HTF REVIEW: "All That Jazz" (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Gary Lisker]

I forwarded Ron's review to a friend of mine who went to film school and has been eagerly waiting for All That Jazz on DVD since he bought a player. He sent me the following as a partial response, and I thought it was worth posting.

"The music quality is supposed to be enhanced during the dream imaginary sequences to separate them from the reality sequences. As for the look of the film, it was Fosse's expressed intention to manipulate the "look" of each sequence--grainy, foggy, dreamy, dirty, etc. which our reviewer equates with the look of a 70's film, but which was actually a reaction against the gloss creaping into film production during the late 70s. Kind of like
under-producing a rock record in reaction against the sound of ELO or Styx. Still, the dream / musical sequences look as spectacular as anything coming out of Hollywood at the time."

 

[Glenn_Jn]

I have to
continue to remind myself that I can't keep comparing
film transfers because I have no idea what the
condition of the prints were in the first place, or
how the film actually looked or sounded when it
played theatrically.

What! you can't remember how a film looked at the theater 24 years ago? What's the matter Ron are you getting old? Seriously tho I doubt I could remember how good or bad a film looked that I saw last week never mind 24 years ago. Watching a movie at your average cinema is no way of telling how a movie is "supposed to look" anyway.

 

[PatrickL]

The music quality is supposed to be enhanced during the dream imaginary sequences to separate them from the reality sequences.

I've read just about everything I've been able to get my hands on about Bob Fosse and I've never read this; I'd be interested if your friend saw this quoted, or holds this as his considered opinion.

In any event, I don't think it explains what Ron describes in his review. Ron says that on his disc, the sound takes a huge leap in expansiveness near the end of chapter 13, which is a not a musical fantasy sequence - it leads into the open-heart surgery documentary footage on chapter 14. The musical fantasy numbers seen from the hospital bed are confined only to chapters 16 and 18, not the entire final 45 minutes or so that Ron indicates as having better sound dynamics.

 

[David Von Pein]

Hey, Ron, btw.....How's your Panasonic RP-82 holding up under the constant strain of tons of DVD viewing weekly?

Has it met the "reviewer's" challenge admirably?

As I understand it (from this board), the RP-82 is no longer on the market. Is this correct?

Or, Ron, did you foresee this, and pick up a spare machine as a back-up?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

David,

I own the Panasonic RP92, champagne.

Funny you bring this up -- I just ordered a
second RP92 in black last weekend.

The Panasonic RP92 is still one of the best
DVD players out there.

 

[Kevin M]

It's Show Time!

I'll be getting this with no hesitation....I'm really surprised that this was originally released mono at a time when every major studio was releasing their "big movies" in Dolby..hell even years before 1979 it was common place to release musicals in stereo.
Heck even a small budget WB film like Time After Time was originally released in surround sound the same year.

 

[Felix Martinez]

I own the Panasonic RP92, champagne.

Funny you bring this up -- I just ordered a
second RP92 in black last weekend.

The Panasonic RP92 is still one of the best
DVD players out there.

Cripes! There's an RP-92? My champagne RP-91 is my fave player and gets a helluva workout.

Re: ATJ - did it run in 70mm? I saw it in the same theater where I saw Alien back in '79, and I could have sworn it ran in 70mm (as did Alien).

Cheers,

 

[Jeff_HR]

In other Fox news, they have also announced the full specs for their August lineup of classics musicals. While the originally announced Star! has been postponed in anticipation of additional supplements, the rest of the lineup ain't too shabby. All will feature new anamorphic widescreen transfers and 5.1 Dolby remixes, trailers and additional extras. All That Jazz boasts an audio commentary by Roy Scheider, an interview with Scheider and
5 Bob Fosse clips

I find it a bit interesting that DVD File seems to think that "All That Jazz" is going to be 5.1 with its audio track. Or have I really misread the above quote?

 

[David Lambert]

Jeff, people make mistakes sometimes. I sure do!

 

[Jeff_HR]

You never know Fox could have changed their mind.