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A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy [Blu-ray]
(Woody Allen, 1982)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: Orion Pictures Video: Ar row Academy
Disc: Region: 'B' (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player) Runtime: 1:27:55.478 Disc Size: 28,101,407,883 bytes Feature Size: 27,604,535,616 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.63 Mbps Chapters: 10 Case: Transparent Standard Blu-ray case Release date: December 12th, 2016
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles: English (SDH), none
Extras: • Trailer (1:19)
Bitrate:
Description: Woody Allen's first period piece since
Love and Death seven years earlier is set in the
early 1900s, and revolves around six characters getting
together in a country house in upstate New York to celebrate
the upcoming wedding of the distinguished philosopher
Leopold (Jose Ferrer) and his much younger fiancée Ariel
(Mia Farrow, in the first of thirteen appearances in Allen's
films).
The Film:
In soft, pale turn-of-the-century costumes, the six principals of Mr.
Allen's story converge at an invitingly old-fashioned summer house. The
hosts are Andrew (Mr. Allen), a Wall Street broker who has invented the
flying bicycle in his spare time, and Adrian (Mary Steenburgen), the
wife who (this wouldn't be a Woody Allen film otherwise) has sexual
problems with her husband; Adrian has been claiming to have a headache
for six months. Adrian and Andrew are the hosts of a wedding party for
Ariel (Mia Farrow) and Leopold (Jose Ferrer), a noted academic who is
Adrian's triumphantly pompous cousin. After the wedding, Leopold plans
to take his bride to London, which will afford him ''a long-awaited
opportunity to show her Thomas Carlyle's grave.'' Monogamous at heart, Allen has ended his brief affair with Fellini (Stardust Memories out of 8 1/2) and gone back to his first love Bergman. Allen's version of Smiles of a Summer Night keeps the period country house setting but reduces the characters to six: two medical swingers, an elderly academic and his much younger fiancée, and a long-married couple whose sex-life has ground to a halt. Allen, of course, plays the frustrated husband (he redirects his energies towards inventing flying bicycles, astral lamps and the like), and gives himself nearly all the funny lines. He spends the rest of the movie satirising the men and adoring the changing moods of the women. His best invention remains his own screen persona, and the Bergman borrowings here provide it with a warm, romantic and old-fashioned setting. Excerpt from Timeout located HERE
Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. Firstly, Twilight Time have A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy available on Region FREE Blu-ray HERE - and we expect the transfer to be very similar to Arrow's.
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy gets an impressive transfer to Blu-ray from Arrow Films in the UK. It is dual-layered with a max'ed-out bitrate for the 1.5 hour feature. Colors are responsive and the image carries a thick, dark, film-like quality with textures prevalent. The 1080P supports a solid presentation in the original 1.85:1 frame. This Blu-ray looks supportive in-motion with minor depth. No damage, noise or speckles noted.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :Arrow use an authentic linear PCM (24-bit). Dialogue is consistent and we can note presence in the heavy does of classical music with plenty of Mendelssohn - some Schubert and Schumann sounding majestic and crisp via the uncompressed. Arrow also offers optional English (SDH) subtitles and their Blu-ray disc is region 'B'-locked.
Extras : The Arrow only has a trailer but their Woody Allen: Six Films - 1979-1985 Blu-ray package offers Manhattan (not available individually), on Blu-ray, and a hardback book featuring new and archive writing on all the films.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze November 24th, 2016
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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.
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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