Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?
I received my copy in yesterday's mail and watched it through. Here's my review for
THE SILENT PARTNER:
THE SILENT PARTNER (1978)
Lionsgate DVD (2007) 12236 21171 6
starring Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer, Susannah York
Screenplay by Curtis Hanson
Music by Oscar Peterson
Producers Joel B. Michaels and Steven Young
Executive Producer Garth H. Drabinsky
Directed by Daryl Duke
Viewed on:
Sony Grand Wega KDF-55XS955
Pioneer DVL909
THE FILM:
This is one of those little cult-film thrillers that snuck up on everyone. I'd guess that the number of people who actually saw this in a theatre is pretty small as the film grew in popularity from showings on cable TV back when all-movie channels were becoming popular. I know that's how I found it, liked it, taped it, bought the only LaserDisc of it that ever came out, and am now thrilled to have it on DVD.
THE SILENT PARTNER stars Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer and Susannah York and is about a Christmas-time bank robbery that goes differently than planned and the resulting aftermath of that crime. The twists and turns of the plot keeps the viewer on the edge of his seat throughout.
Released to TV and home video back in the '80s, the movie had never been released in a widescreen format until now.
THE PICTURE:
Though the pre-release specs on this DVD listed it as full-screen, rest assured that it's presented here in an anamorphic widescreen presentation at 1.85:1. Comparing it with the prior full-screen LaserDisc or VHS, one can easily see that this presentation opens up the sides of the picture as the director, Daryl Duke, originally intended. The first thing that the viewer will notice is that the opening appears somewhat grainy through the opening credits. Once the film gets going, the picture is cleaner-looking, with a natural film-like grain throughout. I did notice the occasional jump in the picture as one scene cut to another, but it's minor and not terribly distracting. I'm guessing that Lionsgate used whatever clean print they could find, and little or no restoration has been done. Colors appear natural, skin tones are rendered normally, and the brightly lit indoor signs of the shopping mall look to be the right colors to me. Occasionally, certain scenes appeared over-light or washed out, but that may have been intentional on the part of the filmmakers.
Picture score: 8 out of 10, as it's a thrill for me to see it in widescreen.
THE SOUND:
I expected a bit more from the soundtrack, but it's here that the original film elements may have failed. The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack is quite a bit better than the old LaserDisc's analog track - but one wouldn't have to go very far to better that atrocity. The biggest detriment to watching the old LaserDisc from Vestron was the awful soundtrack. It was so disappointing that I often couldn't get through the movie. The DVD is better, but still not what I'd consider great. Perhaps this is as good as it gets on this low-budget film, I couldn't say, but there are times when the dialog is a bit garbled, and other times when the dialog is indeed drowned out by the music score. That's a clue that it was probably mixed rather poorly to begin with, hence why I suggest that this may be the best we'll ever get on this title.
Sound score: 5 out of 10, though I suspect that it's as good as it'll ever get.
THE PACKAGING:
Since this title first appeared with artwork, it's been criticized for being both bad and wrong. Bad, in that the picture of headless men in suits with guns and bags, walking across a giant US hundred dollar bill from 1996 is simply ludicrous. No such image is ever hinted at in the film - and all currency shown in the movie is of course Canadian! The best thing I can say about it is that at least they corrected the pre-release artwork's spelling of the stars' names. The back cover is correct in its choice of screen shots and text. The picture on the face of the DVD itself recreates the strange cover shot, and it's housed in a standard keepcase (mine arrived in the mail loose from its hub and rattling around - no damage though!).
Packaging score: 7 out of 10, at least it's a keepcase, though the incongruous picture is laughable.
THE MENUS:
The DVD's bizarre main menu is a recreation of the not-from-the-movie picture on the front cover of the DVD, and the music playing doesn't ring a bell to me as having been taken from the movie. The few submenus that there are do use some of Oscar Peterson's score, and at least have some images from the movie. The main menu has motion, with snow falling and the gun smoking. The chapter menus pictures are full motion from the movie itself.
Menu score: 7 out of 10, since someone went to the trouble of making them motion menus, even if the ever-present wrong artwork continues to haunt.
EXTRAS:
There are none. You get the movie with a Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack and either English or Spanish subtitles. That's it. No trailers, no previews, no extras of any kind. But then this is a budget release of a budget movie - what did you expect?
OVERALL:
I'm thrilled and delighted to own this long-neglected title on DVD. I wish that the sound had improved as much as the picture, but I guess it's not to be.
Overall score: 8 out of 10, just due to my joy of ownership of this great little film on DVD.
