Outcast of the Islands - Trevor Howard

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Carol Reed
UK 1951

From Carol Reed, the renowned director of Night Train to Munich, Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, The Third Man, The Man Between, Trapeze and Oliver!, comes this thrilling drama starring Ralph Richardson (The Sound Barrier), Trevor Howard (The Offence), Robert Morley (When Eight Bells Toll), Wendy Hiller (Separate Tables), Kerima (The Devil Is a Woman), George Coulouris (Citizen Kane), Wilfrid Hyde-White (The Browning Version) and James Kenney (The Slasher). When the immoral Peter Willems (Howard) is accused of stealing in his position at a Dutch East Indies port, he persuades the man who gave him his start in life, the merchant ship captain Lingard (Richardson), to take him up-river to a secret trading post on a remote Indonesian island. There, he falls in love with the beautiful native woman Aissa (Kerima), as the cunning Babalatchi (Coulouris) tries to trick and blackmail him into disclosing the entrance of the secret trading route. Beautifully shot in black-and-white by John Wilcox (The Last Valley) and Edward Scaife (An Inspector Calls), Outcast of the Islands is a compelling adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s classic novel.

***

Trevor Howard was always good at portraying insufferable blowhards and irredeemable bastards, but he excels himself as Peter Willems in this adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s second novel, a tumultuous tale of a late-19th Century trader who escapes scandal and infamy in Singapore to take up equally disruptive residence on a small Malayan island ‘belonging’ to sea captain Lingard (Ralph Richardson).

Posters

Theatrical Release: November 15th, 1951

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Comparison:

StudioCanal - Region 2 - PAL vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		Bonus Captures:
Distribution	StudioCanal - Region 2 - PAL	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:35:30 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:40:11.130
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.12 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 33,728,052,950 bytes Feature: 31,399,747,584 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.92 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital mono)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1554 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1554 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English, None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Studio Canal Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: April 23rd, 2012 Keep Case Chapters: 8	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 33,728,052,950 bytes Feature: 31,399,747,584 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.92 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian and Critic Peter Tonguette Blu-ray Release Date: April 28th, 2020 Standard Blu-ray Case inside cardboard sleeve Chapters 11

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (April 2020): Kino have transferred Carol Reed's Outcast of the Islands to Blu-ray. Although the DVD produced a good SD image for its time, the 1080P has over seven times the bitrate. It is housed on a dual-layered disc. It is in the correct 1.37:1 aspect ratio, shows more information in the frame than the DVD - mostly on the side edges - and has depth, superior detail, more layered contrast, a bit of inherent softness and little grain but it is really a refreshingly new digital presentation.

NOTE: We have added 47 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement in the film's audio notable via the score by Brian Easdale who did the beautifully dramatic music in Powell and Pressburger's Gone to Earth, Battle of the River Plate, Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes and others. It sounds much deeper producing a more impactful viewing presentation. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new audio commentary by film historian and critic Peter Tonguette (author Orson Welles Remembered) where he identifies the credit title use of the same 'Perpetua' font as in other Carol Reed films. He makes the case for Outcast of the Islands being labeled in the 'castaway' genre, how director Monte Hellman (The Shooting, Ride In the Whirlwind, Two-Lane Blacktop) cites Outcast of the Islands as one of his favorite films, and he discusses significantly more including Reed's firing on the Brando Mutiny on the Bounty (also with Trevor Howard) and how Orson Welles was earmarked for the role of the unapologetic Willems (Howard) and reads his letter of displeasure. It is worth listening. There are also some trailers although none for the feature.

The story was written by Joseph Conrad and there are plenty of similarities to the Heart of Darkness (Apocalypse Now) that many are already aware. Outcast of the Islands gets better each time I see it and more credit to Carol Reed. It's a devastating film confronting themes of isolation, madness, lust (the seductive 'Aissa' - played by Kerima of The Devil Is a Woman, The Ship of Condemned Women, The Quiet American etc.) and megalomaniacal power. I am thrilled to own on Blu-ray. A strong recommendation!

Gary Tooze

ON THE DVD (2012): Another highly impressive film from Carol Reed (The Fallen Idol, Odd Man Out , The Third Man etc.) reaches DVD. Actually a German DVD came out late last year (2011) but I don't own it to compare. Trevor Howard gives a devastatingly powerful performance - worth the price of the film alone. This is masterful.

The single-layered DVD is a real winner. Aside from a few, minor frame-specific scratches this looks immaculate. The sublime contrast levels help export some surprising depth. One of the more remarkable DVD5's I've seen in years. Since the source is this strong - 1080P should have been considered. Audio is unremarkable but flawless and there are optional English subtitles.