8.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.3 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
After a chance meeting on a train platform, a married doctor and a suburban housewife begin a muted but passionate, and ultimately doomed, love affair.
Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril RaymondDrama | 100% |
Romance | 43% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (256 kbps)
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Winner of the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946 and nominated for three Oscar awards in 1947, including Best Actress (Celia Johnson) and Best Director (David Lean), “Brief Encounter” (1945) follows the complex love story between a middle-class housewife and a married doctor. The film is based on Noel Coward’s play “Still Life”. Courtesy of UK-based distributors ITV-Granada.
Already in love
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC, and granted a 1080p transfer David Lean's Brief Encounter arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of ITV-Granada.
There are some good news about this much anticipated Blu-ray release, and some not so good news. Let's start with the good ones – indeed, BFI (British Film Institute) and ITV-Granada's joint efforts to bring a deserving, fully-restored, print of David Lean's classic have resulted in a release that looks substantially stronger than what Criterion and Studio Canal offered us in the past. The 1080p transfer is notably smoother, lacking practically all of the specks and dots from previous DVD releases, and with a visibly stronger color-scheme (there are plenty of scenes where the blacks are richer and better saturated). Contrast is also more convincing on ITV's disc, though it seems to be quite inconsistent as well. Finally, the Blu-ray disc also eliminates almost completely the serious edge-enhancement issues that plagued the Criterion disc.
Here are the not so good news – ITV Granada have released their first Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc, and I assume that, either directly or indirectly, Studio Canal are responsible for it. Furthermore, the print provided by ITV Granada seems to reveal what I often refer to as pulsating softness – specific sharp-looking and well detailed portions of the film overlap with soft and unfocused footage (a lot of 50s and 60s R1 DVD releases of French and Italian films suffer from it). Furthermore, I am fairly certain that the print for Brief Encounter has undergone a mild noise-reduction treatment, which has kept most of the film grain intact, but apparently not all of it. As a result, you would notice plenty of the pulsating softness I mentioned earlier. This being said, there are more than a few scenes where the black-white balance is visibly altered (take a look at screen capture #9). To sum it all up, yes, the Blu-ray transfer is certainly stronger than the SDVD transfers we have seen in the past offered by other distributors, but there are plenty of minor issues with it that I think should have been addressed. Given the fact that now there is a great looking and freshly-restored master print, which BFI and ITV Granada have finalized, this Blu-ray release is quite a bit underwhelming. (Note: This Blu-ray disc is Region-B "locked", which means that unless you have a native Region-B player, or a Region-Free player, you will not be able to access its content).
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray release: English Dolby Digital 2.0. I really do not have any reservations with the audio treatment ITV Granada have secured for Brief Encounter. It is fairly obvious that the audio, just as the video, has undergone some serious restoration work. As a result, you should be able to immediately notice how notably smoother and rounder the sound coming off of your speakers is. Furthermore, balance is certainly very strong here as well. In fact, at no point during my viewing of this disc was I able to detect any concerning audio distortions – the dialog is crystal clear and very easy to follow. Finally, I did not detect any disturbing cracks, pops, or hissings to report here either. For the record, ITV-Granada have supplied optional English subtitles for the main feature.
In addition to a gallery of stills and the original theatrical trailer for Brief Encounter, on this Blu-ray disc you will find a very short "Restoration Featurette" highlighting the improvements this new print offers as well as a second, more elaborate, featurette titled "A Profile of Brief Encounter" which summarizes the history behind David Lean's film. Please note that from the extras provided on this Blu-ray disc you will only be able to access the "Restoration Featurette" and the gallery of stills (if viewing the disc on a US TV), the theatrical trailer and "A Profile of Brief Encounter" are both in standard-def PAL.
David Lean's Brief Encounter debuts on Blu-ray courtesy of UK-based distributors ITV-Granada, and I am certainly pleased to have it in my collection. I am, however, somewhat underwhelmed by the look of this release. No, I am not disappointed by it, as technically this is certainly the most complete version of this classic British film available on the market. But I do believe that the key points I made in my technical analysis could have been very easily addressed, given what the British Film Institute and ITV-Granada have accomplished together. I wonder what the results would have been had BFI released Brief Encounter on Blu-ray.
1944
Special Restoration Edition
1948
2011
Digitally Restored
1943
1960
1985
Includes Limited Edition Artcards
2015
1992
1947
2017
1937
1942
1995
2004
2013
Masters of Cinema
1930
1946
Charlie Chaplin: The Collection
1952
The John Cassavetes Collection
1968
2012