Pre-Order The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

The link below will take you directly to the product on Amazon. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

 

[Alan Tully]

A very quirky & fun film. Universal released a pressed DVD in the UK, I was looking for it the other week, but then remembered I'd lent it to someone. I'll certainly be buying this along with, The Thrill Of It All...& then there's the WAC releases for March (whatever they'll be), along with some other announcements, a very good start to the year.

 

[JPCinema]

More great news!!!!

 

[Matt Hough]

Always found this a fun film. I'm a big mystery buff anyway, so naturally I was intrigued with it from its initial release. The mystery isn't the greatest, but the disguised actors are a novelty (allegedly a couple of them aren't actually in the picture except for the reveals at the end. The heavy make-up disguised stand-ins doing the roles. It's obvious that's Mitchum and Douglas since the make-up doesn't disguise their very recognizable looks).

 

[JPCinema]

A terrific Jerry Goldsmith score too!!!

 

[Robin9]

Don't overlook that this is one of the first films where George C. Scott played a leading role.

 

[Charles Smith]

Oh, what great news! I've loved this film since.....well, quite possibly when it was released. I know I went to it as a kid, maybe a couple of times. And on home video I never got past the laserdisc which I still have here. Thank you, Universal!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to this release so I can retire my Universal Vault Series DVD.

 

[TonyD]

Still have an old double feature Laserdisc.

Guess I m Got have to get this.

 

[mark-edk]

Having watched this many times it’s my opinion that the guest stars really were disguised in the film but some doubles were also used. They may have filmed some of them (like Sinatra) separately in Hollywood and just used a few close up shots that could’ve been done in a studio. Other shots in the same scene, on location, including the set or location, were done in England with a double dressed like Sinatra. He wasn’t about to go to London just to do a 2 minute scene but he could do a few lines in Hollywood that they would later intercut with the double. (And I’m pretty sure the few lines he did were dubbed because The Voice would’ve been a giveaway.)

 

[JPCinema]

The release date has passed and Amazon does not know when it will be in stock... Does anyone know why?

 

[atfree]

The release date has passed and Amazon does not know when it will be in stock... Does anyone know why?

It appears all the Universal April releases have been delayed. This happened with their last batch of releases (The Paper, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, Fletch Lives) which were delayed a couple of months if I remember correctly.

My theory is that Universal releases catalog BD's so rarely, they've forgotten "how-to" and someone's looking frantically at the manual under "Distribution" right now.

 

[atfree]

My copy shipped today from Amazon

 

[Alan Tully]

Yup, in stock at Wow (it's the company I mostly use for US imports into the UK) I just ordered it. It looks like it was only a day or two delay.

 

[ahollis]

Scheduled for delivery today along with The Egg and I.

 

[Matt Hough]

I have not bought the Blu-ray of the film yet, but I took my Universal Vault DVD off the shelf tonight and watched it. First of all, it was clean as a whistle and the anamorphic transfer upconverted quite wonderfully (for some reason, I had it running through my head it was a non-anamorphic transfer), excellently enough to see telltale signs of makeup and wig attachments. I'm afraid in high definition, this will look even faker than they do in standard definition.

I remember reviewers at the time complaining about the indecipherable plot, but they must not have been paying much attention because everything is eventually revealed and is clear as can be. Huston did a fine job directing this.

It's obvious Paul Frees did a fair amount of looping dialogue here for the French actors as well as disguising some of Kirk Douglas' vocal masquerades and also Sinatra's voice. Seems like the woman who stood in for Burt Lancaster either did her own lines or they were looped later but definitely by a woman. That is not Lancaster's voice at all, and that's not him in the movie proper either (not large enough to be him).

 

[Alan Tully]

I remember in the sixties (in the UK) there was a TV program made up of film clips (usually with a theme), I loved it because I was mad about movies, & I can remember one clip: an old man looking into a mirror takes his face off, a bit at a time & becomes Kirk Douglas! That surreal scene (worthy of Buñuel) stuck in my mind (I had no idea what film it was from), I don't think I saw the film until the seventies. The disguised stars are fun, but for me the most enjoyable element of the film is George C. Scott's pantomime turn as the English detective.

 

[Matt Hough]

I have not bought the Blu-ray of the film yet, but I took my Universal Vault DVD off the shelf tonight and watched it. First of all, it was clean as a whistle and the anamorphic transfer upconverted quite wonderfully (for some reason, I had it running through my head it was a non-anamorphic transfer), excellently enough to see telltale signs of makeup and wig attachments. I'm afraid in high definition, this will look even faker than they do in standard definition.

I remember reviewers at the time complaining about the indecipherable plot, but they must not have been paying much attention because everything is eventually revealed and is clear as can be. Huston did a fine job directing this.

It's obvious Paul Frees did a fair amount of looping dialogue here for the French actors as well as disguising some of Kirk Douglas' vocal masquerades and also Sinatra's voice. Seems like the woman who stood in for Burt Lancaster either did her own lines or they were looped later but definitely by a woman. That is not Lancaster's voice at all, and that's not him in the movie proper either (not large enough to be him).

Well, you can see what I had to say about the film eleven months ago watching it again on DVD upconverted to my OLED.

Tonight, I watched the Blu-ray, and I was very excited to see how absolutely gorgeous the picture is in high definition. You can see the heavy makeups on Douglas and Mitchum that don't always disguise them very well (especially Mitchum who might as well not have bothered).

A great job, Universal, though I wish there had been some bonus materials with this release. Such a great cast and directed by John Huston!