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A view on Blu-ray by Gary W. Tooze

10 [Blu-ray]

 

(Blake Edwards, 1979)

 

 

Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Warner

Video: Warner Home Video

 

Disc:

Region: FREE! (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 2:02:19.332

Disc Size: 19,002,368,227 bytes

Feature Size: 18,405,746,688 bytes

Video Bitrate: 16.13 Mbps

Chapters: 35

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: February 1st, 2011

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1092 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1092 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
DUBs:

Dolby Digital Audio French 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio German 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio Portuguese 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Dolby Digital Audio Thai 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB

 

Subtitles:

English (SDH), English, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, none

 

Extras:

• A Dream... A Fantasy...a 10! (4:27 480i)

Trailer (2:47 480i)

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: One of the best comedies of the 1970s, Blake Edwards' ode to midlife crisis and the hazards of infidelity now plays like a valentine to that self-indulgent decade, and it's still as funny as it ever was. In the signature role of his career (along with Arthur), Dudley Moore plays a songwriter with a severe case of marital restlessness, and all it takes is a chance encounter with Bo Derek (in her screen debut) to jump-start his libido. Julie Andrews plays Moore's wife, who will only tolerate so much of her husband's desperate need to reaffirm his sexual vitality, while Moore pursues Derek to a tropical rendezvous. The action builds to the now-famous bedroom scene that sent everyone rushing to the music store for their own copy of Ravel's Boléro. Talk about a classical climax!

--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com .

 

 

The Film:

Blake Edwards's "10" is perhaps the first comedy about terminal yearning. Like all great comedies, it deals with emotions very close to our hearts: In this case, the unutterable poignance of a man's desire for a woman he cannot have. The woman, of course, must be unbelievably desirable (and the hero of "10," on a scale of 1 to 10, gives this particular woman an 11). It helps, too, if the man is short, forty-two years old, and filled with inchoate longings.

You remember inchoate longings. They used to stalk the pages of novels by Thomas Wolfe, back in the years before the Me Generation and the cult of instant gratification. There used to be a time, incredibly, when you couldn't have something just because you wanted it. "10" remembers that time. Its hero, Dudley Moore, begins "10" as a man who seems to have more or less what any man could desire. He is a successful composer. His girlfriend is Julie Andrews. He has a great house up in the hills, he drives a Rolls-Royce, he has cable TV with remote tuning.

Excerpt from Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun Times located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

10 shows its age on Blu-ray from Warner with a flat, less dynamic, looking image. There is grain there but the texture produced seems lackluster.  Detail is decent in the close-ups although other factors are muddier in comparison to the star transfers of the format. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame the single-layered transfer itself - although the bitrate is low. It isn't particularly blocky and is consistent and with some inferior stocks used in the lack 70's and early 80's this is probably a viable representation of the theatrical. Colors are stronger than SD but still reasonably lifeless. This Blu-ray doesn't excel in any one area but gave me a clean, effortless presentation. The film will definitely amuse but the image won't astound.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

Warner supplies a modest DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 channel mono track at 1092 kbps. This is faithful to the original and obviously doesn't have any separation of dramatic depth. There is plenty of music in the film - including, notable, Ravel's "Boléro". It sound clean and clear but flat - nothing really to extol. There are a handful of foreign language DUBs and plenty of subtitle options and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

 

Extras :

Extras don't offer much - the original 4.5-minute featurette with interview snippets and behind the scenes shots. There is also a theatrical trailer - both are in 480i - as they appeared on the DVD edition.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
I wasn't really in the mood for '10' but one cannot deny that it's a great comedy. Despite being dated it deals with universal themes of 'mid-life crisis', fidelity and the human penchant for superficiality. The Blu-ray is certainly no 'demo' but will undoubtedly give the best home theater digital presentation to date - and probably forever - for this forgotten gem. I doubt we're going to see it looking any better and for those keen enough on the film - it will give as good a presentation as you are likely to find. 

Gary Tooze

January 26th, 2011

 

 

 

About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 3500 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction.

Gary's Home Theatre:

60-Inch Class (59.58” Diagonal) 1080p Pioneer KURO Plasma Flat Panel HDTV PDP6020-FD

Oppo Digital BDP-83 Universal Region FREE Blu-ray/SACD Player
Momitsu - BDP-899 Region FREE Blu-ray player
Marantz SA8001 Super Audio CD Player
Marantz SR7002 THX Select2 Surround Receiver
Tannoy DC6-T (fronts) + Energy (centre, rear, subwoofer) speakers (5.1)

APC AV 1.5 kVA H Type Power Conditioner 120V

Gary W. Tooze

 

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