HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: A Clockwork Orange

Blu-ray Disc/DVD REVIEW

STANLEY KUBRICK'S A CLOCKWORK ORANGEStudio: Warner Bros. Film Year: 1971 Film Length: 2 hours 17 minutes Genre: Futuristic Drama/Comedy Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 BD Resolution: 1080p BD Video Codec: VC-1 @ over 15 MBPS Color/B&W: Color Audio: PCM English 5.1 English Dolby Digital 5.1 French Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 German Dolby Digital 5.1 Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese & Swedish Film Rating: R

Release Date: October 23, 2007Film Rating: 3/5 /Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Adrienne Corri, Miriam Karlin Based on the novel by Anthony Burgess Written, Produced & Directed by: Stanley Kubrick I’m singin’ in the rain (kick!) Just singin’ in the rain (thwack!) What a glorious feelin’ I’m happy again...A Clockwork Orange is Stanley Kubrick’s aggressive adaptation of the future shock novel by Anthony Burgess. As an adaptation, the film reflects more of Kubrick’s sensibilities than those of Burgess. Typical of Kubrick, the film is loaded with striking images and bitter irony. The story follows the adventures of an amoral young hoodlum played with almost demonic glee by Malcolm McDowell as he goes from his natural condition of anarchic violence to a state-programmed obedience and back again. In counterpoint to Kubrick’s previous film 2001, this one uses classical music to background scenes of brutality and sexuality – with orchestral passages mixed with the synthesizer work of Wendy Carlos. It’s an exhilarating ride, if you can make it through the rougher passages, and it stands, as many other Kubrick films do, as a testament to the inhumanity of man.A Clockwork Orange was released on standard definition DVD twice before now. The current release is identical on Blu-ray and HD-DVD, containing a 1080p transfer and all the special features of the SD-DVD. VIDEO QUALITY: 2 ½/5 ½ A Clockwork Orange is presented in a 1080p VC-1 transfer that would do well for a standard definition DVD, but which is unfortunately disappointing in comparison to other high definition transfers I have reviewed for this site. While the colors are accurately presented, and the blacks are solid, the transfer simply lacks the level of detail that I have come to expect from Blu-ray editions. It is by no means a bad transfer – it’s just nothing more than what could be seen on the standard definition disc. And at an average rate of over 15 mbps and at many points over 20 mbps, it is striking to see such a lack of definition. This may reflect the film itself being shot with a lot of diffusion, but it doesn't track that this print shows less definition than the grainy one I reviewed of The Dirty Dozen several months ago.AUDIO QUALITY: 3/5 A Clockwork Orange is presented in a 4.6 mbps Linear PCM 5.1 mix in English and a 640kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 mix in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. Both mixes primarily focus the sound in the front channels, but the music fills the theatre. And the dialogue is fairly clear, even when the characters are speaking in Burgess’ invented slang, Nadsat.SPECIAL FEATURES: 3 ½/5 ½ The Blu-Ray presentation of A Clockwork Orange includes all of the special features from the 2-disc standard DVD edition, some presented in their original 480p standard definition, and one presented in 1080i. Commentary with Malcolm McDowell and Historian Nick Redmond – This is essentially an interview of McDowell by Redmond as they watch the film with us. There’s some great stuff here, and McDowell has a great recall for the people he was working with, both in front of the camera and behind it. McDowell provides a lot of gems throughout, including an acknowledgement that his opening toast to the audience was his way of saying “You’re in for one hell of a ride.” Another highlight is his recall of meeting Gene Kelly with both men knowing what McDowell had done to Kelly’s signature song in the movie. Channel Four Documentary STILL TICKIN’: THE RETURN OF CLOCKWORK ORANGE (43:40) (480p Anamorphic) – SPOILER WARNING ON THIS ONE: WATCH THE MOVIE OR READ THE BOOK BEFORE READING THIS. This documentary was actually made for British television several years ago, to coincide with the re-release of the film in British cinemas after Kubrick’s death. It’s an interesting piece of work, containing a history of the book and the film, and containing several criticisms of Kubrick. In the first place, Kubrick is criticized for not including the ending to Burgess’ book, in which Alex chooses to reform himself. This is passed off as the result of Kubrick only reading the American printing of the book, which omits that chapter – but that idea has been disproven by other sources which say that Kubrick didn’t like that ending and chose to end the film the way he did. Another criticism is raised regarding the film being pulled from British cinemas after violence erupted, but not being pulled from cinemas or video release anywhere else. The long-standing story of this is that Kubrick was upset by the copycat violence that broke out and did not wish to encourage it. This documentary follows a different thought – that Kubrick was warned that the copycats might actually seek him out at his remote estate. As you may gather, this is prickly stuff – and it really falls on the viewer to make up their own mind about the material. But it certainly makes for nearly 45 minutes of interesting viewing. Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making A Clockwork Orange (28:17) (480p Non Anamorphic) - This new featurette acts as a counterpoint to the Channel Four documentary, re-asserting Kubrick’s creative choices and discussing how he made the film on a lower budget and achieved his results. There’s great stuff in here, including discussions about the costuming and lighting, and an account of what happened when McDowell panicked during the filming of the infamous brainwashing sequence. It’s probably best to watch both documentaries together, to get the full picture. My only complaint here, is that this featurette, for some reason, is not anamorphically encoded, unlike everything else on the disc. It’s not a big thing – just a bit disconcerting. O Lucky Malcolm! (1:26:10) (1080i) – Here we have a feature-length overview of Malcolm McDowell’s career, presented in 1080i high definition. It consists of video interview clips with McDowell, intercut with interviews of other filmmakers and wives and friends, as well as with clips from his movies. The overview jumps a bit from McDowell’s early career to his appearance in Time After Time, to a discussion of his work on Caligula, and then jumps over the 80’s and 90’s almost completely. (If you’re looking for an in-depth discussion of his work on Blue Thunder or Star Trek: Generations, you won’t find it here) McDowell comes across as a bit of a raconteur, continually coming up with amusing stories, some of which may actually stretch the truth a bit. And it’s a bit sobering to see the man suddenly age from a vibrant young man to the grizzled older man we see today. Theatrical Trailer (1:00) (480p Anamorphic) – The film’s original theatrical trailer is included in standard definition. It doesn’t appear to be in the best condition, but at least it’s anamorphically encoded. The usual menus are all included here, including the pop-up menu bar that can be accessed during the film. The movie itself starts automatically when you put the disc into the player. There is a thorough chapter list. The feature itself is subtitled in no less than 14 languages: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Swedish. The special features (other than the trailer) are subtitled in 12 languages – basically all the above minus Chinese and Korean. (There is absolutely no truth to the thought that a Klingonese subtitle track could have been included too.)IN THE END...A Clockwork Orange still retains its brutal power, now 36 years after its initial release. For fans of Stanley Kubrick, it is a must-have. However, the picture quality may gave you pause. I recommend renting it as far as the high-definition choice is concerned. Kevin Koster November 10, 2007.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: A Clockwork Orange

Danny, I respectfully disagree. Remember that I did not say it was a bad transfer - but the fact that other high definition period releases like The Dirty Dozen and Enter the Dragon show greater definition cannot be denied. And I was as surprised as anyone about it.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: A Clockwork Orange

You're absolutely right about what the transfer can show. And I believe some diffusion was used during the shooting of A Clockwork Orange. But it is still startling to me that the film master is that soft on the details. On a standard definition transfer, this wouldn't show up as much. But when you get to 1080p, it is quite noticeable. And it is hard to believe that the other films have better quality masters than Kubrick's work.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: A Clockwork Orange

I'm not really sure how to respond, so I'll simply apologize if I have offended anyone with my writing here, in any of my reviews. I have tried, and will continue to try, to be fair and accurate in my work. I am certainly not an expert on video equipment or on digital remastering. Nor am I an experienced projectionist or color timer. But I do have approximately 13 years production experience - mostly in television - working with on shows that use 35mm cameras and with others that use high definition equipment. And I do have a proper 1080p set and a 5.1 sound system that makes it possible for me to do these reviews.

I certainly don't think of myself anywhere near the expertise of someone like Robert Harris. I will say that when I reviewed the Dreamgirls Blu-ray disc, I was very happy to see that he agreed that the picture quality was outstanding. It's a very nice feeling to have your work validated by someone who really is an expert in their field. (I continue to use that disc as a demo for people who have never seen high definition video before).

The television I am viewing these discs on is a 40" Sony XBR2, which displays full 1080p imagery. I was careful to calibrate the image per the manual before trying to view any DVDs on it. And I pay close attention to the imagery and sound - at least as much as a non-expert can.

So I feel I am contributing something worthwhile for the readers here, and I will continue to do so.

But I admit it's a little hard to read the opinion that my writing is "tripe". I don't think I've quite earned that. We can certainly disagree on the merits of different transfers without that kind of thing.

Re: HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: A Clockwork Orange

Thanks guys. And thank you David for your second comment.

Again, I'm certainly not an expert on film stocks, lenses and color timing. But I have certainly dealt with them as part of my work. I agree with everyone that Robert Harris is an authority we can all look up to on these matters.

BTW as an example of color timing running amok, I had an experience about 10 years ago on one show that is instructive. We filmed for a day on a military base next to the helicopter hangars. We were allowed to film there so long as we didn't show the insides of the hangars. So the DP made sure the insides of the hangars read as black. But when the footage got to Post, someone decided they wanted to see a hint of what was happening inside and not just the solid black. So they messed with the exposure and the color timing to make the hangar interior barely visible. In doing so, they radically changed the colors of what was happening outside as well. When the episode aired on television, I noticed that while the flesh tones didn't seem to be affected much, a fuel truck I had placed in multiple shots had magically gone from its actual brown and drab green coloring (military camoflauge) to something like a dark, cold BLUE. I tentatively asked one of the camera assistants about it and was told that the DP was furious and probably would not want to talk about the matter...

I also agree with the previous posters' hesitation regarding super-sharp, grainless new action movies. I've seen some of these and found them to look almost like computer animation. And I'm not a fan of that idea. I have no problem with grain - for example, I have now been able to watch The Shining on both Blu-ray and HD-DVD, and that film has some grain to it and looks terrific. My only grain issues happen when it begins obstructing the image - as I noted on The Dirty Dozen and more obviously on Hustle & Flow. Or perhaps "obstruct" is the wrong word. With Hustle & Flow I found the experience to be similar to looking through a screen door, and some close ups wound up feeling unintentionally two-dimensional as a result.

I've started looking over the 2001 HD-DVD, and I was knocked off my chair. I'll have that review up this weekend. The Shining should be up tonight or tomorrow night.