Reviews

What would you do if you became pregnant by an oversexed bong-snorting gross pig of a human being after one drunken night of bar-hopping debauchery? Such is the question proposed in Judd Apatow's Knocked Up (2007) a mindlessly indoctrinating and strained, weak-premised regurgitation of that 'what if' and 'day after' scenario. The film is populated by thoughtless/clueless individuals who wouldn't be able to discover their own navels with two hands and a compass. This is a movie as primary and obvious in its effects as any clap-trap about twenty-somethings who should never become parents.

Apatow's screenplay bombards the audience with an endless line up of 'go for the crotch' jokes with the inevitable and largely predictable 'happy ending' tacked on for good measure. The script is not only simplistic in its one theme premise, but ultimately as much in bad taste as it left a bad taste with this critic. One vagina joke can be funny. Two is 'oh, please' and move the humor above the equator. After all, we're not all five years old and just discovered what our hoo-hoos and pee shooters can be used for.

However, after the tenth or eleventh kick in the nuts, Apatow's pedestrian screenplay simply degenerates into an anemic backdrop used to insert the word 'fuck' into every second or third line of otherwise boring dialogue and genuinely 'bad' writing. Advice to future script writers: if you can't make an audience laugh without employing obscenities then your lines are not funny to begin with and Knocked Up is about as unfunny as movies can get.

The story opens with attractive Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl), a reporter for E!, throwing caution – and the good sense God gave a lemon – into the wind when she decides to hook up with horn-dog off his leash, Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) inside a popular L.A. night spot. Aside: there's a reason why managers of nightclubs universally ascribe a design strategy of loud music and dim strobe lighting to their establishments: both – in conjunction with liquored libations dull and numb the senses. As the audience, we witness by how much Alison gets dulled down when the plot moves from a rather censored sex romp between she and Ben to an overly long close-up on Ben's exposed bottom the morning after.

From here, the plot is utterly pointless and predictable – especially given the film's obvious title. Alison discovers she's pregnant, decides to tell Ben, have the baby and hope for the best. Of course, nothing proves quite as easy as the first night's indiscretion. Ben, a druggy dropout with no future and no hope of one, isn't father material. He's just a sperm donor with a potty-mouth and devil-may-care attitude about everything.

Yet the film cannot even be honest about his character. Anyone smoking as much pot as Ben does would hardly be able to rattle off his own name, much less provide the uninterrupted angry litany of 'crotch' humor that philosophizes procreation into pornographic terminology - as raw, unfunny and unappealing as his own butt crack.

Obscenity in general is not a spruce up or supplement to quality writing. Clearly, Apatow's screenplay has no other purpose than to shock and repulse its audience with angry gross out humor, and such a shame too, since in the final analysis Knocked Up does not even fulfill that basic function - having overplayed its hand in the first five minutes. Lest we forget, that funny and crude do not go hand in glove - and implied comments are always more memorable than obvious ones.

Therefore, Knocked Up gets an 'F' in this critic's not so humble opinion - a lettered signifier that does not stand for 'fantastic' or that other aforementioned 'F-word' popularized to death in the script. Herein, the 'F' stands for 'flat.' This movie is a Frisbee. Toss it with the trash because that's exactly where it belongs! After seeing it once I hope never to see it again. I am trying to forget it now.

Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) is perhaps the most aggressively critical and monumental critique of the Vietnam experience ever put on film. The story is a frank, brooding and foreboding deconstruction of lives plunged into the horrors of war. Michael (Robert DeNiro) is an honorable loner who doesn't perceive much to be admired from his life as a Pennsylvanian steel mill worker. His one ray of sunshine in an otherwise dismal and inescapable future is Linda (Meryl Streep). She is seemingly pledged in marriage to Nick (Christopher Walken) – if only he'd realize it and ask her to marry him. But Nick is a hot shot first and a lover second. Knowing full well that Linda will wait for Nick, presumably forever, Michael keeps an honorable distance from his own foolish romantic fancies. He also plays big brother to naïve Steven (John Savage), the youngster of their motley crew that includes boorish, John (George Dzundza), laconic Axel (Chuck Aspengren) and meddling Stanley (John Cazale). Indulged by misguided patriotism Nick, Michael and Steven go off to Vietnam shortly after Steven marries his beloved, the pregnant Angela (Rutanya Alda). They are captured by the Vietcong, brought to a prison camp and forced to play Russian roulette against each other. And although Michael's quick thinking affords them the opportunity to temporarily escape, they are soon separated once more – and arguably forever ripped from the binding mindset that once united them. Cimino (whose critical misfire on Heaven's Gate would effectively end his all too brief directorial supremacy in Hollywood), labors intensely on this film and at an excruciatingly slow pace. Indulging is every whim in very long takes (and for that matter, scenes) the story is told around four pivotal events in these character's lives: Steven's wedding, the deer hunt, the nail biting roulette game and Nick's death and aftermath. Clearly, the film is an opus magnum of self-indulgence for the director – shot sometimes in an almost documentary style (as are the opening scenes in the steel mill or the evacuation of Saigon, that actually employs news reel footage to help fill in the blanks). Yet Cinimo has forgotten a fundamental of film making: that economy of the shot is usually best to appeal to the tastes of a wide audience base. For those who are first time viewers more attuned to contemporary editing style this film is a decided change of pace. It refrains from tedious exposition but replaces dialogue with stagnancy of the narrative. Hence, The Deer Hunter is NOT for everyone – even in 1978. But as time rolls on it seems to narrow its fan base considerably. At 3hrs. 9 min. it is apt to put many to sleep.

The Deer Hunter was made previously available from Universal in one unworthy transfer recycled twice in different packaging. This new 2-disc edition is an improvement on the previously issued disc, if only that it has been enhanced for 16:9 displays. When displayed on a widescreen television the resolution on this transfer is considerably improved with rich colors that, on the original disc, were muddy and undistinguished at best. Flesh tones are remarkably realistic (consider the vintage of the film stock). Fine detail is fairly well realized, even during the darkest moments in the film. Only the vintage stock footage of the actual conflict in Vietnam betrays their origin with a considerable increase in film grain and age related artifacts. The rest of the film is, by far and wide a very smooth, grain free visual presentation. Universal has also remastered the audio to 5.1. The new mix exhibits a sonic characteristic that is dated but very well delineated across all five channels of one's home theater.

My biggest bone of contention with The Deer Hunter: The Legacy Series DVD, is that it is embarrassingly scant on extra features – especially for a 2 disc set. Disc one contains only the film with a new audio commentary by cinematographer Vilmo Zsigmond and journalist Bob Fisher. Disc two contains several deleted scenes (not remastered or presented anamorphically) and the film's rambling theatrical trailer. Both are presented without any fanfare or introduction and in the poorest of video and sound quality. Truly, there is NOTHING to recommend the inclusion of that second disc. And for a film that – at its initial release – was hailed as an enduring masterpiece (though arguably, it's not) – the absence of any retrospective documentary or at least interviews with some of its stars is a general embarrassment to Universal DVD. Perhaps we'll eventually see The Deer Hunter: Deluxe 'Absolutely Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Vietnam War But Were Afraid to Ask' Edition somewhere on the horizon.

Grand Hotel (1932) was producer Irving G. Thalberg's ensemble production based on a novel and play by Vicki Baum. It stars Garbo as Grushinskya, a temperamental ballerina whose frequent bouts with nervous tension contribute to her almost being fired from the ballet. That is, until she meets her grand paramour in Baron Felix Von Geigern (John Barrymore). The two become romantic soul mates, a move threatened when it is revealed that the Baron is really a jewel thief, who is being blackmailed to steal money and gems from patrons in the Grand Hotel. Meanwhile – in another room – Preysing (Wallace Beery), a German industrialist has received very bad news. A merger that he was counting on to save his company from bankruptcy has fallen through. Throwing caution to the wind, Preysing decides to escape his creditors with stenographer, Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford) who has little interest in Preysing as a man, but likes his money nevertheless. Playing as very much the forerunner to today's soap operas, the whole mess culminates in a murder that has the potential to destroy Grushinskya's faith in humanity and send her fragile ego into an irreversible tale spin.

Previously released by Warner Home Video, this is the identical DVD transfer of Grand Hotel as before and that's a genuine shame. It suffers from considerable grain and a highly unstable image with considerable fading in spots and overall soft and poorly contrasted image quality. Film grain is at times distracting. Whites are never clean. Blacks are rarely deep or solid. There are quite a few age related tears and speckles that crop up as well. The audio is sometimes inaudible with a decided background hiss. Extras include the all too brief "Checking In" featurette that attempts to process a decade's worth of history into less than 13 minutes. We also get the film's original theatrical trailer that is in really bad shape. Considering that Grand Hotel was a big money maker for MGM, an Oscar winning Best Picture and an enduring staple on television, fans of this movie deserve a better image and new digital transfer.

From its unconventional main title sequence, celebrating the lost recesses of a child's imagination, to the quiet rectitude with which Gregory Peck transformed a seemingly soft spoken gentleman into the very pillar of masculine integrity, there was much to admire in Robert Mulligan's graceful production of To Kill A Mockingbird (1962). Based on the novel my Harper Lee, the film tells the story of a small town lawyer, Atticus Finch (Peck) and his unassuming determination to exonerate a black man, Tom Robinson (Brook Peters) from the false accusation of raping a white farm girl, Mayella Violet Ewell (Collin Wilcox). A seasoned critique of racial prejudice and family abuse, the story diverges from this public scandal into an intimate snapshot of family life from the period. Atticus's children Jem (Philip Alfort) and Scout (Mary Badham) share an unjustified fear and mistrust of mentally challenged neighborhood boy, Boo Hadley (Robert Duvall) in a secondary narrative that only serves to reinforce the story's central theme of tolerance. On every level, the film is a vintage class act. Small wonder then that in a recent AFI poll of the most popular screen heroes, Atticus Finch topped out at number one. Throughout the filming, Gregory Peck referred to a pocket watch to keep his character on time. The watch was a studio prop. But after Harper Lee saw the film she gave Peck a time piece belonging to her late father, on which Atticus was based, because his performance so reminded her of him. As an actor, Peck could have been paid no finer compliment.

Universal was one of the very first companies to launch full force into the DVD market back in 1997, releasing a health sampling of contemporary and classic titles from their catalogue in only a few short months. But I am sure many will concur with the statement that most of these early releases were not of a quality or caliber suited to the full capabilities of the digital format. In fact, almost all were substandard. In this initial fray, Universal delivered To Kill A Mockingbird as a 'Collector's Edition' disc that featured a non-anamorphic transfer riddled with dirt and scratches, as well as the documentary "Fearful Symmetry." But now we get the film as one would expect it to be, cleaned up, remastered and presented 16X9 enhanced, and with all the bells and whistles one could hope for. To Kill A Mockingbird: The Legacy Series, presents the film's beautifully rendered B&W image with a consistently clean transfer. Blacks are deep and rich. Whites are very bright, but never blooming. Fine details are realized throughout. The audio has been remixed to 5.1 surround, but is limited in its spread – partly because this is mostly a dialogue driven movie (hence, no car chases or special effects to give your rear and side channels a work out), but more to the point, due to the limitations of sound recording circa 1962. Nevertheless, one will NOT be disappointed by this transfer – a definite step up from Universal's initial effort.

Extras on disc one include the film's original theatrical trailer and four tributary snippets. The first is Gregory Peck's rather lackluster Oscar acceptance speech. The last three are vintage tear jerkers; At the AFI's Life Time Achievement Award, Peck delivers a masterful four minute oration that unequivocally proves he's a true rarity in Hollywood; a gentleman of the first order. Next up is Cecilia Peck's loving (if slightly rambling) tribute to her late father, given during an academy dinner. Third up is Mary Badham's glowing and respectful reminiscence of working with Peck on the film. (Aside: one shouldn't expect much in the way of either audio or video quality on these extras. Of the above mentioned, the AFI Tribute exhibits the most pristine image and sound quality. Both the Badham and Peck tributes have a very poorly contrasted image (the latter also grainy) and with an extremely strident audio track. Peck's Oscar speech is the poorest of the batch.

On disc 2 we get the previously issued "Fearful Symmetry" making of feature length documentary (which is really more of a retrospective on Harper Lee's home town than a true 'how the film was made'), and the all new "A Conversation with Gregory Peck" – a thorough and comprehensive tribute to Peck chocked full of interviews. The image quality on both documentaries ranges from good to fair. Ditto for the audio.

George Roy Hill's The Sting (1973) is the ultimate crime-does-pay movie. It reunites Robert Redford and Paul Newman (fresh from Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid) as a pair of loose canon con artists. Redford is Johnny Hooker, a reprobate being groomed by slight of hand master, Luther (Robert Earl Jones). Together, the two devise and carry out an elegant con that nets them a tidy bank roll. However, when mob boss Doyle Lonigan (Robert Shaw) learns of their deception, he orders his men to rub out Luther and Johnny. Hooker is shaken down by crooked – if slightly sympathetic police lieutenant, Will Snyder (Charles Durning). But Luther is killed, sending Johnny on a mission to avenge his mentor by employing one of his old acquaintances, Henry Gondorf (Newman). Henry used to be a man in the chips. Now he's yesterday's news. But is he ready to throw in the towel and become a legitimate and productive member of society just yet? Director Hill peppers the plot in a series of ironic mishaps and implausible twists that somehow never become contrived. The culminating shake down and final con is memorably set to the music of Scott Joplin's ragtime.

I'm not sure what Universal means when they advertise a disc as 'digitally remastered with completely restored audio.' Does that suggest that the video is only partially restored? After a dismal initial offering from Universal, which was NOT widescreen – but then even more insultingly repackaged and advertised as a collector's edition – we get a 2-disc Legacy Edition DVD of The Sting. It IS widescreen and thankfully enhanced for 16X9 displays. However, the image quality presented throughout is hardly something to get excited about.

As with the previously issued full frame disc, colors remain pasty, slightly faded and generally unnatural looking. Flesh tones are usually too pink or slightly orange – but never appearing as natural. Contrast levels are weak. Blacks are rarely deep or solid. Whites are more bluish or grayish than white. Overall the characteristic of the image is soft. Occasionally we get some nice crisp looking close ups of Newman or Redford in which fine detail on clothing and make up can be observed, but for the most part details become lost in a dull looking image that has little to recommend it. The audio has been remixed to 5.1, DTS and a cleaned up Mono track (as originally presented in theaters).

The 5.1 and DTS offer virtually the same listening experience – flat, largely isolated in the center channel and with little to no separation – except in the musical tracks and occasional sound effect. Otherwise, they might as well have been mono.

Extras on disc 2 boil down to an extensive documentary on the film's creation, success and longevity, inexplicably divided into three chapters that abruptly end, and are really a reason for Universal to advertise them as three extra features – rather than one giant one. There is NO audio commentary track – a gross oversight for a 70s flick as beloved as this one is. Overall then, The Sting gets recommended as a must have on this time around. But it's not the reference quality collector's piece that it might have been. Oh well, the con is still on.

Fred Zinneman's "High Noon" is perhaps the most serious, multi-layered adult western film ever made. It is a movie void of the startling beauty and magnificence of the old west, an intense melodrama about inner turmoil, personal infliction, the confrontation of a man's own fear and the ultimate reassertion that right must triumph over might in order for law and order to prevail.

It stars Gary Cooper as Marshall Will Kane. On the day of his wedding to Quaker, Amy Fowler, Will learns that the three desperadoes he sentenced to prison have been released and are returning to his town, not only to reclaim their territory but to assassinate him. The town - well intentioned but scared stiff - urge Will to forsake his duties and disappear into the night. But Will's old flame and resident madam, Helen Ramirez (Katy Jurado) knows that his conviction and honor are too great to avoid the impending doom. The resulting showdown is as epic and startling as anything in a John Ford western – yet told from such a subdued and sublimely critical vantage that it's really no wonder why "High Noon" has become such an enduring classic.

THE TRANSFER: The previously released print from Artisan was in better shape that the reissued collector's edition. This – for lack of a better explanation, is a curiosity. The real problem with the reissue is in its digital anomalies. Edge enhancement, pixelization, shimmering of fine details and aliasing are glaringly obvious and distracting on the reissue, while only a minor distraction on the earlier DVD. The gray scale on both is very nicely balanced with solid blacks, good contrast levels and a considerable lack of film grain present. Fine details are nicely realized. The audio has been re-channeled to faux stereo but betrays its origins.

EXTRAS: There's a comprehensive documentary on the making of the film on both versions of this film. The collector's edition also includes an audio commentary and some junket material.

BOTTOM LINE: Because the print quality of the film is so flawed, I recommend that the customer seek out the original DVD version – still readily available – instead of the collector's edition. What you lack in extras you more than make up for in image quality.

Anatole Litvak's "The Snake Pit" charts the atypical view of psychoanalysis prevalent in most classic films – a.k.a - everything is linked to one's childhood trauma, repression and guilt. That shortcoming aside, "The Snake Pit" is a stark, often disturbing, melodrama about life inside a mental asylum. It charts the dementia of Virginia (Olivia de Havilland), a woman suffering from an emerging psychosis. De Havilland certainly delivers a stellar and shockingly dramatic performance in this apocalyptic vision of insanity under horrendous conditions. Leo Genn plays the sympathetic psychiatrist to whom Virginia's mental health is entrusted. Although it is through his care and patience that Virginia's psychosis is finally laid to rest, the film remains a sobering and critical view of the inner mental anguish that, more often than not, is incurable and debilitating.

THE TRANSFER: Troublesome. The gray scale is presented at a well balanced level. Blacks are generally solid. But age related artifacts are sometimes glaringly present. Film grain, as well as edge enhancement and pixelization are present for an image quality that is rarely smooth and only moderately easy on the eyes. The audio has been cleaned up and is nicely presented.

EXTRAS: Fox Studio Line is about as skimpy on extras as is the rest of their output of classic films on DVD. One wonders why the distinction is made between "Studio" titles and just regular releases. Here we get a sparse audio commentary, some stills and theatrical trailers. Big deal!

Bottom Line: I recommend this film for its performances. The DVD is not up to reference quality or anywhere near what it should be looking like.

"Freaky Friday" is a classic Disney comedy that required no remake. As a 'coming of age' film it sincerely examines the trials and tribulations of both parents and children without ever allowing either perspective to become condescendingly smug. After the hysteria that was Haley Mills had cooled in the late sixties the Disney studio began searching for a teenage successor that could ensure box office success in the 1970s. They found their heir apparent in the embodiment of tomboyish, Jodie Foster.

In "Freaky Friday" Foster plays Annabelle, the belligerent teenager who can't wait to grow up. She envisions that her mother, Ellen (Barbara Harris) lives a life of elegance and luxury, and, as such, Annabelle longs for just one chance to revel in what she perceives to be the pampered existence of adulthood. Likewise, Ellen can't understand why her teenager daughter complains so much about being a teenager. Both women get a reality check when a 'freak' accident transposes their brains into each other's bodies thus affording them the opportunity to experience each other's lifestyle for one catastrophically hilarious day. John Astin, Dick Van Patten and Ruth Buzzi costar.

TRANSFER: A very nice, very clean looking, anamorphically enhanced presentation. Colors are rich, vibrant and bold. Age related artifacts are a rarity. Rear projection and special effects photography appears worse for the wear than the rest of film, but is only marginally distracting. Contrast and black levels are solid. Overall, the picture has a very smooth characteristic that is easy on the eyes. The audio is mono and somewhat strident but, at a moderate listening level, quite acceptable.

EXTRAS: Disney doesn't give us much to go on except the ramblings of Jodie Foster - who is strangely awkward when asked to talk about herself.

BOTTOM LINE: Recommended.

"The Plainsman" represents the directorial prowess of Cecil B. DeMille at its most inaccurate and un-factual. It sets up parallel plots for no less stellar an entourage than Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper), Buffalo Bill Cody (James Ellison), Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur), George Armstrong Custer and Abraham Lincoln to interact, even though in reality Lincoln was already dead at the time the story takes place. Every once in a while DeMille floats dangerously close toward the truth, but just as easily veers away from it into unabashed spectacle and showmanship. The film is an attempt to buttress Custer's last stand with a heap of fiction that is only loosely based on the lives of people, who were already the product of manufactured stuffs and legends. Truly, this is the world according to DeMille - a zeitgeist in the annals of entertainment, but a pretty campy relic by today's standards.

TRANSFER: Considering the vintage of the film, this is a moderately appealing transfer, with often clean whites and extremely solid blacks. There's a considerable amount of film grain in some scenes and an absence of it at other moments. All in all, the image quality is therefore somewhat inconsistent, but it is never all bad or all good – just a bit better than middle of the road. Age related artifacts are kept to a minimum and digital anomalies do not distract. The audio is mono but nicely balanced.

EXTRAS: Forget it. It's Universal! BOTTOM LINE: As pseudo-history painted on celluloid, this western is compelling and fun. Just take its characters and story with a grain of salt – in some cases – a whole box seems more appropriate!

"The Awful Truth" is perhaps the finest, most tightly realized example of what the British call "comedic farce", affectionately known in North America as the "classic screwball." While, admittedly, some screwball comedies seem contrived and out of date, the formula on this occasion works so incredibly well that I suddenly found myself starved for more great comedies like this one. Jerry (Cary Grant) and Lucy (Irene Dunne) are husband and wife. They suspect one another of adultery, divorce on a whim, but then regret that decision. Neither is willing to admit the error. So when Lucy gets herself involved with a millionaire hick from Oklahoma (Ralph Belamy), Jerry does everything in his power to submarine the relationship. The laughs are plentiful and capped off by Dunne's remarkably brazen lampoon of "My Dreams Are All Gone With The Wind."

THE TRANSFER: Columbia force feeds us a print of this film that, although riddled with scratches, tears, duped quality master print segments and fading is, nevertheless, free of digital anomalies. Yes, this image quality has dated - badly, and yes, there are portions of the picture in which fine detail is practically nonexistent, and yes, Columbia should have done a much better job on this classic film for its DVD release. The audio is mono and suffers from periodic pops and a slight hiss.

EXTRAS: There are no extras and although the packaging claims that this film has been "remastered" in hi-def, this is a mute point since the original camera negative has had NO restoration work done to it prior to the DVD mastering. Do not base your decision to buy this disc by what you read from the back of Columbia's packaging! You'll be bitterly disappointed.

BOTTOM LINE: LET THE BUYER BEWARE: I don't think the quality of this DVD is great or even an adequate. The film, however, is an outstanding charmer! It is for this reason that you should definitely look into "The Awful Truth."

"The Talk Of The Town" is a rousing classic that seemingly embarks on its narrative with stern seriousness only to effortlessly melt into a divinely inspired screwball comedy. It stars Cary Grant as Leopold Dilg, an escaped prisoner suspected of being an arsonist. But when Leopold, alone and wounded, stumbles upon local landlord and one time high school sweetheart, Nora Shelly (Jean Arthur) preparing her home for a new tenant, she takes pity on his weakened condition and allows him to occupy the attic. Problem: the new tenant is Michael Lightcap (Ronald Colman) a justice who has been newly appointed to the Supreme Court. How Lightcap learns of Dilg's true identity and the impending adventure the two men and the landlord embark upon to uncover the truth behind the arson is the stuff that divinely inspired comic dreams are made of. Director, George Steven's nimbly directs this film from one improbable plot point to its conclusion, never without making the whole menagerie believable and charming.

THE TRANSFER: Columbia Pictures has regressed in their shoddy film transfers. The DVD is a thoroughly rough viewing experience with excessive film grain, fine detail shimmering, aliasing problems and varying degrees of stock footage. There's nothing smooth about the way this Oscar nominated Best Picture looks and that's truly a shame. The hi-def packaging is deceptive. * Note: the phrasing "remastered in hi-def" means nothing unless the source elements have first been cleaned up. Let the buyer beware! Over all, a mediocre experience.

BOTTOM LINE: "The Talk of the Town" is stellar entertainment marred by a hideous transfer. On smaller television sets many of these anomalies will not cause great distress to your viewing experience. But if you are preparing to launch this title on a home theater you will have nothing to 'talk' about afterward.

Charade is director Stanley Donen's masterful attempt to outdo Hitchcock in the department of big screen cinema suspense. To say that Donen succeeds on every level is an understatement. He excels! When Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) returns home from holiday she discovers that her fashionable Paris apartment has been cleaned out by her husband, Charles - who was a double agent, embezzled money from a trio of crooks (headed by James Coburn) and has been murdered. Into the thick of this mystery comes the savvy stranger with too many names, played by Cary Grant. Presenting himself as a friend and confident, Grant is determined to put Regina's mind at ease. But is he or isn't he working for the same men that killed her husband? Walter Matthau does serious, and rather convincingly in an uncharacteristically diabolical role that is particularly engaging.

THE TRANSFER: I have a problem with Criterion charging an arm and a leg for their DVD's when so many of them come with little more than bare bones in the way of extra features. Their reissue of "Charade" is no exception. You may remember that this title was previously available from Criterion in a non-anamorphic transfer. That oversight has now been corrected. But although colors are exceptionally vibrant and sharp, there remains a considerable amount of edge enhancement and fine shimmering that is detected in horizontal and vertical details throughout the film. The audio is mono and nicely rendered.

A more fitting transfer can be found on the flip side of Universal's "The Trouble With Charlie" a remake of Charade starring (oh, no!)Mark Walberg and Thandi Newton. Though this remake from Johnathan Demme is about as dismal and disturbing as going through a bikini wax, its one saving grace is that an impeccably rendered and 16X9 enhanced copy of the original film - "Charade" comes with it. Hence, the latter is well worth its $15 price tag.

EXTRAS: On Criterion's edition only: An essay on the films of Stanley Donen and an audio commentary that is – well, just ample as far as audio commentaries go.

BOTTOM LINE: Universal has made "Charade" available as part of a double feature with its remake, the genuinely awful "The Truth About Charlie." However, for the difference in price, and because Universal's DVD is absent of digital all the digital anomalies I have already mentioned, that version is recommended over Criterions.

Director, Leo McCarey's "An Affair to Remember" is a marvelous update to his own "Love Affair" – made lush and lovely through Technicolor and Cinemascope for the post war generation. Cary Grant is Nicky Ferranti, a big time 'dame' hunter who is all set to marry an heiress when he falls, but hard, for Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr), the park avenue play-thing of a wealthy New York financier. As in the original, McKay and Ferranti discover that love may not be enough to keep their dreams alive, particularly after one of them suffers a tragic accident that alters the course for both their futures.

This is the sort of 'bigger than life' melodrama that thrived in cinemas during the fifties. But McCarey's direction – though solid - is slightly marred by the injection of several musical numbers; a shame since they are neither visually appealing, nor do they advance the story line. In fact, they bog it down. Regardless, there must be something to attribute the staying power of this movie - still a tear jerker after forty-five years.

THE TRANSFER: When Fox Home Video first issued this movie on DVD it was widescreen but not enhanced for 16X9 televisions. There was a considerable amount of film and digital grit and colors, though dated throughout, seemed excessively garish and at times slightly mis-registered. There was also some slight edge enhancement and aliasing detected. I am happy to say that most of these anomalies have been corrected on the new "studio series" reissue, providing a much smoother, color consistent transfer that is a marked improvement over the previous DVD. This new version is also anamorphic.

While fine film grain and dirt and scratches in the original print are still present, this time around, they are not obtrusive on the eye. The soundtrack is virtually identical to the previously released DVD. At times it has a nice spread. But this is the very same Dolby Surround mix that was imported from Fox's original laser disc, instead of being remastered to a 5.1 Dolby Digital. *Aside: almost all Cinemascope movies were originally recorded in six track magnetic stereo, so a revamped soundtrack for this movie should have been reconsidered.

EXTRAS: an all too short documentary on the making of this movie that spends much of its time dishing dirt on Cary Grant, his medicinal use of LSD and a thwarted affair with Sophia Loren. Honestly, did I really need another American icon humiliated in this "tell-all" way? There are also some stills and a theatrical trailer. Overall, the extras are disappointing but hey, at roughly twenty dollars a pop - depending on where you buy this movie, I suppose the customer gets what he or she has paid for.

BOTTOM LINE: Worthwhile.

"His Girl Friday" is Howard Hawk's inspired remake of the award-winning Broadway play and previous movie release of "The Front Page". It's the story of a rapid fire newspaper editor, Walter (Cary Grant) and his star reporter and ex-wife, Hildie Johnston. Hildie has decided to retire to the country with her soon to be new husband (Ralph Belamy). But when a prison break captures the imagination of a troupe of cutthroat reporters, all rabid for the scoop, Hildie sets aside marital bliss for one last hurrah behind the desk as a cub reporter.

THE TRANSFER: BEWARE THIS DVD! There are no less than 12 bootlegged versions of "His Girl Friday" circulating through various vendors on DVD. In all but one case the image quality looks as though the entire print had been fed through a meat grinder.

The version you want is the one from Columbia Tri-Star Home Video.

Its packaging features a disclaimer that reads "mastered from the original camera negative." This version of "His Girl Friday" exhibits –in short – exemplary video quality. The B&W picture has been completely restored. Age related artifacts are nonexistent. The gray scale, black and contrast levels are perfectly realized. Fine detail will astound. There are no digital anomalies. The audio is mono but very nicely cleaned up.

EXTRAS: This version also includes some very nice – if all too brief – featurettes on the careers of its stars Rosiland Russell and Cary Grant and the making of the film. There's also the original theatrical trailer.

BOTTOM LINE: This girl is worth seeking out!

"Topper" is the supernatural screwball comedy about a pair of fun-loving ghosts who wreak havoc on the conservative life of henpecked banker, Cosmo Topper (Roland Young). Cary Grant and Constance Bennett simply glow as George and Marion Kirby, a couple of devil-may-care free spirits - literally - who accidentally kill themselves by wrapping their car around a tree. Determined to introduce George's boss, Cosmo to the good life, or at the very least, the high life - the two have some spooky good fun in the process. Billie Burke costars as Cosmo's stuffy and hilarious bubble-head wife. The sequel, "Topper Returns" is a much darker film, sans Grant or Bennett and with Joan Blondell tripping the invisible fantastic. Although she's amply cast, she doesn't quite eclipse the memory the original production. Roland Young returns, but is awkwardly fitted into an engaging murder mystery. With its sumptuous Gothic sets and elegant cinematography to compensate, particularly in the surreal and brooding depiction of Blondell's haunting death and ghostly reincarnation, "Topper Returns" is amply entertaining.

THE TRANSFER: "Topper" is much more worse for the wear than "Topper Returns". After years of being a late night television fav', the rights to this classic, produced by Hal Roach at MGM, have fallen into public domain. It would be nice to see Warner Home Video (heirs to the MGM classic library) take a crack at re-acquiring the rights to give film buffs the opportunity to see this classy classic as it was intended. Currently, age related artifacts are more heavy and noticeable on "Topper". Over all, black levels are generally good on both movies. But an incredible amount of edge enhancement is present throughout the transfer, making it unwatchable. The audio is mono for both films. "Topper" suffers from slight hiss and popping but "Topper Returns" is generally more natural sounding on the ears.

EXTRAS: None.

BOTTOM LINE: "Topper" is an outstanding Cary Grant comedy with few equals – save "Bringing Up Baby." Perhaps one day we'll see the release of that classic on DVD!

Cary Grant had the uncanny knack for making even the most hollow tripe seem like cinematic high art. Consider the irrefutably light-hearted "Once Upon A Time" in which Grant is Jerry Flynn - a has-been Broadway producer who discovers an orphan with a dancing caterpillar. Flynn's savvy for creating a media event, turns the caterpillar into an off Broadway sensation. But when Jerry decides to sell his investment to the highest bidder, he must choose between fame and fortune and the respect and genuine love that the orphan has developed for him. The genuine surprise in this film is not how irrepressibly charming Grant is, but how willingly he steps into the unbecoming role of the villain who eventually chooses goodness over celebrity – a subtle bit of advice that most stars of today would do well to heed. "Once Upon A Time" is not high art, but it remains an enjoyable movie hemmed in by a finely wrought performance.

THE TRANSFER: Relatively clean for Columbia Tri-Star. The gray scale has been nicely balanced with solid blacks and nicely rendered contrast levels. There's a lot of age related artifacts for a picture that is inconsistent and not very smooth. However, once you've accepted these shortcomings, the film becomes reasonably enjoyable to view. Fine details are nicely rendered. There are no digital anomalies. The audio is mono but very well represented.

EXTRAS: Nothing of merit.

BOTTOM LINE: "Once Upon A Time" offers the chance to appreciate Cary Grant at his most subtly challenging and engagingly.

In scale, ambition and extensive use of the latest CGI director, Peter Jackson's "The Return of the King" effectively brings to a close his awe-inspiring adaptation of J.R. Tolkien's legendary "The Lord of the Rings." Tying up the loose ends: Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) prepare for their massive battle at Minas Tirith; Frodo's (Elijah Wood) mission to Mordor grows more dark and sinister as he nears the molten lava of Mount Doom; Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) confronts Gollum – certainly one of the most compelling bits of subtly nuanced computer animation ever.

There are a couple of curiosities, including the inexplicable absence of Saruman (Christopher Lee) who appears in the extended version DVD but not in the theatrical cut, and the reduction of several roles that were previously rather weighty, now cut to mere cameo status. Jackson had a lot of ground to cover in this final installment and his editorial acumen was working overtime. The film is slick and polished, masterfully told and faithful to Tolkien's vision. Still, "The Return of the King" does tend to suffer from too many endings in its attempt to be loyally inclusive to all of the characters.

THE TRANSFER: Stunning. No less was to be expected and no less is offered in this beautifully rendered picture. Truly, there is nothing to complain about in this anamorphically enhanced presentation. Colors are stylized, bold, rich and vibrant. Contrast and shadow delineation is nicely rendered. Blacks are deep, rich and solid with an incredible amount of fine detail present, even during the darkest scenes and battle sequences. The audio is 5.1 and extremely powerful. The rich musical score sweeps across all audio channels with an enveloping presence. Dialogue is very dimensional.

EXTRAS: As with the previous two films, this one comes with a host of extra features, including three substantial documentaries (the National Geographic one being the best) and six extremely short "featurettes" which play more like extended trailers for the film.

BOTTOM LINE: Is this the BEST PICTURE of last year? Arguably, yes. It certainly is a fitting conclusion to the trilogy and an exceptional DVD presentation for your home theater. Add this one to your collection today.

"Crash Dive," a melodramatic lover's triangle between naval heroes (Tyrone Power and Dana Andrews) and the girl they both love (Anne Baxter), is one of those standard war flicks made at the height of conflict (1943). Remarkably, it continues to stir up patriotism and lift the spirits, despite a somewhat heavy handed script and some truncated bits of romance that seem to be inserts into an otherwise straight forward and compelling adventure movie. Powers is a reluctant executive officer aboard a submarine. His relationship with his new captain (Andrews) becomes strained after he realizes that they are in love with the same woman. All this is background fodder for the real plot of the movie – a mid-Atlantic ambush of a secret German island and its Nazi military base.

THE TRANSFER: Filmed on location, Leon Shamroy's lush Technicolor photography is the real star of "Crash Dive" and although the film has dated considerably, there's still enough gleam in the original negative to compel the viewer onward. Colors are rich and for the most part, nicely balanced. Occasionally there are scenes in which the color scheme becomes unstable or flickers. There is also an abundance of age related artifacts that detract from the overall visual presentation. Black and contrast levels are generally solid. There's a slight haze over some of the scenes as well. Digital anomalies are not an issue on this disc. The audio has been cleaned up and is nicely presented.

EXTRAS: None.

BOTTOM LINE: If you're a cinema war junky, then "Crash Dive" will suit you tastes. But it does not represent the best of genre by any means. The DVD's middle of the road picture quality is a let down.

"What Price Glory" is a World War I lover's triangle set against the ravaged backdrop of French countryside circa, 1918. Drama aside, the film is not what one might expect from directorial giant John Ford. James Cagney is a bit over the hill to be believable as Capt. Flagg, a stoic commander of a motley troupe of conscripts. Flagg's ill at ease postulating does not bode well with his men, so he turns to disrespectful and disreputable Sgt. Quirt (Dan Dailey) for a little bit of hard knock military strength. But the tensions between Flagg and Quirt are pressed to the breaking point when they both fall for the same girl – stop me if you've heard this one before. Strong performances elevate this film above the tripe that – generally – it is.

THE TRANSFER: Frankly, not up to snuff. Although the overall color scheme has retained much of its original luster, the picture quality is a disappointment. There is an excessive amount of film grain and age related artifacts throughout for a not very smooth visual presentation. Fluctuations in color balancing are – at times – severe and distracting. There is a minor amount of digital grit that further detracts from the image. Black levels are weak. Contrast and shadow delineation is poorly balanced for a very unstable looking presentation. The audio has been cleaned up but remains strident sounding and lacking in bass quality.

EXTRAS: As with the other war films in this batch from Fox, you get nothing to augment your experience.

BOTTOM LINE: "What Price Glory" isn't recommended either as a war film, or for its transfer quality. Seek satisfying your thirst for conquest elsewhere.

After their resounding success in "You'll Never Get Rich" it remained kismet that Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth would reunite for another glossy film musical. The project; "You Were Never Lovelier" is a valiant successor to the aforementioned and, in truth, excels beyond the expectations of their previous venture.

Astaire plays a penniless hoofer from New York who, through a series of mishaps, comes to the attention of Senior Acuna (Adolph Menjou) while on a vacation in Buenos Aires. Acuna has just married off his oldest daughter and, as his family tradition dictates, the rest of his daughters must get married in sequential order. The two youngest daughters are already fixed with a pair of tennis beaux, but the eldest unmarried daughter, Maria (Hayworth) is not only an ice princess of the highest order, but refuses to marry under any circumstance. That is, until she begins receiving orchids from an unknown admirer.

The score by Jerome Kern is magnificent; the poignant 'Dearly Beloved', the jazzy 'Shorty George' and the classy 'I'm Old Fashion'. The latter two songs are danced by Astaire and Hayworth with such polish and finesse that it's impossible not to marvel at their grace and style.

THE TRANSFER: Outstanding. While "You'll Never Get Rich" suffered from an overall dated appearance, "You Were Never Lovelier" appears to have been the benefactor of a digital restoration at some point. It's black and white picture is stunning and smooth. There are brief and minor occasions where fine details slightly shimmer, but these do not distract from your visual pleasure. Fine detail is fully realized. There is a resounding absence of age related artifacts. Digital anomalies are not an issue. The audio is mono but exceptionally well balanced – at times sounding very close to having a stereo spread.

EXTRAS: Sorry, none!

BOTTOM LINE: "You Were Never Lovelier" has certainly never looked more lovely than in its DVD incarnation. An absolute must have for your library!

Producer David O. Selznick never thought small. Dreaming of a magnum opus on the same titanic scale as "Gone with the Wind" and, perhaps a little bit self-conscious of the fact that his recent affair with Jennifer Jones had yielded only one stellar performance from the starlet – and not even in a film he had produced – Selznick's driving ambition to make Jones a star on par with the likes of Vivien Leigh, led him to handcraft "Duel in the Sun."

It's an extravagant Technicolor western epic full of lurid depictions and smoldering sensuality. All about a doomed mulatto (Jones) and her rabid love affair with the ruthless son, Lewt (Gregory Peck, in an uncharacteristic part of the villain) of a bigoted rancher (Lionel Barrymore). Buttressed by the fiery backdrop of colliding sensibilities and the true Northern ambitions to tame the wild, wild west, this film ultimately became an overblown melodrama that seemed almost a garish lampoon of "Gone With The Wind" rather than its valiant successor.

It did respectable box office, but little to advance Jennifer Jones into the echelons of super stardom. The elephantine cast also includes Lillian Gish, Walter Huston, Harry Carey, Herbert Marshall, Charles Bickford and Butterfly McQueen – replaying her dimwitted maid role: "Fiddle-dee-dee!"

TRANSFER: This film has previously been made available through Anchor Bay in a stunning road show edition. MGM's reissue is the truncated theatrical version. Colors are well balanced though more dated than the rich and vibrant colors on the Anchor Bay version. Black levels are good but fine detail is lost in many darkly lit scenes. There's also more noticeable film grain on this version than the Anchor Bay edition. The audio is remixed to stereo but only marginally appealing, sounding rather forced and re-channeled.

EXTRAS: None.

BOTTOM LINE: There's nothing to stand up and cheer about here. If you are a die hard fan of the film, or westerns, then you will definitely want to look up the out of print copy from Anchor Bay over this reissue. Aside from being longer, the Anchor Bay version also tends to be a better visual presentation overall.

Peter Weir's Witness (1985) is a disturbing thriller set against the backdrop of an Amish community. When Samuel Lap (Lukas Haas) goes into a Philadelphia railway bathroom to relieve himself, he becomes an accidental witness to a brutal murder. The plot thickens when it is revealed that the murder victim was actually an undercover cop. Samuel's mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis) is understandably shaken and apprehensive about having her son testify as to what he saw. But dedicated cop John Book (Harrison Ford) is not about to give up. He installs Samuel and his mother at his sister, Elaine's (Patti LuPone) home – a move that puts everyone in danger. Book eventually learns that dirty cop, James McFee (Danny Glover) is one of the men Samuel saw committing the crime. An attempt on Book's life leaves him wounded. But by then, Book has taken his witness back to the farm – literally – and is in hiding with Rachel and Samuel until protection can be arranged for the trial. Weir's prowess as a director is suspect during the opening sequences. He seems to be just going through the motions – rarely exploring interesting camera angles or staging techniques. But once the plot moves back to the Amish community there is a definite taut and unsettling atmosphere that settles in and carries the film to its inevitable conclusion.

Thank those lucky stars that frame the Paramount trademark mountain that someone at the studio is finally starting to pay attention to the way their DVD's are mastered. After a rather lackluster initial transfer with NO extras, we get a special edition worthy of the moniker. Extensively cleaned up with narrowly a blemish to be seen throughout, this DVD delivers a generally smooth, consistent and accurate film to video presentation that simply sparkles. Colors are dated but nicely balanced. Contrast levels are bang on. Blacks are deep and solid. Whites are clean. The audio has also been cleaned up. Extras include a five part documentary, audio commentary and trailers. Bravo! If only Paramount would readdress its dismal Fatal Attraction DVD of a few years back, we'd have even more to cheer over.

Ridley Scott's Oscar winning 'Gladiator' (2000) effectively resurrects the Roman epic from oblivion and to thunderous effect. The film stars resident Aussie heartthrob, Russell Crowe as Maximus, a loyal General to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (the late and very great Richard Harris). After a victorious campaign in Germania, Marcus decides that Maximus will succeed him on the throne; a move that does not bode well with the Emperor's only son and legitimate heir, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Determined to secure his birthright, Commodus murders his father before he has a chance to tell Maximus of his placement, and shortly thereafter frames Maximus for that murder. And although Commodus' sister – and sometimes incestuous playmate, Lucilla (Connie Nielson) is both enamored and loyal to her father and Maximus there is little she can do but acquiesce to Commodus' sycophantic desire to be loved, in order to keep his psychotic wrath at bay.

Escaping certain death, Maximus returns home to discover that his wife and young son have been slaughtered under Commodus' authority. From here on, the story develops magnificently along the lines of a revenge tragedy, sumptuously fleshed out by a series of stunning digital visual effects. And although this reviewer has never been a fan of digital manipulation in cinema (for most of it betrays total integration with elements of the story), for once at least the thought-numbing grandeur of ancient Rome seems to have been the perfect compliment to the prowess of technical wizardry. The screen is filled with gorgeous, mesmerizing – and for the most part – realistic renderings of the coliseum and senate, the byways and winding streets of ancient Rome, and the reinvented rustic countryside and battlefields peppered with barbarism. Derek Jacobi, David Schofield and the late Oliver Reed, round out the cast with superb character performances.

The screenplay by David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson keeps every plot entanglement sharp and moving in a linear fashion, culminating in a series of climactic battles that ultimately ensure a showdown between Commodus and Maximus and seal their fates. If one complaint may be levied at the production, it's at its sometimes heavy handed use of camera panning and film editing that generally makes a rabid coleslaw of the action sequences – never once allowing the viewer to rest on an image but instead having to endure a barrage of snippets wielded as though under the disguise of being visually paint-balled. On occasion these sequences grow more tiresome than thrilling – a quality tempered by the rest of the movies attention to detail and formidable direction. Ridley Scott, long overdue for the Oscar as Best Director, was again overlooked for the honors on this occasion – a genuine shame. Though, at least in this reviewer's mind, nothing will ever rival the titanic and emotional swell of William Wyler's Ben-Hur (1959), Gladiator is a close second on both accounts; a vivid, powerful and ultimately satisfying bit of escapism that should continue to thrill as long as there are fans of the sword and sandal quickie.

Gladiator has been re-released in a handsome three disc set from Dreamworks. This set includes both the theatrical cut and a newly assembled director's vision for the film that is 17 minutes longer. In both cases Dreamworks has gone back to the drawing board and remastered the image – removing much of the heavy and distracting edge enhancement that accompanied its first release on DVD nearly four years ago. Though digital images still tend to appear a tad harsher, or more finely defined than the rest of the image – thereby betraying the fact that they are more blue screen than actual set design, the muddy color scheme that plagued the original DVD have been greatly corrected on this reissue. Fine detail is superbly rendered. Contrast and shadow levels are perfectly realized. The stylized look of the film is more finely rendered this time around. Truly, there is nothing about the image to dissuade one from indulging in the splendor of this epic storytelling. The audio is 5.1 and appears to be the same audio mix as the previously issued DVD. It's sonically bombastic and a great compliment to the image.

Extras on this occasion include all of the previously issued material – some slightly fleshed out with added material that ably fleshes out the production from start to finish. There's also a new audio commentary and intro to the extended edition from Ridley Scott, a trivia track and snippets of Russell Crowe speaking on his participation in the film. On disc 2 there are seven featurettes – which cumulatively add up to one 3hr and 20 min. documentary on the making of the film. Disc 3 includes a visual effects reel and insight into several abandoned sequences, as well as trailers, television spots and previews.

"Battle Hymn" is the story of a minister (Rock Hudson) who returns to train Korean soldiers to fight after he feels he has lost his calling. Of course he finds redemption and his true faith when he becomes involved with a group of Korean orphans and a young Korean/Indian woman that cares for them. Despite several brilliantly staged action sequences this film is not so much a war saga as it is a tale of introspection and finding courage in religion to carry on. The blend of both adventure and drama is seamless. "Battle Hymn" is an intelligently-crafted and inspiring without being stoic or preachy.

THE TRANSFER: Overall the picture quality is nicely rendered but the ravages of time have not been kind in a few spots. Age related artifacts are present throughout – sometimes glaringly so. Black levels are often weak and fine detail is lost in the darkest scenes. Digital anomalies are not an issue for a generally smooth visual presentation. The audio is nicely presented – if somewhat dated.

EXTRAS: None.

BOTTOM LINE: "Battle Hymn" is finely wrought melodrama tinged with the prerequisite of combat that all war films have in common. The DVD is admirably realized but is not reference quality. Still, it's definitely worth a look.

Ernest Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939) effectively rounded out Garbo's MGM tenure with a colossal bang. A scathingly funny romantic comedy, it stars Garbo as a Russian commissar who is dispatched to Paris when three of her fellow comrades are suspected of defection. Installed inside Paris's most opulent hotel, she soon discovers debonair playboy, Count Leon D'algut (Melvyn Douglas), a man of considerable suave sophistication who is at first in pursuit of the Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire), but easily switches in mid-ride to tackle the immense obstacle of melting Ninotchka's heart. Throughout, the film is peppered is charming dialogue and situations that continue to tickle the funny bone; such as the moment Leon, observing Garbo studying a city map, tenderly indicates for her where they are standing by taking Ninotchka's index finger in his hand. "Are you flirting with me?" she asks. "Absolutely," he declares. "Suppress it!" The image quality on Ninotchka is bar none the best in this box. A very clean, solid and nicely contrasted film like transfer with fine detail and a minimal amount of film grain all add to the sparkle of the occasion. The audio is mono but exceptionally well balanced.