- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,271
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
Midnight Lace is David Miller's tale of a woman in jeopardy, based upon the stage play "Matilda Shouted Fire." It's an expensive, high-end production, with high-rent talent, and enough location work in London to belie the studio material from Universal, which looks fine.
The interesting situation is that while the audience does see a woman in jeopardy, very few characters believe a bit of her story.
It's generally a pretty film, with a fog sequence at the head that works very nicely. My problem with the production has always gone back to the script. The overall story, never really worked for me.
For Doris Day fans, its an interesting serious drama, wedged into between her more fun comedies.
The Blu-ray from Kino works in a general sense, although it appears, at least to my eye, that the original negative may have been past it prime, and there may have been a harvest of sep masters, with some shots just a tad out of registration. Never anything troublesome, but there, regardless. As Eastman Color, processed by Pathe, this doesn't seem unlikely.
Much of the film is also a bit on the contrasty side, but again, it will never spoil the fun.
What some may find interesting here, is the choice of aspect ratios. You are left to select either 2:1, which seemed to be the go-to for Universal during the era, or 1.85, which works nicely, as it fill the home theater frame.
Glancing at the back of the jacket, I noted the copyright notice - 1960, renewed 1986. An odd one.
Image - 3.75
Audio - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
Upgrade from DVD - Yes
RAH
The interesting situation is that while the audience does see a woman in jeopardy, very few characters believe a bit of her story.
It's generally a pretty film, with a fog sequence at the head that works very nicely. My problem with the production has always gone back to the script. The overall story, never really worked for me.
For Doris Day fans, its an interesting serious drama, wedged into between her more fun comedies.
The Blu-ray from Kino works in a general sense, although it appears, at least to my eye, that the original negative may have been past it prime, and there may have been a harvest of sep masters, with some shots just a tad out of registration. Never anything troublesome, but there, regardless. As Eastman Color, processed by Pathe, this doesn't seem unlikely.
Much of the film is also a bit on the contrasty side, but again, it will never spoil the fun.
What some may find interesting here, is the choice of aspect ratios. You are left to select either 2:1, which seemed to be the go-to for Universal during the era, or 1.85, which works nicely, as it fill the home theater frame.
Glancing at the back of the jacket, I noted the copyright notice - 1960, renewed 1986. An odd one.
Image - 3.75
Audio - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
Upgrade from DVD - Yes
RAH
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