Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Enterprise Productions

Video: Olive Films

 

Disc:

Region: 'A' (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:33:07.582

Disc Size: 20,513,658,685 bytes

Feature Size: 20,365,879,296 bytes

Video Bitrate: 26.86 Mbps

Chapters: 8

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: July 21st, 2014

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 890 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 890 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit)

 

Subtitles:

• None

 

Extras:

• None

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: Seriously ill, concert pianist Karen Duncan is admitted to a Swiss sanitorium. Despite being attracted to Dr Tony Stanton she ignores his warnings of possibly fatal consequences unless she rests completely. Rather, she opts for a livelier time in Monte Carlo with dashing Paul Clermont.

 

 

The Film:

Barbara Stanwyck headlines this romantic tearjerker as a free-spirited concert pianist dying of tuberculosis. She checks into a posh Alpine sanitarium and there falls in love with her suave and gentle doctor (David Niven). The poor physician has his hands full trying to keep the energetic Stanwyck quiet so her body can rest. She tries, but when the fellow patient she befriended dies, she becomes afraid of her own death and flees to have a crazy affair with a race car driver. Together they tear across Europe until she becomes weak and must return to the sanitarium for the tragic conclusion

Excerpt from MRQE located HERE

De Toth is usually associated with grittier action fare, but he does an uncommonly good job keeping the syrup at bay in this potentially mawkish tale of terminal illness and late-flowering ardour, adapted from Erich Maria Remarque's short story Beyond. Stanwyck's the consumptive concert pianist being treated at a Swiss sanatorium, where doctor Niven withholds both the true extent of her illness and the depth of his affection. Realisation that time may be at a premium sends her pell-mell into the arms of racing driver Conte (brashly superficial as usual), but the film reins itself back for a deftly achieved bittersweet finale. Stanwyck's steely resilience is well placed, Niven has the bedside manner down pat, and the Miklos Rosza score is spot-on in the circumstances - Rachmaninov with a dash of vinegar.

Excerpt from TimeOut located HERE

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

The Other Love arrives on Blu-ray from Olive Films. Once the image settles after a very speckled title sequence it looks quite stable and impressive. As you might have anticipated, this is only single-layered but has a reasonable bitrate for the 1.5 hour feature. Contrast looks adept - probably more the density of the source. There are speckles and light damage but they are not enough to deter the 1080P presentation. The black levels do seem to improve as the films runs along and detail is healthy with some depth exported. There was no noise. Grain is well-supported. The Blu-ray does a decent job and I enjoyed my viewing despite any minor weaknesses.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

The audio is via a DTS-HD Master mono track at a lowly 890 kbps. Everything is, predictably, flat but I appreciate the solid high-end of the iconic, Miklós Rózsa (The Lost Weekend, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Double Indemnity, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes) score. It supports the film's romantic intentions very appealingly adding more class to the production. There are no subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.

 

 

Extras :

No supplements - not even a trailer which is the bare-bones route that Olive are going with almost all of their releases.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Well, I've always had this 'thing' for Barbara Stanwyck... so my views may be, slightly, biased. The Other Love is a very pleasant romance film. It tugs the heartstrings with liberal melodrama and wonderful performances. The, bare-bones, Olive Blu-ray provides a reasonably strong presentation. Nothing more - nothing less. Stanwyck, Conte, Niven fans will appreciate this - to them this is, certainly, recommended!  

Gary Tooze

July 9th, 2014