Hannibal, it is missing the extras the
DVD set had, so why both have 50GB Blu-rays makes little sense.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 AVC @ 38 MBPS digital High Definition image on Manhunter is
superior to its DVD versions (MGM did DVDs as well) when it is the 35mm film
footage (extra footage at the beginning is from an analog video source) in an
early Super 35mm shoot. Though it is
soft, it still looks better than the footage by the same Director of
Photography from the awful Red Dragon
remake. You can see how this became the
only 70mm blow-up DEG even made, but is an older HD master and needs a new
transfer. Maybe when director’s cut
Blu-ray rights are settled, this will happen.
That would be good, because the DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1
uses second generation materials and is not the 4.1 Dolby magnetic stereo
soundmaster from the 70mm blow-up.
Dialogue is too much in the center channel too often and practically
monophonic at times, though the music fares better.
The 1080p
MPEG-2 @ 18 MBPS 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition on Hannibal looks like a
recycle of the HD master I had seen years ago on HDTV satellite broadcast, but
the MPEG causes the lighter scenes to look better than the darker scenes, so
that master does not translate very well.
I liked the DTS DVD set despite the edge enhancement, which this
transfer fortunately lacks, but dark shots do not look as good and the beauty
of the film gets lost in several scenes.
The DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 mix should have outdone the
DTS DVD handily because the sound master is one of the best on a Ridley Scott
film, but the transfer from the older HD master pushes the soundfield too much
towards the screen and directionality is lost.
You still get some warmth of music and dialogue, but this is not as good
as it should have been and will surprise fans and others familiar with the demo
quality the film has become known for.
Manhunter has no extras, Silence the same extras as in the
previous Blu-ray review and Hannibal
only three trailers. That is
disappointing, but fans will be happy to have the improvements that are
here. However, this is not the last time
we will see these on Blu-ray simply because of the omitted extras and that the
first two films are considered classics.
Still, what is improved makes the set a keeper for now.
- Nicholas Sheffo
