Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Accident Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 20, 2020

Joseph Losey's "Accident" (1967) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include an exclusive new audio commentary by critic Kat Ellinger and vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

A car crashes somewhere in the Oxford countryside. A middle-aged man quickly pulls out a beautiful girl from the car and takes her to his lavish home. The driver, a young man who has died on the spot, is left in the car. Soon after, the police arrive and begin asking questions.

A very long flashback follows.

Stephen (Dirk Bogarde, The Night Porter, The Damned), the middle-aged man, is a well respected philosophy professor who spends most of his time with fellow colleagues. They bore him to tears, but he does his best not to show it. At home, his pregnant wife, Rosalind (Vivien Merchant, Frenzy), also frustrates him, but he tries to be a good husband and father.

To escape the banality of everyday life, Stephen frequently fantasizes about an affair with Anna (Jacqueline Sassard, Violent Summer, Les Biches), one of his students. She is an Austrian princess who is engaged to William (Michael York), an aristocrat and a fellow student without any real friends. Eventually, Stephen gathers the courage to invite Anna and William to visit his country house and have lunch, hoping that he would be able to spend some time alone with her while her fiancée entertains his wife. Anna and William accept the invitation but arrive with Stephen’s middle-aged colleague Charley (Stanley Baker, Hell is a City, The Guns of Navarone), who has the bad habit of speaking his mind.

Based on the novel by Nicholas Mosley, Accident, the second collaboration between American director Joseph Losey and British Nobel-prize winning playwright Harold Pinter, is a subdued yet very intense film that reminds of Hitchcock’s best works. It is a giant puzzle in which different pieces are frequently realigned to effectively mislead the viewer. However, unlike Hitchcock’s films, Accident also targets a wide range of social and cultural stereotypes. Naturally, it is as much of a thriller as it is a political statement.

The film is essentially divided into two large sections. In the first the focus of attention is on a series of quiet conflicts. While these conflicts emerge, Losey and Pinter cut open the ugly underbelly of academia, an elite system supposedly ruled by cynics and pseudo-moralists with different ambitions. The film quickly establishes a certain atmosphere which creates the impression that this is a rotten, often dangerous place.

In the second section there are profound character transformations followed by surprising confessions. But there isn’t even a whiff of melodrama. After the confessions Stephen quietly retracts into his shell and life goes back to normal.

Accident is darker and far more subversive film than The Servant. At times it seems somewhat lethargic, but even the most casual exchanges between the main protagonists serve a very specific purpose. Indeed, the script is absolutely brilliant.

The acting is first-class. In a film in which silence is of utmost importance, Bogarde is enormously impressive as the repressed professor who struggles with powerful emotions. Baker also leaves a lasting impression as the outspoken cynic. York’s acting debut is also a good one. Sassard looks somewhat cold at times but is still believable as the adventurous Austrian princess. Pinter also has a small cameo in the film.

*In 1967, Accident won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

Accident Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Accident arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from the same restoration that StudioCanal used in 2013 to produce this Region-B release of the film. However, Kino Lorber's technical presentation of the restoration is not identical, and below I will explain why.

I still have the first release in my library and after performing a few quick comparisons an old suspicion of mine is now proven correct -- the previous release has slightly elevated gamma levels, while here the gamma levels are set correctly. This is a minor discrepancy that most people would not notice -- primarily because some players, like the PS3, do automatic adjustments that eliminate the issue quite well -- but I wanted to mention it. I also wish to mention something about the dynamic range on the restoration and how Blu-ray handles it because now that we have 4K Blu-ray and can see 4K restorations in native resolution, it is easier to understand what is happening. So, I am quite certain that there is a noticeable difference between the dynamic range of the restored master and what you are actually seeing on the Blu-ray. This isn't a 'flaw' per se, but while I was viewing the restoration the other night I could identify areas where I am convinced the native master would reveal even better shadow definition and by default overall dynamic range. Just to make it perfectly clear, I still like this restoration quite a lot, but I think that when it was transferred to 1080p some of its finer/more nuanced qualities have been suppressed a bit. Yes, it is hardly surprising because it was finalized in a higher resolution, but now that we are seeing some really stunning restorations in their native resolution this is a limitation that is easier to identify. Everything else looks really nice, though the flashbacks make it somewhat difficult to tell precisely what type of stylization was done. All in all, as far as the basic characteristics of the restoration are concerned, I think that the current presentation is indeed very solid. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Accident Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is clear, stable, and nicely balanced. John Dankworth's jazzy score also breathes easily throughout the entire film. When I turn up the volume high enough from time to time I hear some extremely light hiss, but it could very well be on the original mix.

Accident Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for Accident. In English, not subtitled. (4 min, 480/60i).

• Commentary - an exclusive new audio commentary by critic Kat Ellinger.

• Additional Trailers - additional trailers for the following releases from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. The Criminal
  2. Modesty Blaise
  3. The Mind Benders
  4. Robbery
  5. The Island of Dr. Moreau
  6. The Homecoming

Accident Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Accident is a very twisty thriller with a decadent edge which I think makes it a lot more stylish than it was intended to be. I like this film a lot. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from the same good restoration that StudioCanal used in 2013 to produce this Region-B release of the film, but has a better overall technical presentation of the restoration. Unfortunately, it lacks the interesting bonus features from the first release. Nevertheless, I think that the release is definitely worth owning. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.