The Graduate (40th anniv. edition) - any reviews ? (1 Viewer)

[Mark B]

I have seen this film at least a dozen times over the past 20 years. For me, there is always something new to see, think, and feel. The camera work is so good that I could watch it with no sound and still love it. Listening to the commentary with Hoffman and Ross was highly enjoyable. She brought up a point that gave me yet another element to examine -- Nichols' color scheme was very monochromatic. She's right. The more I looked for it, the more I saw black and white as the most prominent visual elements. A fascinating film, and a very good rendering on DVD.

 

[Marty M]

I also learned something from the Hoffman/Ross commentary. I had gone to Berkeley in the mid 70s looking for the fountain that Benjamin was sitting on when he first got to Berkeley. I found out in the commentary that was actually filmed at USC. Being a midwesterner all my life, I had no idea.

 

[Deepak Shenoy]

Glad I decided not to pre-order this. I was able to pick it up from Best Buy with the bonus S&G concert disc along with Deliverance which streeted yesterday. I am quite impressed by the new Graduate disc - was definitely worth the wait cause it looks great on my FP system with 100" screen.

-D

 

[Haggai]

On the other commentary, Mike Nichols mentions that they didn't get permission to shoot on the Berkeley campus, but they did manage to steal a few shots in the one day they were there. You can recognize some of them if you know the campus (I went to college there).

 

[Marty M]

Kathrine and Dustin mentioned the street scene in Berkeley was a stolen shot. The scene outside the nightclub on Sunset was also a stolen shot.

 

[Vincent Fok]

Just finished watching the new 40th Anniversary Edition. I'm upset to find that 'Scarborough Fair' in both the new 5.1 mix and DTS mix is screwed up, similar to what happened to the new mix in 'A Hard's Days Night'.

Apparently to create the new DD5.1 & DTS mix the version from the soundtrack album was used, which is identical to the S&G album version but not the same as the version used in the original mix. (You can tell with the line 'Sleeps unaware of the clarion call'.)

Even worse the version on the soundtrack album has 'Scarborough Fair' run twice bridged by the flute version used in the scene when Elaine leaves the boarding house. Therefore the going-to-Berkeley scene now ends with part of the flute version going over to the first boarding house scene, which doesn't happen in the original mix.

At least the original mono track is there. Looks like I'm going to have to stick with that in future viewings. (Which is a shame since I've just found out that my old SE is dying, right around the layer change where the 'Scarborough Fair' scenes are.)

The absence of the screen tests as originally stated in the press release is also a major letdown. Oh well, guess I'll just have to hold on to my Criterion LD a little longer.

Other than that, a solid SE that mostly delivers. The Hoffman-Ross commentary is a sheer delight. I don't know if Dusty's being cheeky or that I've got the wrong impression, but listening to their commentary it seems like he did have a crush on Katharine and 40 years on he's still trying to woo her.

In the commentary Dustin also asks/laments to Katharine over why they haven't got reunited in another film. How spot-on the comment is. I only wish there'll be another project that will interest them both to work on before the end of time.

 

[chas speed]

I was kind of shocked how good the new DVD looked after seeing the horrible looking screen caps on this thread. I forget what source they came from, but I don't think they looked anything like the DVD.