Brazil Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Brazil Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 17, 2016

Nominated for three Oscar Awards, including Best Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Song, Joseph Santley's "Brazil" (1944) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. There are no supplemental features the disc. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The visitor

My guess is that very few people are familiar with Joseph Stanley’s Brazil because I don’t recall seeing any legit home video releases of this film in the United States during the DVD era. It is possible that it was released in a different territory, but I looked in my catalog and I never had a registered foreign release. So this new Blu-ray release of Brazil from Olive Films reintroduces yet another largely forgotten film in the United States.

As the title reveals, the film is set in Brazil sometime during the early 1940s (though it is interesting to note that the war in Europe never emerges as an important topic). It begins at the airport in Rio de Janeiro where the successful American writer Nicky Henderson (Virginia Bruce, The Great Ziegfeld) lands determined to learn more about the country before she begins working on her next novel. Before she is picked up by an official from the American embassy, however, some local reporters recognize her and it immediately becomes clear that she isn’t liked there. The reason is simple -- her previous novel, Why Marry a Latin?, has touched a nerve amongst a very large number of local men.

Soon after, accidentally Nicky meets the handsome singer Miguel Soares (Tito Guizar) who seems to possess all the important qualities that women in Brazil value. Miguel offers to show her the real Rio de Janeiro and she enthusiastically accepts. During their conversations Nicky realizes that she is attracted to Miguel but refuses to start a romantic relationship that could compromise her image. Meanwhile, Miguel vows to prove that Nicky isn’t any different than the rest of the women in Brazil and that he can easily make her fall in love with him. He gets the perfect opportunity to do so when Nicky decides to visit the countryside and Miguel reintroduces himself as one of his many twin brothers who all share the same name.

The concept behind Brazil is practically identical to the one that made Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca a tremendous hit. The film carefully promotes Brazil as a beautiful exotic country that brings out the best in people and eventually they learn how to live life to the fullest. Admittedly, the romantic material in the story is far less intense than the one that defines Casablanca, but the audience that this film targeted was undoubtedly the same.

What effectively separates Brazil and Casablanca is the manner in which the two choose to employ music. In the former music is basically used to counter the lack of star power which is why at times it seems like it temporarily evolves into a musical. Guizar shines in some great segments but there are also some wonderfully choreographed performances that could remind some viewers of the excellent smaller numbers in Busby Berkeley's The Gang's All Here. (All three films -- Casablanca, The Gang's All Here and Brazil -- were shot between 1942 and 1944).

Virtually the entire film appears to have been shot on the big Republic Studios lot in California, but the visuals look great and the period atmosphere is spot on. To be honest, it is not that difficult to imagine that during the 1940s Rio de Janeiro and the rest of Brazil looked as clean and peaceful as they do in the film.

Stanley worked with cinematographer Jack Marta, who many years later lensed Steven Spielberg’s action thriller Duel.

Brazil Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 10870p transfer, Joseph Santley's Brazil arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

The film has not undergone an extensive restoration, but it looks quite good in high-definition. In fact, excluding a few tiny dirt spots and some sporadic softness I think that the technical presentation is very pleasing. The overwhelming majority of the close-ups, for instance, boast very good depth, and the grayscale appears quite well balanced. Even during the darker footage shadow definition is frequently surprisingly good. The best news is that no one has attempted to resharpen the film with digital tools, which is why it has retained a very decent organic appearance. Finally, there are no serious stability issues to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Brazil 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.

There are no technical anomalies to report in our review. Depth and clarity are very good, while balance remains pleasing throughout the entire film. (With some older films balance is frequently problematic, and during transitions where music and dialog interchange there could be sudden spikes or drops in terms of intensity, but there are no such issues here). There are no pops, audio dropouts, or distracting hiss.

Brazil Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray release.

Brazil Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Joseph Santley's film Brazil cannot compete with Casablanca and The Gang's All Here, but it does a good job of blending some of the same ingredients that make these classic films so special. I personally liked it quite a lot because there is also a great deal of old-fashioned elegance and genuine harmless humor in it. Olive Films' technical presentation of Brazil is very good, but there are no supplemental features on the Blu-ray. RECOMMENDED.