Having paid homage to celebrated cinematic icons like Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini in such films as Interiors, Stardust Memories, and A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, Woody Allen turned his attention toward German expressionism in one of his most polarizing pictures Shadows and Fog. Admittedly, Shadows and Fog isn’t always immediately satisfying for an audience: its net of satirical targets is a wide one, and they’re not always punctured with enough bullseyes to land with telling accuracy, but the film tends to grow on the viewer after multiple trips to its unnamed hamlet beset by a killer, and the esthetic beauty of the haunting black and white cinematography and the dissonant German-tinged musical themes (many but not all by Kurt Weill) are reason enough to rewatch and reevaluate what Allen has wrought.
Studio: MGM
Distributed By: Twilight Time
Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English 1.0 DTS-HDMA (Mono)
Subtitles: English SDH
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 1 Hr. 25 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray
clear keep caseDisc Type: BD50 (dual layer)
Region: All
Release Date: 11/10/2015
MSRP: $29.95
The Production Rating: 3.5/5
Woody Allen’s Kleinman is awakened from a sound sleep to take part in his neighborhood's vigilante committee. A mad strangler (Michael Kirby) who occasionally slits his victims from ear to ear for good measure is loose in the area, and this group of men is taking matters into its own hands. Allen plays his basic wimp character, wandering around aimlessly trying to find out his part in the plan but getting no concrete answers in very Kafka-esque conversations with his peers which never produce any answers, and eventually, due to his own naiveté and a tendency of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he is suspected of the latest strangling and pursued by the growing mob.
Allen has filmed this nightmarish narrative in black and white and in an expressionistic style not unlike the great German classics M and the even earlier silent film Nosferatu. Added to the shadowy and mistily evocative photography that so distinguishes the film is the music of Kurt Weill and others in the same vein. These offbeat, dissonant tunes add another layer of menace and a mordant tone to the film's already bleak feel and make it, along with Interiors, Stardust Memories, and Crimes and Misdemeanors, Allen's most somber work for the cinema up to that time. The film’s themes crowd upon each other until there is almost no room to breathe: sexual identity, infidelity, and the double standards attached to the sexual behavior of men and women, mob mentality and the farce of warring factions out for the same goal, the expedience of conformity, the nature of evil, the belief or disbelief in theology, and the occasional need for illusion and diversion.
All of this, though, would hardly matter were his once-in-a-lifetime dream cast used more tellingly. Mia Farrow is the leading lady, of course, as Irmy, the girl friend of circus clown John Malkovich. She symbolizes the rise of the feminine voice in social affairs (several scenes where she speaks up for the constipated Kleinman get him deeper and deeper into hilarious trouble) and performs with her customary combination of pluck and willowy innocence. None of the other roles in the picture, sad to say, last for more than a few scenes or make any major impressions though naturally they are very welcome presences. Jodie Foster, Lily Tomlin, and Kathy Bates play prostitutes for two scenes, and there isn't one pungent or memorable remark uttered by a single one of them as they josh and jeer about the eccentricities of their male clientele. Madonna peeps in as a brazen trapeze artist bent on sexual liaisons with any and all comers. John Cusak has a scene or two as a student who visits a brothel and illustrates the old adage of everyone having his price. As is the case with many Allen movies of the era, many illustrious faces pass by the lens, some more effectively than others. Kate Nelligan has a bit that's seconds long. Julie Kavner, always a welcome sight in several of Allen's previous movies like New York Stories and especially Radio Days, has one commendable scene as Allen's jilted love interest who won't give him sanctuary (“Get out and die!” she screams as she ousts him from her flat). David Ogden Stiers, Philip Bosco, and Kenneth Mars are almost unrecognizable in their whiskers and spectacles as their moments pass by fleetingly (Mars makes the most telling impression of the three). Fred Gwynne is glimpsed in the background for a moment or two as are James Rebhorn, Josef Sommer, and, in a more important sequence, Donald Pleasence as one of the tragically murdered who must face his impending doom with a graceful dread. Future stars John C. Reilly and William H. Macy get a few very brief moments in the spotlight.
But the film has consistent technical quality. Carlo Di Palma's monochromatic cinematography has a luminescence that's startlingly and hauntingly beautiful, and though these are all likely interior sets, the village with its crooked, cobblestoned streets and a lighted bridge extending into the distance is most impressive. Allen stages at the local brothel a sequence of comments by the prostitutes and their patrons in which the camera movies twice in fully circular motions that are simply hypnotic. (Too bad what's being said isn't equally as interesting though it seems to crack up the ladies and might have been improvised.) But as was always the case with the German expressionistic pictures, the mood is so cold, somber, and removed that it’s sometimes difficult to touch us deeply even with a surprising turn of events with an orphaned child which occupy the latter moments of the picture. Statements are made like "We live for illusion," or "We are all happy if we only knew it," but the film doesn’t fully convince us. Allen hasn't gotten us involved enough emotionally with his cast of characters, so the things they might have to say don't stick with us or cause us more than a moment's pause to consider their validity.
Video Rating: 4.5/5 3D Rating: NA
The film’s 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio is faithfully reproduced in a 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. With all of the fog effects and filters required to pull off the “exterior” scenes, it’s amazing that the Blu-ray has no problem resolving the imagery, and all of the interiors are sharp and tremendously appealing. The grayscale accurately recreates the theatrical look of the movie with its myriad white, black, and gray textures with aplomb and without heavy amounts of grain. The only negative is the sporadic dust specks which do make themselves known throughout the presentation. The film has been divided into 24 chapters.
Audio Rating: 4/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 sound mix is vintage Woody Allen mono sound from this period of his career. Dialogue is always easy to discern due to the expert recording, and it’s been mixed well with the background themes from a variety of sources and the occasional atmospheric effect. There are no problems with hiss or other aural artifacts.
Special Features Rating: 2.5/5
Isolated Score Track: presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono.
Theatrical Trailer (1:06, SD)
MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (2:06, HD)
Six-Page Booklet: contains a fun series of stills from the movie, original poster art on the back cover, and film historian Julie Kirgo’s sharp analysis of the movie.
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
For some, Shadows and Fog may be a problem of too much style with too little elaborated substance, but over the years I’ve come to have a grudging respect for it both for its themes and its humor. There are only 3,000 copies of this Blu-ray available. Those interested should go to www.screenarchives.com to see if product is still in stock. Information about the movie can also be found via their website at www.twilighttimemovies.com or via Facebook at www.facebook.com/twilighttimemovies.
Reviewed By: Matt Hough
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