Colin Zavitz

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ADDITION: Masters of Cinema - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - October 2010: Aside from individual sellers, I believe the Fox single-disc edition DVD of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is only available in the Jayne Mansfield Collection - reviewed HERE.

NOTE: This is another Blu-ray only release from the Masters of Cinema Series.

We can always trust Masters of Cinema to do a competent progressive transfer and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is no exception. It looks quite pleasing on my system with richer reds and a more dynamic widescreen appearance than the flatter SD-DVD image. The 1080P rendering shows some good film grain as well. In-motion the disparity between the two transfers is much greater than indicated by the static screen captures in this case but in comparison to modern films this 53-year-old film would obviously be considered less remarkable.

Audio is impressive in the lossless DTS-HD Master 2.0 at 1795 kbps. I am able to confirm that Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? played theatrically in 4.0 channel (as all Fox CinemaScope films at that time). This required a magnetic striping of the prints, which was, by the way - a major expense. I didn't notice much separation in the DVD audio (which has 4.0 channel) but as far as Dolby Digital Prologic tracks go, there isn't much difference. If you think about the distribution of speakers in a 4.0 mix (LCR and mono surround all as discrete channels) and the distribution of Dolby stereo (the same distribution, but matrixed) they are probably the same mix, just labeled differently (thanks Marvin!). The 4.0 track on the DVD has to be a Dolby matrix track because there is no other way of encoding it on a standard DVD. The Blu-ray offers an alternate music & effects track (also in lossless 2.0 channel) with a different musical score for the opening of the film and other ‘temporary’ effects-placement. There are optional English subtitles and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'B'-locked.

Extras: On the DVD film historian Professor Dana Polan - whom you may remember from the commentaries on Emperor of the North ,on the Warner Film Noir Boxset 3 (Border Incident) and the Tough Guys Collection (Bullets or Ballots) - switches gears on Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? to explain many of the less obvious satirical jabs at the intentional artificialities in the film. It's exceptionally good. As I said, I am unaware of the content of the sole disc but doubt it would contain the A&E Biography episode "Jayne Mansfield: Blonde Ambition" piece from the Mansfield package.

The MoC Blu-ray has a 7-minute introduction to the film by director Joe Dante (Matinee) in HD and a vintage Movietone short which captures Jayne Mansfield on tour promoting the film - for just under 1-minute. There is the, already discussed, alternate music & effects track and an original theatrical trailer (2:23 in HD!) plus a valuable 44-page booklet featuring two new essays by film writer David Cairns, and an exclusive 2003 interview about the film with Tony Randall, conducted by Ethan DeSeife. Excellent!  

Beyond being one of the funnier films of the late 50's - Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? has some keenly nuanced satire that places it higher in terms of film importance and longevity. It seemingly deserves Blu-ray treatment and who better to do it than the Masters of Cinema series? For the best looking and sounding representation - the UK Blu-ray is certainly the best option. The film is a lot of fun and offers much more than most might anticipate. Give it a spin - we certainly recommend. 

Gary W. Tooze