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All About Eve [Blu-ray]
(Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: 20th Century Fox Video: 20th Century Fox
Disc: Region: FREE! (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player) Runtime: 2:18:16.955 Disc Size: 47,586,361,902 bytes Feature Size: 40,788,566,016 bytes Video Bitrate: 25.49 Mbps Chapters: 20 Case: Digibook Blu-ray case Release date: February 1st, 2011
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 matted to 1.78:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio English 3207 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3207 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) DTS Audio English 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit DTS Audio French 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit DTS Audio German 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit DTS Audio Italian 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit DTS Audio Japanese 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit DTS Audio Spanish 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit Dolby Digital Audio Portuguese 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps Dolby Digital Audio Russian 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps Dolby Digital Audio Thai 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Subtitles: English (SDH), English, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Ukrainian, none
Extras:
• Audio Commentary by Celeste Holm, Ken Geist - Author/Film
Biographer; Christopher Mankiewicz (Director's Son)
• Achievements, 1951 Hollywood Attends Gala Premiere of "All About
Eve (1:57
480i)," Holiday Magazine Awards (2:50
480i), Look Magazine
Awards" (1:55
480i) • Vintage Anne Baxter promotion (1:27 480i)
• Theatrical trailer (3:08
480i)
• 26 -page Digibook with essays and photos
Bitrate:
Description: From the moment she glimpses her idol on Broadway, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) strives to upstage Margo Channing (Bette Davis). After cunningly stealing Margo’s role, Eve disrupts the lives of anyone close to the actress in this timeless cinematic masterpiece that earned a record 14 Oscar® Nominations*, winning six — including Best Picture! *** Jealousy, manipulation, and betrayal unfold in this tour de force drama of an ambitious wannabe who sets her sights... on stealing the spotlight from legendary stage actress Margo Channing. Insecurities and designer gowns abound as Margo desperately tries to hold onto her friends and career. *** Taking the reins of power from the great actress Margo Channing (Bette Davis), the cunning Eve (Anne Baxter) manoeuvres her way into Margo’s Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo’s director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critic (George Sanders) sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit. Marilyn Monroe co-stars in this acclaimed classic, which won six Academy Awards and received the most nominations (14) in film history.
The Film:
The good old legitimate theatre, the temple of Thespis and Art, which
has dished out a lot of high derision of Hollywood in its time, had
better be able to take it as well as dish it out, because the worm has
finally turned with a venom and Hollywood is dishing it back. In "All
About Eve," a withering satire—witty, mature and worldly-wise — which
Twentieth Century-Fox and Joseph Mankiewicz delivered to the Roxy
yesterday, the movies are letting Broadway have it with claws out and no
holds barred. If Thespis doesn't want to take a beating, he'd better
yell for George Kaufman and Moss Hart.
Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. All About Eve looks fabulous on Blu-ray from Fox. It jumps heads-and-tails above the artifact -ridden DVDs - which were actually strong for that SD format. I wouldn't say detail is the biggest beneficiary (although every visual facet improves) but it is a big beneficiary!. It is probably as sharp as it will get in this, or any, digital medium. It does look significantly crisper but contrast and film-like thickness and grain really give this 1080P transfer a very impressive edge. This is dual-layered with the two-plus-hour film taking up over 40 Gig of space. Contrast exhibits healthy, rich black levels and I suggest that the image quality is essentially perfect - in fact, I don't think the screen captures do it justice. In-motion this is very film-like and feels like you are stepping into the past seeing it theatrically - some 60-years ago. This Blu-ray gets top mark for the video rendering. I was expecting it to improve beyond the DVDs - but not this much. I think many fans will swoon.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
More Blu-ray Captures
Audio :Audio sports a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 at 3207 kbps. Certainly not a mix that would result in any deft separations but Alfred Newman's score (also available to hear as an 'isolated track' option) has some real depth that was never present on the DVD versions. Obviously the film is dialogue-centric but, predictably the HD track has everything crisp and clear - really flawless. Along with plenty of foreign language DUB options we also get a stack of subtitle choices in a white font (see sample below). My Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide and suspect this will be the exact same disc as sold throughout the world (perhaps not with the same Digi-book packaging though).
Extras : Extras duplicate the supplements available in the Two-Disc Special Edition (also available as part of The Bette Davis Centenary Celebration Collection reviewed HERE). This includes the 2 good commentaries, about 1 1/2 hour's worth of featurettes (two on Mankiewicz and an AMC Backstory) plus "The Real Eve", "The Secret of Sarah Siddons" pieces and MovieTone News etc. What we appear lose is the 'Restoration Comparison' but we gain are two short promotions for Davis and Baxter and the nicely appointed 26 -page Digibook with essays and photos case. Stacked indeed.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze January 21st, 2011
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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. 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 APC AV 1.5 kVA H Type Power Conditioner 120V Gary W. Tooze ALL OUR NEW FORMAT DVD REVIEWS
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Gary Tooze
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