Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Trading Places - Looking Good, Feeling Good Edition -RECOMMENDED (1 Viewer)

Trading Places
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Blu-ray Disc REVIEW




Trading Places Blu-Ray
Looking Good, Feeling Good Edition

Studio: Paramount
Film Year: 1983
Film Length: 1 hour 56 minutes
Genre: Comedy

Aspect Ratio:
• 1.85:1 Theatrical Ratio

Film Resolution: 1080p
Special features: 1080p/480i
Video Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Colour/B&W: Colour

Audio:
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• French Dolby Digital Mono
• Spanish Dolby Digital Mono


Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Film Rating: R







Release Date: June 5, 2007

Film Rating: 4/5

Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott and Jamie Lee Curtis
Written by: Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod
Directed by: John Landis


TRADING PLACES continues to be a very entertaining comedy, now some 24 years after its original theatrical release. Powered by good performances by former SNL stars Dan Aykroyd and new-to-cinema Eddie Murphy, the film breezes along and carries the audience with it. The film holds together fairly well as a class comedy, in which the wealthy Duke brothers (played by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) arrange to switch the fortunes of Aykroyd’s stuffy stockbroker and Murphy’s street hustler, as part of a social experiment. The resulting hijinks, and the inevitable team-up of Aykroyd and Murphy are a lot of fun, even when there is a more dramatic undercurrent thrown in here and there. The film offers much to the viewer, including a fun performance from Jamie Lee Curtis and an overall atmosphere that never takes itself too seriously.

Paramount Home Video released a bare-bones DVD of this film a few years ago, but has now gone back and re-issued the film for a new release. The current edition, available in standard and HD, features a new transfer and roughly 45 minutes of special features. This is a great way to experience Eddie Murphy at the top of his game. (If the only Eddie Murphy movies you have seen start with DR DOOLITTLE, the film is a must-see!)


VIDEO QUALITY 4 ½ /5

For the Blu-Ray release, TRADING PLACES is presented in a 1080- MPEG4 AVC transfer that practically shimmers throughout. Flesh tones and colors are rendered in great detail, as are the textures of the locations, sets, and particularly, the costumes seen throughout the film. There is a parade of high-end clothing on display which the HD transfer captures in a way I’ve never seen on home video before. (Before anyone else says it, yes, the transfer also captures the low-end stuff quite well, particularly the revealing outfits given to Curtis’ character…)

I should note one exception, however, and it is the one thing that motivates my taking back a half-point on the video quality. A pivotal scene where Aykroyd’s character meets Jamie Lee Curtis on the police station steps is of an atypically lower quality than the rest of the film. This does not appear to be an authoring issue – it seems to stem from the actual print of the film itself. Judging from the coverage of this scene, I would guess that there were some weather and light issues on the day the scene was filmed, and the film may have been forced a stop (filmed at a lower exposure and then brightened in post production). However it happened, this one scene stands out as lesser in picture quality. Thankfully, it is brief, and the rest of the film is a delight to look at.

It’s actually surprising to see the film look this fresh after 24 years. It actually looks better than the Blu-Ray I just reviewed of FREEDOM WRITERS, and that film came out this year!


AUDIO QUALITY: 4/5

TRADING PLACES is presented in a 640kbs 5.1 Dolby Digital in English, and Mono in French and Spanish. As expected, this is a primarily front-oriented mix, with the emphasis going to the one-liners coming from the center speaker. However, the classically-oriented score makes good use of the surround channels, and there are a few directional sound effects here and there. (A gunshot and breaking glass is nicely placed off to the side at one point in the film, and there are a few atmospheric effects here and there.)


SPECIAL FEATURES 3/5

The Blu-Ray release of TRADING PLACES contains several featurettes, all of which are presented in non-anamorphic standard definition. There is also a trivia subtitle feature available during the film itself.

• Trivia Pop-Up Subtitles: This feature places tidbits of information about the film, locations and cast on little dollar bills that pop up in every scene. One scene in an elegant office gets a series of arrows to show all the fresh flowers placed on the set to add a touch of class to the setting. The trivia track is the only mention made of a crucial link for the film: Saturday Night Live. (Amazingly, none of the features here mention that the film was known for bringing together the first and second generations of SNL cast for the first time.)

• Insider Trading: The Making of TRADING PLACES (18:28): This is a fairly brief overall look at the making of the film, with intercuts between clips from the film, on-set photos and recent interviews with the cast, John Landis and writer Timothy Harris. The interview footage of Murphy appears to have been pulled from a separate NBC interview done sometime within the last few years. Harris discusses the genesis of the story as starting with a pair of doctor brothers he had known who would argue over everything, which inspired him to come up with the Duke brothers and their wager. There is some discussion about the casting of Aykroyd, Murphy and Curtis not being a slam-dunk with the studio at the time – until the film became a huge hit, of course. It is interesting to note that the separate interview with Murphy includes his admission that this film was the last pure fun he had on a movie. (Of course, almost every film he has made since then has had Murphy in the starring role, which always increases the pressure.) The quality of the film in the clips shown here (from the older transfers) demonstrates how much work has been done on the new transfer.

• Trading Stories (7:59): This is a collection of snippets from interviews conducted at the time of the film’s release. Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis are interviewed separately, and John Landis and Eddie Murphy are interviewed together.

• The Deleted Scene (3:09): A single deleted scene is included in full-screen mode, with optional commentary by executive producer George Folsey. The scene, featuring Paul Gleason as the villainous Clarence Beeks, really doesn’t add anything to the story, and is primarily interesting to see how Landis tried to cut in a tribute to SUNSET BLVD.

• Dressing the Part (6:31): This is a brief discussion with Deborah Nadoolman, the costume designer for the film. Her comments regarding the characters and the cast are intercut, as one would expect, with the appropriate clips from the film. Among the gems in the discussion is her loving disgust for the horrifying “Bad Santa” suit worn by Dan Aykroyd at one point, which she deliberately tailored at four sizes too large.

• The Trade in TRADING PLACES (5:25): This is a brief series of interview snippets with real stock market professionals. There’s some interesting stuff here, but they never get to any discussion of exactly what it is that Aykroyd and Murphy do to foil the Dukes. (For that answer, you can check the Trading Places entry at Wikipedia…)

• Industry Promotional Piece (4:18): This is a quick introduction to the film that before now was only seen at the 1983 ShoWest event at Las Vegas. It consists of Aykroyd and Murphy in the stock market restroom set improvising for about 3 minutes about the movie, intercut with some workprint edits of various scenes, as the film was only about half completed at this point. It is interesting to note that Aykroyd pretty much just follows Murphy’s lead as the wheels come off the wagon and they just start riffing on whatever accents they can come up with.
Subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish on the feature itself and in English for the featurettes. A generous scene index has been included. The usual pop-up menu capability is available here as you watch the film, but not the featurettes.


IN THE END...

TRADING PLACES is a genuinely entertaining film that has held up remarkably well since its debut in 1983. It’s worth your time to see here for two reasons. The first is the 1080p transfer, which looks terrific (with the one exception noted). The second is the performance of Eddie Murphy, which truly electrifies the screen. (Between 48 HRS, this film and BEVERLY HILLS COP, Murphy successfully jumped from sketch comedy on Saturday Night Live to the big screen for good, and with good reason) As I stated earlier, if the only Eddie Murphy performances you have seen are from the past 10 years, this film isn’t simply recommended viewing – it’s REQUIRED viewing.

Kevin Koster
May 28, 2007.

Good review Kevin.

You highlighted a particular issue that I would like to understand more fully.

You mentioned how good Trading Places looks for a film released in 1983, comparing this transfer favourably with Freedom Riders.

I read on Hi Def Digest that the transfer for Norbit is also less than stellar.

Why is it that some films look so good on DVD/HD and others seem beyond help?

I understand why 3 strip technicolour films like The Adventure's of Robin Hood, Wizard of Oz, etc can look so good.

But a lot of 80's films in particular seem to suffer from poor transfers with faded grainy prints, Tootsie is one than stood out in my memory, I also recall Out of Africa lacking in the sort of image quality you would expect from an epic movie.

What changed in Hollywood in the late 70' and 80's to lead to films being made on film stock that was not as good as the proceeding decades?

Spielberg films like Raiders of the lost Ark & ET seem to be immune to this problem, but Close Encounters seem to suffer from it.

Do the lens used to make these films also factor in the equation. I've always been a lot more impressed with the transfer of Panavision movies, even low budget films like Halloween look very impressive?

Personally, I think it all comes down to time and effort, which in turn come down to how much money the restorer is willing to spend on the project.

Certain projects, like the Library of Congress restoration I saw of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, have clearly been a major piece of work and the result is incredible. WIZARD OF OZ is one where between some great restoration work and the 3 strip technicolor prints, you wind up with a stunning picture. (When played on my set, the latest DVD of WIZARD OF OZ is so clear I can see the back wall of the set with the painted backdrops. That's where I draw the line for myself...)

The FREEDOM WRITERS 1080p transfer wasn't a bad one - it was a solid picture, but there really wasn't a lot there to work with - it's not that colorful of a film, and much of it is set in drab schoolroom and apartment locations. With TRADING PLACES, there was a lot more to play with - particularly the ritzier settings and the detail in the clothing fabrics.

I don't know that anything changed per se in Hollywood in the 70s and 80s regarding film stock. If anything, film stock has gotten better with time. It's just that some films get a lot more attention in their restoration (STAR WARS, SUPERMAN) than others (many 80's catalogue re-releases with new transfers) It's not that the new transfers aren't an improvement - they definitely are - it's just that, as with all things, there are varying levels of quality you can get out of them.

As for CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, I don't really have a problem with the picture on it. I agree that it's grainier and showing its age, but a good part of that is due to the way the big effects sequences were shot. (Lots of smoke, lots of diffusion - an attempt to make the UFOs look like they were moving in our atmosphere)

As for lenses, there are some directors who don't particularly care for anamorphic due to the potential distortions and other issues. But I haven't noticed major films then or now being shot with substandard lenses. As you get more into the independent films, you will see much more variability in picture quality. (EL MARIACHI, for example, was shot completely on short ends - leftover film stock rolls, sometimes under a minute in length)

HALLOWEEN has always been a steady seller on home video - and it's been treated with loving care by the people who have released it - between Criterion, Anchor Bay and everyone else...

Nice review Kevin. I LOVE this film. I hope the HD DVD version is equal to this....One of my favorite comedies of all time. Looks like Paramount delivered here.

All I needed to see was the Video Score. Consider it bought. Check out Coming to America when you can I need to know that Video Score as well.

Same here. This is a purchase sight unseen. Jamie Lee Curtis . Does it get any better?