A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Singing Detective -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

The feature version of The Singing Detective, directed by Keith Gordon, is an odd film about a patient with a horrific skin condition, who finds solace in his (day)dreams, dropping out of his unpleasant existence and into into a noir world, filled with musical numbers.

The general consensus upon its release in 2003 was that it didn't live up to the original BBC version, released seven years previous.

One can make the presumption that taking a six episode TV drama, running over 400 minutes, and paring down to feature length, may be problematic.

I'm not suggesting that the feature version, which has Robert Downey, Jr. and Robin Wright in the leads should be given short shrift.  It shouldn't.

But if I were inclined to go for it I'm probably view the BBC first, and then contrast and compare with the Paramount, now being offered via Olive.

It's a nice looking Blu-ray, with zero problems.

Resolution, color, grain structure, black levels all seemingly correct.  Don't attempt to correct your monitor when it comes to the hospital interiors.  They are what they are.

Image - 4.5

 

Audio - 5

4k Up-rez - 4

Pass / Fail - Pass

 

RAH

Robert Harris said:

The general consensus upon its release in 2003 was that it didn't live up to the original BBC version, released seven years previous.


One can make the presumption that taking a six episode TV drama, running over 400 minutes, and paring down to feature length, may be problematic.

Click to expand...

It's not even really possible to compare the two. Although the movie was also scripted by Dennis Potter (the screenplay had been written a decade earlier and lingered unproduced until after his death) and has the same basic concept, the feature takes a totally different approach to the material. The story has been changed from 1940s film noir to 1950s noir, and the songs updated from big band to rock & roll. It was Potter's intention that the film be its own thing.


I'm generally a fan of Keith Gordon as a director, but he really missed the mark with this one. The movie fails on just about every level for me. The musical numbers are awful. Downey plays the main character as a completely unlikeable a-hole who simply barks out a stream of expletives, whereas Michael Gambon crafted his diatribes into deliciously witty and cutting verbal tirades and convinced us that the character was ultimately sympathetic and even charming beneath his gruff exterior. The puzzle of the narrative has also been flattened out and made extremely simplistic. It just doesn't work at all.


BBC really needs to restore the original miniseries. As I recall, the DVD for that looks terrible.