The Only Way Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

The Only Way Blu-ray Movie Review

A middling film based on a dark true story in WWII history receives a lackluster Blu-ray release...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown November 27, 2023

What a bizarrely weak and flat World War II everyman-escape drama. The Only Way has all the makings of a taut, tense, nervy race to flee fascism. Instead it limps along, oh so slowly, introducing men and women we should care about but struggle to connect with; situations that should drag us to the edge of our seats, but simply run through the motions; events that, as true to life as they are, should compel us to want to know more but instead leave little inspiration to uncover the stories of those who survived a terrible and terrifying moment in history. Betrayal and genocide should never feel this dull. And slapping a young Jane Seymour's name and face on the cover (particularly when she has a relatively minor part to play in the ensuing peril) is the stuff of opportunism and cheap marketing, not a sign that the film itself boasts the weight and severity of the gripping true story on which The Only Way is based.

Official synopsis: In April 1940, the armies of Nazi Germany invaded Denmark. The Danish government promised peaceful cooperation on the condition that Denmark’s Jews remain free. The Nazi’s agreed. But in October, 1943, the agreement was broken. This is the true and magnificent saga of Denmark’s valorous actions to save Danish Jews from Nazi extermination at peril of death. For the Danes, this was the only way forward. Directed by Bent Christensen from a script written by John Gould, the film stars Martin Potter, Jane Seymour, Ebbe Rode, Helle Virkner, Ove Sprogøe, Bjørn Watt-Boolsen and Benny Hansen.

I continue to marvel at the looming photo of Seymour on The Only Way's Blu-ray coverart. Her head looms like the Oz-ian projection of Shosanna's face in Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, monologuing as a Nazi theater burns. The film is credited as her first major film role but she's green in this one, and I mean a rookie's rookie. It's not that she's bad but her role is merely that of observer, dragged into a risky escape by circumstance alone. It's the rest of Stein family, along with other Jewish residents of occupied Denmark that we meet, who shoulder the bulk of the danger. Even then, her co-stars have a difficult time selling the threat and uncertainty that is the Nazis' broken promise coming to a very real, very abrupt head. The performances are... fine. But there's a flatness, a stillness and a lack of convincing fear in their eyes that holds the movie back. There are a few effective moments where you can feel how frightened the film's Danish Jews must have been. Sadly, it's in the expressions of the extras that fill out the crowd as the Steins try to stay one step ahead of their hunters.

Carl Davis's score is far more intense, suggesting a deeper dread than we feel in the hushed conversations and whispers of the men and women trying to wrap their heads around the situation they're suddenly being thrust into. But Henning Kristiansen's cinematography unfortunately falls in step with the majority of the actors, failing to visually frame the jeopardy the Steins face, or even to present key moments in a way that enhance suspense and anxiety. Again, shots of fearful extras are more persuasive than anything else, as the Danes, Nazis and filmmakers seem weirdly bored by the madness at hand. History is packed with incredible stories that deserve a film adaptation, and I have no doubt this is one of them. If so, though, those who escaped the tragedy -- and especially the Jewish Danes who didn't survive the Nazis' occupation of Denmark -- are worthy of a more disquieting, compelling and horrifying depiction of their ordeal than anything The Only Way offers.

The Only Way Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

First things first, there are a number of good qualities worth praising in VCI's remastering and subsequent 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation of The Only Way. I remain mildly impressed with the level of preserved/restored detail. Grain is present, not to mention filmic and consistent (it rarely grows chunky and only occasionally swarms). Edges are clean and nicely defined too, while fine textures are quite impressive, given the film's age and some of the other, less impressive traits of the transfer. What's more, skintones are largely lifelike, despite several instances where contrast heats up, injecting a redness to faces and a oppressiveness to black levels and shadows that are out of sorts with the rest of the image. And colors overall are decent, sometimes even lovely. Although that brings us to the not-so-good qualities of the presentation. Contrast is rather dull on the whole, with a faint heathered yellow tint haunting the image. It's clearly the product of a dated master (or at worst the result of a poor remastering), but it hangs over the entire film. It doesn't help that primaries lack punch, many scenes struggle with vibrancy and consistent brightness, and one too many sequences appear far less refined and far more problematic than should be the case. Add to that a small smattering of other anomalies -- a bit of banding here, what looks like a bit of macroblocking there, most noticeably in the backgrounds of shots with overheated contrast -- and you have a hit-or-miss video presentation that doesn't really cut it.

The Only Way Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Blu-ray release of The Only Way doesn't feature a lossless audio option. Instead the film is presented with a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix. It's decent (there's that word again), though these moments always lead to the question of how much better a film might have sounded. Voices are clear, precise and fairly well prioritized, despite a few harrowing sequences in which Carl Davis's score comes on rather strong and threatens to overwhelm dialogue. The rear speakers are assertive, with some solid directional effects to offer. Channel pans are smooth too, LFE output makes its presence known several times (albeit not very often, which makes sense I suppose considering how quiet the film is for the bulk of its runtime), and the age of the film, its original audio elements and its '70s sound design hold up reasonably well, even if effects tend to be tinny and canned. Does The Only Way sound as good as it could? Certainly not. But it doesn't disappoint all that much either, honestly. The film is quite reserved, so there's very little that lends itself to fuller lossless benefits.

The Only Way Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra included on VCI's Blu-ray release of The Only Way is Reunion (SD, 21 minutes), a 1946 documentary that introduces some of the real Danish Jews who escaped imprisonment in a number of concentration camps. As pointed out by others, though (thanks goes to DoBlu reviewer Matt Paprocki for noticing it first), there are several glaring inaccuracies in the documentary's subtitles ("We won't leave our home" appears as "We'll leave our home").

The Only Way Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Only Way is at its best when the camera pans across the faces of nameless strangers, caught in the same desperate situation as our main characters but more natural and effective in everything from their appearance to their background performances, facial expressions and emotive qualities. It's not so much an issue of casting either, but rather direction and writing. It seems clear to me that The Only Way's failings are that of the filmmakers; specifically an inability to capture the tension, dread and suspense of the true story they're attempting to bring to life on screen. Jane Seymour may be splashed across the Blu-ray release's cover but even she can't do much to save this one (particularly when the future Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is so young and so green). I wish my next word could be "thankfully". Alas, it's "unfortunately", as in unfortunately, VCI's Blu-ray release of The Only Way is a disappointment. Its video transfer is very problematic, its lossy 5.1 audio track is average, and its single extra isn't about the film at all but rather a 1946 documentary that has technical issues of its own. The true story? Highly recommended. Go read about the terrible tribulations of the Jews trying to escape Nazi-occupied Denmark after the fascists broke a promise to leave the Danish Jews alone. The film? Skip it. Neither it nor this Blu-ray release are worthy of the tale they attempt to tell.