The Illustrated Man Blu-ray

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

Directed by Jack Smight
USA 1969

A much maligned film, loosely derived from Ray Bradbury's collection of short stories and spinning out a fascinating triangle relationship which ranges disconcertingly through past, present and future, and in which the three participants never meet on the same time plane. A young hitchhiker (Drivas) encounters a stranger on the road (Steiger) whose skin is covered with fantastic tattoos which foretell the future. They were done, he says, by a witch-woman (Bloom) who disappeared 'back into the future', leaving him to roam the earth like the Wandering Jew in quest of vengeance against the woman who made him an outcast. Fascinated, already falling in love, the young man begins to conjure an image of the witch; and through the Illustrated Man's tattoos, sees three stories from the distant future in which he, the witch and the Illustrated Man play the leading roles, all hingeing obliquely on the betrayal of love, with sometimes one character, sometimes another, becoming the victim. Time suddenly ceases to exist, and the characters are caught in a reenactment of the story of the Garden of Eden (or of Cain and Abel) over a campfire where the Illustrated Man and the young hitchhiker fight a mental/physical battle over their enigmatic, absent Eve. Hesitantly directed by Smight, the script is nevertheless genuinely imaginative, and both settings and performances are admirable.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

Each day before shooting, Steiger spent several hours being 'tattooed' for his role as a man whose tattoos each tell a weird story. Based on three futuristic stories by Ray Bradbury, the film is a curious, pretentious, science-fiction morality play. Steiger, mannered and morose, stars with his then-wife Bloom. The tales tell of parents as victims of zombie like children, a space-wrecked crew on another planet, and nearing the end of the world.

Excerpt from Channel 4 located HERE

Poster

Theatrical Release: March 26th, 1969

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Comparison:

Warner - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC vs. Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray

1) Warner - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC - LEFT

2) Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Cover
Distribution	Warner Home Video - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC	Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:43:00	1:42:49.663
Video	2.35:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.72 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	2.4:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 32,124,996,673 bytes Feature: 30,084,157,440 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps
	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 1.0), DUB: French (Dolby Digital 1.0)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 2033 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2033 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English, None	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Vintage featurette: "Tattooed Steiger" • Original theatrical trailer DVD Release Date: December 19th, 2006 Keep Case Chapters: 25	Release Information: Studio: Warner Archive 2.4:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 32,124,996,673 bytes Feature: 30,084,157,440 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Edition Details: • Tattooed Steiger (9:47) • Trailer (2:56) Standard Blu-ray case Blu-ray Release Date: October 10th, 2017 Chapters: 8

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray October 17': The new 1080P takes a big color shift significantly warming skin tones. There is some movement in the frame - the Blu-ray is 2.4:1 and adds some information on the left edge - occasionally losing on the right and top edges. Most of the outdoor scenes are very clear and sharp. I didn't find the artifact that Randall identified on the DVD at 1:36:17. There is reasonable grain and it looks fine in-motion on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. Colors are much richer making the 11-year old SD look dull and a bit green.

The audio is in a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (24-bit) - effects exist but are surprisingly not a notable part of the soundstage. The score is by the great Jerry Goldsmith (Breakout, The Mephisto Waltz, Seconds, Hoosiers, The Blue Max, Breakheart Pass, The Omen) and there is some depth not present on the DVD. The Blu-ray has optional English (SDH) subtitles in shouting capital letters. The Blu-ray disc is Region FREE.

Same extras - the 10-minute Tattooed Steiger piece on his extensive make-up and a theatrical trailer.

Fascinating, mysterious sci-fi, anthology film that stands up to repeat viewings. Unique and thought-provoking. Nice to see it in the high resolution, although a commentary or new extras would have been appreciated.

***

ON THE DVD: Solid progressive and anamorphic transfer from Warner. With moments of great clarity and virtually artifact free I expect this is a superb representation of the film's theatrical appearance. The mono audio is surprisingly good and a French DUB is offered. The DVD sports only English subtitles.

Extras include a theatrical trailer and 10 minute vintage short on the tattooing process undertaken by Steiger daily during shooting. The highly unique film is an intriguing anomaly. A bit of a Bradbury mish-mash it ends up being quite memorable and effective. I initially saw it 30 years ago and parts of it have never left me. Good value purchase for those keen on this brand of intellectually posturing sci-fi.

NOTE: (Thanks Randall!): "The DVD looks wonderful EXCEPTING that at 1:36:17 (approx.) there is a digital artifact the appears near Rod Steigers chin. I was viewing the DVD on my new Oppo Digital DV-981HD at 720p on a Maxent 50" Plasma via HDMI. I switched to 480p and the glitch was still there. I then watched it at 480p via Component on my Pioneer DV-434 and the glitch still appeared.

I requested a replacement DVD/FILM - Amazon sent another one out and I tested it again via all the above and the glitch is still there. I can only surmise that this digital artifacting is either the result of the first pressing of this DVD or, even worse, the result of the telecine transfer process - it only happens for a split second - I hope that this can be corrected upon future pressings."