8.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In a dusty, underpopulated California resort town, a naive southern waif, Pinky Rose, idolizes and befriends her fellow nurse, the would-be sophisticate and "thoroughly modern" Millie Lammoreaux. When Millie takes Pinky in as her roommate, Pinky's hero worship evolves into something far stranger and more sinister than either could have anticipated.
Starring: Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Janice Rule, Robert Fortier, Ruth NelsonDrama | 100% |
Surreal | 21% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Winner of Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Robert Altman's "3 Women" (1977) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video. The supplemental features on the disc include an archival interview with actress Shelley Duvall; exclusive new video piece featuring editor and producer David Thompson; archival stills and photos; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic David Jenkins and excerpts from Altman on Altman, illustrated with original stills. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
Pinky and Millie
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Robert Altman's 3 Women arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video.
This upcoming release of 3 Women is sourced from a new 4K restoration completed by Twentieth Century Fox and looks drastically different next to Criterion's release. Rather predictably, when there is plenty of natural light fine detail is superior -- edges are better defined and grain more evenly distributed and resolved (you can see the difference if you compare screencapture #2 and screencapture #12 from our review of the Criterion release). Contrast levels are also better balanced. Unfortunately, the film now has a color scheme that favors a strong range of yellows and as a result large parts of it have unconvincing shadow definition and look rather unnatural. (A very similar shift in saturation, with yellow again being the prominent color, is also present on the recent masters Fox produced for Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise and Bob Clark's Porky's). During the darker/nighttime footage the fluctuations in terms of shadow definition are quite substantial (to see the difference, compare screencaptures #10 and 17 and screencaptures #24 and 27 from our review of the Criterion release). Overall image stability is outstanding. Lastly, there are no large debris, scratches, damage marks, or stains to report in this review. All in all, I much prefer the better balanced color scheme and superior looking darker footage on Criterion's release. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free Blu-ray player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
The lossless track is excellent. During the woodwind solos separation is outstanding, while the gunshots in the desert sound notably crisp and clear. Balance is very good. The dialog is stable, clean, and very easy to follow. There are no pops, distracting background hiss, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in our review.
Arrow Video's upcoming Blu-ray release of Robert Altman's 3 Women is sourced from a 4K restoration of the film completed by Twentieth Century Fox. While there are some obvious improvements, I actually prefer Criterion's presentation of the film because Fox's restoration introduces an entirely new color scheme that I don't find particularly convincing. This being said, 3 Women is not yet available on Blu-ray in Region-B territories, so this release should be easy to recommend to folks residing there.
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