Dogs In Space (1986) + Withnail & I
(1987/Handmade Films/Umbrella Entertainment Blu-rays/Region Free Imports)
Picture: C+/B-
Sound: C+/B- Extras: C+/C Films:
C+/C
PLEASE
NOTE: These Blu-rays are region free, but their extras are in the PAL format
and Dogs is a 1080i/50 HD master, so
some Blu-ray players may only play the audio portions or not at all, but both
can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the website
address provided at the end of the review.
Umbrella
Entertainment has issued their debut Blu-ray titles and they happen to be two
we covered on DVD and from them as well: Dogs
In Space and Withnail & I. You can read our previous coverage at these
links:
Dogs In Space
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9031/Dogs+In+Space+(1986/Umbrella/Regio
Withnail & I
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8664/Hand+Made+Films+Comedy+Wave+(A
This
time, the upgraded picture and sound in both cases are a welcome improvement,
though Dogs is only narrowly so in
each case. Dogs has a 1080i/50 2.35 X 1 transfer that may be an older HD
master with some minute improvements over the DVD, but not as much of one as I
had hoped. In all out HD coverage to
date, the only film titles (versus HD recorded concerts) that were 1080i are
the out-of-print HD-DVD of the Dorothy Stratten Sci-Fi Comedy Galaxina (1980) and Image
Entertainments’ Blu-ray of Short Circuit
(1986). Those both had larger budgets
than this film and despite some good shots here and there, is not as good as a
real anamorphic 35mm Panavision film should look. Those other 1080i films looked a bit better,
but I would still choose this over the DVD version. Note that the U.S. market will not get an HD-shot Blu-ray in
1080i/50 because they will not match the US player’s frequencies resulting
in image issues, so any such recording will be DVD only at best unless some
manufacturer pushes their luck.
Withnail is a 1080p 1.77 X 1 transfer and
though it has some slight motion blur and can be soft, this is the best I have
ever seen this film after seeing many transfers in many formats over the
years. Cleaner and more solid than ever,
the DVD upgrade cannot compete with the better shots scene throughout this disc
and the work of Director of Photography Peter Hannan (Eskimo Nell, Brimstone &
Treacle, Insignificance) did a
better job here than you could see in previous versions, including the
Criterion DVD edition.
Both have
their Dolby Digital 5.1 upgrade mixes upgraded to richer sound formats, but
they are only marginal improvements as well.
Dogs is here in Dolby TrueHD
5.1 and that helps the music sound warmer, but it also shows the age of the
recording of the dialogue and sound effects.
It is still better than the DVD, which can also be said of Withnail and its DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) lossless 5.1 mix, also shows the sound’s age, but is more effective than
the DVD upgrade and helps its music score.
Too bad Dogs was not DTS-MA,
yet that might not have made any difference.
Each
repeat the same extras of the DVDs already reviewed, but it seems this
Australian Withnail Blu-ray has more
extras than the Anchor Bay U.K.
Blu-ray, which is apparently missing the two feature-length audio commentary
tracks by Director Bruce Robinson and Actors Paul McGann and Ralph Brown
respectively. That makes it as
definitive a Blu-ray as we will ever get.
As noted
above, you can order these Blu-ray imports exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
