5.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Romantic drama about an aging playboy who falls for a sweet, but terminally ill, young woman.
Starring: Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, Anthony LaPaglia, Elaine Stritch, Vera FarmigaRomance | 100% |
Drama | 11% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.88:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
It’s time for the “mash up” game again, when two decidedly disparate motion pictures have at least elements of their plots lifted and thrown into whatever the cinematic equivalent of a Cuisinart is to arrive at something supposedly “new”. Autumn in New York probably owes most of its “parentage” to a certain venerable 1970 enterprise known as Love Story, since the film deals with a terminally ill woman who is in a relationship, but the film arguably may owe at least a little to a much less remembered film, 1936’s Come and Get It. That venerable enterprise is the only film that bears the dual directorial imprimatur of two legends of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Howard Hawks and William Wyler (due to Hawks being removed from the project as it was close to wrapping), and it is regularly cited as having provided another legend, Frances Farmer, with her finest screen opportunity (ironically it was her co-star Walter Brennan who was feted with the first Supporting Actor Academy Award). Come and Get It is based on an Edna Ferber novel and has a lot of plot strands, but a central premise is that Edward Arnold’s character ends up falling in love with the daughter of a woman he had romantic feelings for decades earlier (Farmer portrays both women, and they are distinctly different characters in her performances). That aspect is at least hinted at in Autumn in New York, a middling film that offers Richard Gere as successful restauranteur Will Keane, a womanizer with a long history of “conquests”, but who rather unexpectedly falls for Charlotte Fielding (Winona Ryder), that aforementioned terminally ill woman who not so coincidentally is the daughter of a long ago main squeeze of Will’s.
Autumn in New York is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual's new MVD Marquee imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Though this may be damning with faint praise, this is a generally respectable looking transfer from MGM, a studio not known for its curating of high definition versions of its catalog, especially since my hunch is this is an older master and not a recent restoration. My biggest issue with the transfer is that it often looks a little "dupey", with a kind of gray undertone that pokes through an otherwise relatively natural looking palette. Grain is also a bit on the coarse side at times, but overall resolves without any major issues. The film is appropriately autumnal, and some of the fall foliage and urban environments offer good detail levels, with quite a bit of the film being rather scenic in its own way. Chen favors a lot of close-ups for her two primary stars, and fine detail is typically very good in these moments.
Autumn in New York features an LPCM stereo mix, along with a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 version. This is in essence a talkfest, though the film is graced with a number of nice source cues (including the gorgeous Vernon Duke standard that gave the film its name). The surround track does open up some of the music, and provides more immersion in the urban environments as well as scenes like the opening crowded birthday party or a later costume party, but for all intents and purposes the LPCM 2.0 track suffices quite nicely and has a noticeably fuller midrange and low end. Dialogue, score and effects are all presented cleanly and clearly without any issues.
This film's tag line (as evidenced by the verbiage on the front cover) was evidently "He fell in love for the first time. . .she fell in love forever", to which some curmudgeonly types (ahem) might add, "Until she died". That might be a bit on the churlish side, but Autumn in New York kind of invites that level of jaded reaction, since it wallows in so many clichés and tries to cover way too much emotional territory. Technical merits are generally okay if uninspiring for those considering a purchase.
2009
Includes "Him", "Her", and "Them" Cuts
2014
1991
2007
1999
2008
1991
Remastered
1937
30th Anniversary Edition
1989
2007
2020
2009
2009
2011
2015
Young Man of Music / Warner Archive Collection
1950
2014
2011
Flying Home
2014
2015