Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

24 Hour Party People Blu-ray Movie Review

Manchester, England England and he's a genius genius.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 27, 2019

The music industry seems to be kind of peculiarly set up to offer at least the hint of an “easy” entré to either artists or promoters who decide they’ve had enough of trying to pitch their wares elsewhere and who simply set up shop on their own. While his name may only ring bells for a certain niche in the general demographic, Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) was just such a guy, a music lover who kind of became entranced with some of the acts he was listening to during the punk era, many of whom he featured on a television program he hosted in Manchester, England, and who went on to found Factory Records, which had a relatively short but storied history, and which introduced countless fans to such bands as New Order and its predecessor Joy Division.

Wilson’s career as a kind of all purpose “entertainment” reporter for Granada Television is documented early on in 24 Hour Party People, as he tasked with doing a hang gliding segment that gives him a few moments of flying high, before several calamitous “adventures with gravity”. This sequence ably demonstrates Wilson’s ability to think on his feet (whether or not they’re dangling several yards above the ground), as well as his dissatisfaction with having to do bits like this, since he comes from a rather vaunted academic and journalistic background. The hang gliding sequence also offers the first of what becomes a staple in 24 Hour Party People, namely characters smashing through the so-called “fourth wall” to directly address the audience, often in a kind of “meta” way.

That “meta” aspect also pertains to a slew of cameos of real life folks associated with Wilson (including the real Tony Wilson) which are sprinkled throughout the often pretty cheeky “biographical” elements. A brief recap toward the end of the film fills the viewer in on several notables whom they might have missed, in a weird “reveal” that was oddly reminiscent of the way the heavily made up star cameos in The List of Adrian Messenger are doled out at the end of that film. 24 Hour Party People doesn’t hold back from its depiction of unabashed “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll”, but it also seems to genuinely love the many flawed characters who traipse (or occasionally drunkenly stumble) through the story.

24 Hour Party People also kind of weirdly reminded me of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a similarly “deconstructive” effort which supposedly chronicled the life of game show producer Chuck Barris. Wilson may frankly be much less well known by the general populace (on this side of the pond, at least) than Barris is/was, but even those without an interest in 80s music or the backstory of Factory Records may get a kick out of this film. Fans of Mick Hucknall and Simply Red may want to steer clear of it, though, for reasons which won’t be spoiled here, though some of the film’s disparaging comments seem to be made with tongue planted firmly in figurative cheek.

24 Hour Party People Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

24 Hour Party People is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Marquee Collection, an imprint of MVD Visual, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. I wish I had better news about the visual component here, since the film is so genuinely engaging a lot of the time, but unfortunately 24 Hour Party People was shot with a Sony DSR-PD150, and the "DVCam" source simply does not translate to high definition very well at all. As can be easily gleaned from many of the screenshots accompanying this review, upscaling anomalies are more than prevalent, with rather ubiquitous stair stepping accruing to virtually any edge or rounded corner in evidence. Just parse through the screenshots to get an idea of what is in store, and pay special attention to body parts like ears or shoulders, though the "ridges" and "ripples" on display are not necessarily limited to them. The entire presentation is often pretty soft and indistinct looking, and while this is offered in a progressive format, my hunch is some of the quasi-interlacing artifacts and combing issues that are seen are "baked in" to the minicam source material. There does appear to have been actual film utilized for some sequences, notably some of the location work, and unfortunately those moments are often plagued by very chunky, even noisy, looking grain that is frequently splotchy and which actually tends to mask the image (I've also uploaded several screenshots from those moments so that those interested can get some idea of what they look like). Some brief archival video snippets of some big bands like the Sex Pistols are utilized as interstitials on occasion, and some of these moments have built in age related wear and tear, including quite a few prominent scratches.

Note: There's kind of weirdly about 25 seconds of black screen and no sound after you hit the Play button before the United Artists logo starts.

24 Hour Party People Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

24 Hour Party People features nice sounding tracks in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0. The surround track offers nice support for the often pretty bombastic music that is utilized pretty consistently throughout the story (both as on screen performances and as underscore). Some of the big drug fueled party scenes also resonate very well in the surround offering, with clear engagement of the side and rear channels. The stereo track is surprisingly strong as well, though, and it tends to push dialogue a bit more forward in the mix at times. Fidelity is fine on both tracks, and I noticed no issues with regard to damage, dropouts or distortion.

24 Hour Party People Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Manchester the Movie (480i; 11:04) offers quite a bit of behind the scenes footage as well as some interviews.


• About Tony Wilson (480i; 5:29)


• Photo Gallery (480i; 4:56)


• Deleted Scenes do offer a Play All option, but each one has been authored separately:

  1. Happy Mondays Fight 480i; 1:00

  
  

  2. A Game of Pool (480i; 1:50)

  
  

  3. Lost in the Car (480i; 1:29)

  
  

  4. Taking Drugs (480i; 1:33)

  
  

  5. "About to Flower" (480i; 00:49)

  
  

  6. "Blue Monday" Alternate Take (480i; 1:24)

  
  

  7. Wheel of Fortune (480i; 00:23)

  
  

  8. Supporting a Useless Football Team (480i; 1:36)

  
  

  9. Chasing City Fans (480i; 2:16)

  
  

  10. Special Tea (480i; 2:32)

  
  

  11. The Hacienda Factor (480i; 00:33)

• Commentary with the "Real" Tony Wilson can be found under the Setup Menu.


• Commentary with Actor Steve Coogan and Producer Andrew Eaton can be found under the Setup Menu.


• Trailers includes 24 Hour Party People (480i; 2:19) along with trailers for several other MVD releases.

24 Hour Party People Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

24 Hour Party People is often very funny, and Coogan is an absolute force of nature as Tony Wilson. Fans who loved Factory Records may already know there's a rather interesting film called Control from 2007 that focuses on Joy Division and Ian Curtis and which covers at least some of the same ground as this film, albeit from a more resolutely dramatic standpoint (there doesn't appear to be a domestic Blu-ray release of Control, though Svet gave high marks to the British Blu-ray from Momentum), and for those wanting a kind of wacky double feature, I'd personally recommend combining Control with 24 Hour Party People to get two completely different perspectives about what is ostensibly the same story (shades of Rashomon, some may be thinking). Unfortunately the video element here simply can't overcome the limitations of its source, and so I highly recommend that those with an interest in this title carefully look through the screenshots to get some idea of what this looks like. Audio is great, however, and some of the supplementary material, notably the commentaries, very enjoyable, for those who are considering a purchase.