Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video (both):

Audio:

• Audio Commentary with Actress Andrea Marcovicci and film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman

Theatrical Trailer (1:53)

• Isolated Score

• Liner notes by Julie Kirgo

Bitrate:

 

Description: The Front is both a comic delight and perhaps the most graceful act of show business revenge in cinema history. Written by, directed by, and starring various talents blacklisted during the McCarthy-era witch hunts of the 1950s entertainment industry, the film stars Woody Allen as Howard, a cashier and bookie approached by blacklisted television-writer Alfred (Michael Murphy) to act as a "front," i.e., the alleged author of Alfred's works. The scam proves hugely successful. Soon Howard is fronting for several other banned writers, taking a cut from every sale to the networks, and basking in praise (and romantic attentions) for his prolific talent. It all unravels when congressional investigators dig into Howard's past for Communist ties and squeeze him to name others with supposed links to the Red Menace. The Front is charming, tragic, heroic, and briskly intelligent, featuring a heartbreaking performance by Zero Mostel and directed by Martin Ritt (Hud). --Tom Keogh Product Description Woody Allen's dark comic send-up of Hollywood McCarthyism! Allen stars as a cashier posing as a writer who sells a script as his own, when it was actually written by a blacklisted pal.

 

 

The Film:

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

Firstly, this Twilight Time Blu-ray package offers solid video quality. The transfer is dual-layered with a max'ed out bitrate and detail - notable in the many close-ups - is at very high levels. I was surprised at the strong quality of the 1080P. Contrast has some nice layering and the visuals seem fairly tight. There is some pleasing grain visible and even some depth exported. Not much in the way of damage or speckles are present. I noticed a few compression-style artifacts but nothing untoward. The Blu-ray is decent with no major flaws - it gave me a very solid HD presentation in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

Video is a duplicate via the static captures but with the higher bitrate the Indicator may look better in-motion depending on your system.

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

 

1) Twilight Time - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Indicator (UK) - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

1) Twilight Time - Region FREE - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Indicator (UK) - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The DTS-HD mono track at 1049 kbps is authentically flat but sounds clean with a few more impressive moments in pushing the film's modest depth through. Dave Grusin's (The Friends of Eddie Coyle, ...And Justice For All, 3 Days of the Condor) score sounds pleasing and crisp. Twilight Time offer it in an isolated score via a similarly robust lossless track. There are optional English subtitles (sample above) and my Oppo has identified it as being a region FREE.

Indicator goes linear PCM, mono - also 24-bit and my ears can't tell the difference unless the LPCM has a tighter higher end. Dave Grusin's score still sounds great, available in an isolated track, and there are, also, optional English (SDH) subtitles and my Oppo has, likewise, identified it as being a region FREE.

Extras :

Twilight add an expressive Andrea Marcovicci (The Hand, The Stuff) in an audio commentary along with the label's regular film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman. This was Marcovicci's debut feature film (outside of TV) and she discussed her co-stars - Woody Allen and Zero Mostel as well as memories of the production. There is also a theatrical trailer, the aforementioned Isolated Score and liner notes with photos and words penned by Kirgo.

Pattern here - Indicator match the Twilight Time supplements but add more... they have the same audio commentary by actress Andrea Marcovicci, and film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman and a theatrical trailer. Indicator augment with Behind The Front - a 6-minute 2004 interview with the acclaimed director of photography Michael Chapman about shooting The Front, an image gallery of on-set and promotional photography and the package comes with their own limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by professor Gabriel Miller, author of The Films of Martin Ritt: Fanfare for the Common Man and archival interviews with Woody Allen, screenwriter Walter Bernstein and director Martin Ritt. It sports a second disc DVD and is, also, limited to 3,000 copies.

Twilight Time - Region FREE - Blu-ray

 

Indicator (UK) - Region FREE - Blu-ray

 

BOTTOM LINE:
The Front is a far better film than I remember it from many years ago. It's been so long that I may have been confusing it in my mind with Allen's early 'silly' comedies like Bananas or Take the Money and Run. This has an interesting serious tone under the surface but is still very amusing. The Twilight Time Blu-ray offers excellent value with the commentary. I was impressed with the video quality and it will certainly be revisited. As a very pleasant surprise - this is certainly recommended!

 

Great film - even re-watching it recently - and the Indicator, once again, nudges ahead as the definitive package for this humorous and insightful film. A strong recommendation but no need for a double-dip, imo, if you already own the Twilight Time, unless this is your favorite all-time film (and it might be!). 

Gary Tooze

March 6th, 2014

April 5th, 2017

 

Re-released by Indicator in August 2021 in a standard Blu-ray edition: or buy directly from Indicator: