The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news? - Page 2

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Mine hasn't yet arrived (drat!). Probably tomorrow.

Harry

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

While I don't know if mine has arrived yet (I'll check the mail when I get home), I happened to be in a Suncoast store at the lunch hour today and they had a copy of THE SILENT PARTNER.

The spelling is corrected on the front, both names, and it definitely said 16x9 enhanced for widescreen TVs.

Harry

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Sounds like a winner!!

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.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Excellent review! Thanks.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Thanks for the review! Great news that the pre-release aspect ratio specs were bugus. If anyone can find some hi-res art from this flick, I'll gladly make a custon cover.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Thanks for the review, Harry!

I ordered mine yesterday -- fingers crossed they don't send me the Tara Reid movie.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Fans of the film should be very happy with the way LG ultimately treated this one. A major surprise- but a very pleasant one.
It's a kick to finally see this one again after almost 30 years.
And Christopher Plummer, with his outlandish false eyelashes, has to be one of the creepiest villans ever.
I'll never forget what a shock to the system it was when my little 12 year old ears heard Mr Von Trapp tell Elliott Gould to " hand the money over, F#&!-er!"

The Sound Of Music has never been the same since

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Even without the eyelashes!




Ric, I found this somewhere on the web:



Harry

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

I left a post earlier in this thread giving a scathing rebuke to Lions Gate for the (initial) reports of this title getting a full-frame, non-anamorphic release.

While I don't carry such a bloated sense of self-worth that I believe my post played any part in the release getting an anamorphic widescreen transfer, I nonetheless feel it's the right thing to do to commend the studio for putting this relatively obscure title out in a presentable fashion to its fans.

So, thanks, Lions Gate. It IS appreciated. And for what it's worth to you, the title went from a no-way non-purchase to an immediate buy upon learning it is indeed properly presented.

And I will (almost) refrain from mentioning my disappointment over the bizarrely anachronistic cover art. ;-)

Seriously, kudos, LG.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

I agree, Dion. I was very disappointed when I first heard the news about this release. I am very thankful for what we ended up getting.

I am hoping LG gets some decent sales numbers for what some would deem an "obscure" release. This film has a big cult following and I hope it grows based on this DVD.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

This morning, with a little time to kill, I thought I'd do a side-by-side comparison of the old LaserDisc of THE SILENT PARTNER with the new DVD. My TV has the capability of placing images side-by-side at the same time, so with the old LaserDisc in the LD player and the DVD recorder playing the DVD, I synched them up and compared them.

First, I should report that, as I said above in my review, there is a lot more visual information on the sides of the widescreen picture than there was on the old pan'n'scan. That's still very true, but I also noticed that the LaserDisc presented a tiny bit more information top and bottom than could be seen on the DVD. It's nothing earthshaking, but for accuracy's sake, I felt it necessary to mention. I'm talking a really small amount here. Like in a close-up of Gould, you might see three designs on his tie on the DVD, but on the LaserDisc you can see three and a half. Based on viewing the film, as a whole on the DVD, it seems to me that it's presented the way the director intended.

One other note, for accuracy's sake, is that I finally connected the main menu's music to the movie. It's the section of score that occurs as Plummer is running out the door in his Santa suit after Gould releases the last bill from under the clip. So, it's a short section of frenetic music, atypical of the film's score in general.

Harry

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

I actually saw this in the theatre 6 or 7 times when I was a little kid, for some reason the film got released 3 times in my area. I remember during one of the re-releases they had dubbed the sound of a heart beating on the soundtrack during one of the more tense scenes. I guess they were trying to make the film more exciting (very strange). I was a big SCTV fan at that time and was glad to see John Candy in the film even though he was almost unknown at the time.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

What better way to market your little-known 1978 crime thriller to 2007 mall monkeys than to pretend like it has something to do with a contemporary series? I think that I'm supposed to assume that the headless protagonists are Clooney, Pitt, and Damon.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Thanks Harry,

I'll probably save Santa for the back. I've been dabbling a little and here's what the front is shaping up like. Tried it in color at first, but I like it bettter in black and white. Still have lots of work to do...

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Like that cover. Is that designed as a slipcase or the actual insert?

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

It'll be the actual wrap-around cover that you "insert" into the keepcase. If that makes any sense to you. I'll try to have the finished version ready sometime next week. Got several things going on right now!

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

There's some other interesting poster and logo treatments at these links:

http://www.impawards.com/1979/silent_partner.html

http://www.northernstars.ca/titles/1...t_partner.html

http://i6.ebayimg.com/02/i/04/b5/c9/4c_1.JPG

http://item.express.ebay.com/Enterta...mdZExpressItem

There was also a very humorous "cartoon" newspaper ad campaign involving a caricatured Santa holding up a clerk, but I can't yet find that graphic.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Mark, I saw most of those, but could not find anything in a suitable resolution.

Anyway, I abandoned the black and white version and am now finishing up this...



The Hi-res should be ready for download in a day or so.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

For anyone who is interested, I went with a different title treatment.



Hi-res versions are ready for download...

You can download the standard size cover here.

Or the thinpak version here!

Hopefully, one or two of you will dig it.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

I like it, Ric. I especially appreciate that you used the proper currency on the cover.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Thanks, Stephen! Took a bit of work to find Canadian money circa 1978!

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Looks good, but how do I get it to print out at the full and proper size? The jpg viewer that comes with Windows XP has a print function, but the printed output is reduced a little in size. If I use what looks like the fuller option there, it crops off part of the picture, particularly the right edge of the landscape picture.

I used my scanner's printing function too (IPhotoPlus4), and that also wouldn't print out the full size without cropping something, though it did give me the full height I needed. I even tried telling the printer it had legal paper in there, and it still cuts off that right edge.

Any other suggestions?

Harry

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Harry,

You will need paper bigger than letter size. Glossy photo paper works the best, but its nearly impossible to find legal size photo paper. There are some work arounds and printing tips at the bottom of the About page at my site. And make sure you have nothing checked that would try to change the size (like borderless or print to fit media).

If you go with the thinpak, you may be able to use a letter sized sheet. Depends on your printer.

Good luck!

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Thanks Ric, I'll play around with it some more when I get some time. Good work on the cover though!

Harry

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Ric, is there any chance of getting a hi-res version of your previous cover? I kinda like the "broken glass" letter treatment than the pyramid layout. It's not a big deal if you don't - both covers are light years better than what Lionsgate created.

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Shouldn't be a problem. Any other preferences? Do you want the main title in red like I have it or white? What about the tagline above the title (red or white?) And is the spine title ok? Want it for a standard size or a thinpak?

BTW, yesterday I came across my old VHS with the cartoon cover!

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

I went with what I thought looked best. It's for a standard sized cover...



Download it here!

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

Yeah, that's very pretty. Thank you!

Re: The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news?

An excellent movie! And I've downloaded these cool new covers, too.