Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 12, 2024

It may be hard to remember it now, but early in her career Bette Midler was feted (among other reasons) for having helped to reinvigorate the career(s) of the two surviving Andrews Sisters. After Midler's reworking of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy on this, her debut album, became a global sensation, suddenly Patty and Maxene Andrews found themselves centers of attention after decades in relative obscurity, which in turn led to their sole Broadway outing, Over Here!, featuring a score by the Sherman Brothers, and a supporting cast that included early turns by none other than John Travolta and Marilu Henner. That trivia point aside, The Divine Miss M makes for a satisfying and playful if frankly maybe just a little rote premiere from Midler, with production by Barry Manilow giving it considerable luster, and Midler's voice warm and inviting. The album produced two other hits in addition to the Andrew Sisters redux, with Friends (interestingly featured twice on the album) and Do You Wanna Dance? also charting.

The album's track list can be seen in the screenshots of the disc menu I've uploaded to accompany this review.

Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I frankly wish Rhino could make up their minds about how they want to author their audio Blu-rays. Unfortunately, this is a Quadio release with no ability to toggle between audio codecs with the colored buttons on your remote, and even worse, using the actual links on the menu to toggle restarts whatever song you're on. C'mon, Rhino! A number of their releases have offered the much preferable choice of being able to toggle between codecs with those colored buttons, and, albeit with a brief "handshake" lapse of sound, no starting the tune (or in some cases, album) over. One way or the other, this is an audio Blu-ray where you may want to have your monitor or display on.

Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Divine Miss M features DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. Even if the authoring (as mentioned above) can be a tad frustrating, the actual sound of this disc is fantastic. It's a rather glossily produced selection of tunes, as befits its Manilow imprimatur, but some of the "looser", funkier tunes like Daytime Hustler really show off the four channel separation, with, for example, congas and rhythm guitar clearly toward the rear of the soundstage, and organ and Bette up front. A number of the other songs similarly split the instrumentation quite winningly, offering a consistently immersive approach that nonetheless never buries Bette's vocals in the overall mix. Fidelity and clarity are excellent. The insert booklet recreates the original album's cover, while offering the Quadio standbys of a picture of the boxes holding the master tape, as well as Rhino's typical verbiage on setup.

Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As with every Quadio release I've reviewed, there is no on disc supplemental material. The insert booklet recreates the original album's cover information, while offering the Quadio standbys of a picture of the boxes holding the master tapes, as well as Rhino's typical verbiage on setup.

Bette Midler: The Divine Miss M Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bette Midler has become such an icon it's kind of funny to think that once she was "just another" female singer offering an album of pretty much cover versions. That said, there's some great stuff on this disc, and some may in fact find some of the lesser known tracks more engaging than the hits. Rhino's curious inability to decide on how to author their audio Blu-rays may continue to frustrate, but the actual sound of this disc is outstanding. Recommended.