Captain Newman, M.D. Blu-ray

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

Directed by David Miller
USA 1963

From David Miller, the outstanding director of Sudden Fear, Midnight Lace, Lonely Are the Brave and Executive Action, comes this realistic look at life and love inside a stateside military hospital’s psychiatric ward during World War II, starring screen great Gregory Peck (Yellow Sky, The Big Country, On the Beach.) This classic comedy-drama follows the affable Captain Newman (Peck) as he uses both humor and compassion to reach patients whose wartime injuries plague their minds instead of their bodies. Co-starring Tony Curtis (Houdini), Angie Dickinson (The Art of Love), Eddie Albert (Attack), Robert Duvall (Tender Mercies), Dick Sargent (TV’s Bewitched) and Bobby Darin (Too Late Blues), this critically acclaimed film is just what the doctor ordered! Captain Newman, M.D. was nominated for three Oscars: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Darin), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Richard L. Breen, Phoebe Ephron, Henry Ephron) and Best Sound (Waldon O. Watson).

***

In 1944, Capt. Josiah J. Newman is the doctor in charge of Ward 7, the neuropsychiatric ward, at an Army Air Corps hospital in Arizona. The hospital is under-resourced and Newman scrounges what he needs with the help of his inventive staff, especially Cpl. Jake Leibowitz. The military in general is only just coming to accept psychiatric disorders as legitimate and Newman generally has 6 weeks to cure them or send them on to another facility. There are many patients in the ward and his latest include Colonel Norville Bliss who has dissociated from his past; Capt. Paul Winston who is nearly catatonic after spending 13 months hiding in a cellar behind enemy lines; and 20 year-old Cpl. Jim Tompkins who is severely traumatized after his aircraft was shot down. Others come and go, including Italian prisoners of war, but Newman and team all realize that their success means the men will return to their units.

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 25th, 1963

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Comparison:

Universal - Region 1 - NTSC (from The Gregory Peck Film Collection) vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Universal - Region 1 - NTSC	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	2:06:08	2:06:34.587
Video	1.85:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.86 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 42,391,483,225 bytes Feature: 39,697,072,128 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.93 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate DVD:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	English, some DUBs in French, Spanish	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1556 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1556 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -31dB
Subtitles	English, French, Spanish, None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Universal Aspect Ratio: All Original Aspect Ratios - 1.33, 2.35 and 1.85 Edition Details: *Captain Newman M.D.* • None DVD Release Date: November 4th, 2008 6 Slim Keep Cases inside a cardboard box Chapters: various	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 42,391,483,225 bytes Feature: 39,697,072,128 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.93 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan • Theatrical Trailer (2:20) Blu-ray Release Date: January 5th, 2021 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 9

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (January 2021): Kino have transferred David Miller's Captain Newman, M.D. to Blu-ray. This is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. The image does, however, have a few inconsistencies- similar to how I recall the 2008 DVD. The image, for the most part is very strong but there are a very few instances where the alignment may be off and it can tend to look compromised (see sample below) and excessively grainy. Overall it's quite a notable upgrade over the DVD at around 5X the bitrate and significantly more depth. Flesh tones lose their orange-ness - gaining authenticity. Angie Dickinson is glowing.

NOTE: We have added 20 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement notable in the 'fun' score by Frank Skinner (The Sleeping City, Arabian Nights, The Lady Gambles, The Appaloosa, Madame X, Magnificent Obsession, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, All That Heaven Allows, Thunder Bay, and The Naked City) sounding impressive in the lossless helping carry the film's shifting tones. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by film historian Samm Deighan. She discusses he screenwriter's Richard L. Breen, Phoebe and Henry Ephron, the balance between the comedy and more serious elements, parallels with Operation Petticoat, Tony Curtis, David Miller as a solid, efficient director capable of working easily with big stars, Angie Dickinson's career, PTSD, plus Samm tries to identify why it wasn't more highly regarded and has become somewhat of a cult classic. I marvel at all the information she exported about the production and its stars. There is also a trailer for the film and some other Peck or Miller-related film trailers.

David Miller's Captain Newman, M.D. has a great cast with Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, Eddie Albert, James Gregory, Robert Duvall etc.. But it proved difficult to broach the gap between mental-health and comedy - especially coming out of the 60's and beyond. Yet, on many level it achieves. It identifies the conflict of curing patients who would inevitably mean returning them to the violence of the war. The Kino Blu-ray. has this enigmatic film - that is genuinely entertaining - plus the edifying Samm Deighan commentary.