Witness - Special Collector's Edition
Studio: Paramount
Year: 1985
Rated: R
Length: 112 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: Dolby Digital English 5.1, English, French 2.0
English Subtitles
Closed Captioned
Special Features: 5 Part Documentary, Deleted Scene, TV Spots, Theatrical Trailer
Suggested Retail Price: $19.99 USD |
Release Date: August 23, 2005
The Feature
Peter Weir is one of the finest filmmakers working today.
Witness was the film that introduced him to America.
It’s not that American audiences hadn’t taken notice to prior works, such as
Gallipoli, and, more notably,
The Year of Living Dangerously. But
Witness brought the Australian director to our shores, and had him working with a cast of American actors. The film proved that Harrison Ford could break his renegade sci-fi adventure mold, and it made a star of untried actress Kelly McGillis and the young Lukas Haas. It also gave a then unknown actor his first taste for film acting - leading to an astounding career in recent years - one Viggo Mortensen.
Weir followed up
Witness with a string of hits, including (but not limited to)
Dead Poet’s Society, The Truman Show (also released this month in a special edition DVD), and
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
Weir made an unusual choice for his first American film, setting most of the film in a place that is decidedly unlike any other place in America. In
Witness, a young Amish boy (Lukas Haas) witnesses a murder at a train station in Philadelphia. He and his mother, Rachel (Kelly McGillis) must stay in Philadelphia - until the investigation leads to dirty members of the police force. At that time, detective John Book (Ford), having been seriously injured in a gun fight, escapes with the mother and child and brings them back to Amish country, Lancaster, PA.
Rachel nurses Book back to health. Then, Book stays in hiding, trying to blend in with the Amish community as powerful forces hunt him and the young boy down. All the while, forbidden attraction builds between John and Rachel.
Witness is three films in one - it is a murder mystery, a dual-edged fish out of water story, and a love story. Weir balances all aspects tremendously well, and pulls incredible performances out of the entire cast. Additionally, the beautiful cinematography by John Seale and the haunting score by Maurice Jarre combine to make this one of the best films of the 80’s.
The film won an Oscar for Best Editing and Best Screenplay. It was nominated for Best Actor (Ford), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Music and Best Picture.
The Transfer
The picture is a mixed bag, in relation to the prior release of the film.
Witness is presented in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1, and is anamorphically enhanced. The print used for the transfer is nearly spotless.
Colors are beautiful - earthy and nicely saturated. Black levels are very good, with good detail in the shadow areas. Whites are bright and slightly warm, blooming on occasion, by design.
The one area where the new edition doesn’t best the previous version is in sharpness. I have a mixed response to this. The original edition suffered from mild, but noticeable ringing due to over sharpening. The new version is mostly free of ringing or other sharpening artifacts, but has a slight loss of texture as a result. Noise is all but eliminated from the frame, high frequency detail has suffered as a result. Somewhere in between the two versions is the sweet spot.
If you’re considering upgrading only for a new transfer, you’ve got a tough choice. Warmer, richer colors and a slight opening of the frame are offset by a touch of softness.
I do not own the original version of the film on DVD. While I was able to screen parts of the original disc recently, I wasn’t able to get screen captures, or do a side-by-side A/B comparison for this review.
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 (as well as in English and French 2.0). The 5.1 track delivers a nice, full experience. Dialog is always clear, full and intelligible. Music fills the front soundstage nicely, with some rear effect. Active and ambient sound effects occasionally make use of the rear channels to good effect. The low frequency effects are slightly lacking, but are adequate. This is a solid 5.1 mix for the film’s era.
Between Two Worlds: The Making of Witness - Five Part Documentary
Broken into five parts and totaling over an hour, this is a terrific documentary about the making of the film. Included are recent interviews with Peter Weir, Edward Feldman, Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lucas Haas, and Viggo Mortensen. Though not one of the chapter headings, there is a segment on the wonderful work of cinematographer John Seale, including some enlightening interviews with the cameraman. This segment was deserving of its own chapter.
In addition to the usual “making of” territory, there is much talk of the cultural divide between the Amish and the filmmakers who lived among them during principle photography. It was a positive learning experience, overall, for both cultures.
Here are the chapters:
Chapter One: Origins
Chapter Two: Amish Country
Chapter Three: The Artistic Process
Chapter Four: The Heart of the Matter
Chapter Five: Denouement
Deleted Scene (from the network TV airing) (4:10)
This scene is set at Book’s sister’s house, while Rachel and Samuel are staying there.
TV Spots
There are three TV spots with a “Play All” feature.
“Action”
“Love”
“John Book”
Theatrical Trailer (1:32)
full screen format
Previews
Airplane - Don’t Call Me Shirley Edition
Tommy Boy - Holy Schnikes Edition
The John Wayne Collection
MacGyver
Final Thoughts
A nice transfer, superior to the original release in some ways and slightly inferior in others, makes upgrading a tough choice on the strengths of the transfer alone. This is a nice transfer - just somewhat different from the previous release.
What is a strong selling point for this disc is the terrific one hour “making of” documentary, with considerable participation from Peter Weir, Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas and others.
Overall, this single disc Special Collector’s Edition is:
Highly Recommended
