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The Telephone Book [Blu-ray]
(Nelson Lyon, 1971)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: Rosebud Films Video: Vinegar Syndrome
Disc: Region: FREE! (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player) Runtime: 1:27:41.923 Disc Size: 23,477,534,157 bytes Feature Size: 22,326,589,440 bytes Video Bitrate: 32.00 Mbps Chapters: 5 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: May 7th, 2013
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles: None
Extras:
• Commentary track with Producer Merv Bloch • Radio Spots (3:32)
Bitrate:
Description: A major, though forgotten, work from New York's underground film scene of the late 60s and early 70s, Nelson Lyon's The Telephone Book tells the story of a sex-obsessed hippie who falls in love with the world's greatest obscene phone caller and embarks on a quest to find him. Her journey introduces to her to an avant-garde stag filmmaker, a manipulative psychiatrist, a bored lesbian housewife, and more. Photographed in high-contrast black-and-white, and punctuated with a remarkable, surreal animated sequence, The Telephone Book is one of the greatest cult films you've probably never heard of.
The Film:
Alice (TV regular Sarah Kennedy) is a lonely blonde bimbo living in a
one room New York apartment with pornographic wallpaper and a US flag
bedspread. She spends her days exercising nude and calling
Dial-A-Prayer. One day she receives what the US advertising calls “the
world’s dirtiest phone call” and begins a relationship with the caller
(Norman Rose, whose face is obscured throughout). When Alice wants to
meet him, he tells her his name is John Smith (“I’m in the telephone
book”). And so begins Alice’s adventure as she seeks out various John
Smiths from the phone book in search of her obscene phone caller. The
first John Smith she meets turns out to be a former stag film actor
(Barry Morse who apparently wanted to do the scene nude but settled on
funny boxers) planning to make his comeback as director and star (his
real name’s John Smith but he goes under the stage name “Har Poon”) and
he claims he called her as a way of auditioning her for a role. In no
time, Alice is stripped (all she really has to do is remove her coat)
and she joins him in bed with eight other women (“Position 17!”) but
then she receives a phone call (“Could someone hand this to the girl
holding my right leg”) from her obscene caller and leaves in search of
him. Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. The Telephone Line looks quite nice on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome. The image quality shows some wonderful grain and contrast has pleasing layers. It probably looked quite similar to this theatrically over 40 years ago. This is only single-layered and I am very happy to see films like this reach the 1080P format - and having them look so strong. There are speckles and light surface scratches but no heavy damage. The source may have lost a shade of density but overall this looks batter than I would have anticipated. The conclusion has the clean animation and a brief color sequence with rich visuals. This Blu-ray has an authentic feel and I expect it towers over the past SD editions.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :No boost going on here - its a standard Dolby track in 2.0 channel - so no lossless. Not knowing its original audio - I can only think this is authentic with the expected limitations of the production still audible. It's clean and clear enough and the scattering can sound nostalgic and charismatic. The Nate Sassover score seems unusually suitable and has no detrimental flaws through the Dolby. There are no subtitles and m y Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.
Extras : Supplements include a commentary track with Producer Merv Bloch, a click-thru Photo Still Gallery with some behind-the-scenes photos, Theatrical Trailers (Re-issue - 2:06, Original - :38) and 3.5-minutes of Radio Spots.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze May 1st, 2013
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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 5000 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.
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find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. 60-Inch Class (59.58” Diagonal) 1080p Pioneer KURO Plasma Flat Panel HDTV PDP6020-FD
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