Chameleon Street Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Chameleon Street Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 18, 2023

Catch Me If You Can attracted considerable attention at the time of its release due at least in part to its seemingly preposterous premise that one man could successfully pull off pretending to be any number of highly skilled professionals, notably a commercial airline jet pilot. Chameleon Street predated Catch Me If You Can by a decade and change, and it barely received any attention at all despite winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1990, but in its own rather distinctive way it tells a somewhat similar story of an unexpectedly successful "pretender", albeit in a style that is markedly different from the more or less straight ahead narrative path taken by Steven Spielberg in his film. If at least some of the narrative elements of Chameleon Street will almost inevitably result in connections to Catch Me If You Can, the resemblance is largely surface deep, because Chameleon Street, unlike the Spielberg blockbuster, was an indie film in just about every way, including limited budgeting and utilization of non-professional actors. As such, there's definitely more of a ragtag feeling to this enterprise, which may present some obstacles to viewers wanting things to be glossy and "Hollywood"-esque.

Though it may sound slightly pejorative, I actually mean it in a frankly kind of sweetly endearing way when I say if Spielberg is an undisputed master of mise- en-scène, Chameleon Street's auteur Wendell B. Harris, Jr., whose first feature this was, might be charitably described as just beginning to get the hang of cut and paste. That said, Harris one ups Spielberg by actually appearing in the film (uncredited) as the titular chameleon con man, William Douglas Street. There's also a rather interesting and at times quite provocative racial aspect here, since Street manages to impersonate a number of highly skilled types in a decidedly white environment, where Street's race can frankly redound either to his unexpected benefit or at other times somewhat less felicitously.

There's some very pointed humor at play throughout the several vignettes documenting Street's ability to con his way into various predicaments (since that's the way all of them end), but there is arguably not enough motivational impetus given to Street's somewhat sociopathic behaviors, other than his wife's nagging that he needs to start bringing home the bacon, so to speak. Some of the film's loosey-goosey technical aspects as well as some perhaps not quite ready for prime time performances may throw some viewers off at times, but the film as a whole has such a unique, sui generis feeling (despite those aforementioned evocations of Catch Me If You Can) that any qualms are typically short lived.

Chameleon Street Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Chameleon Street is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arbelos with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arbelos' insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:

This new digital restoration was scanned in 4K resolution from the original 35mm negatives by LAC Group. Countless instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, flicer and warps were digitally restored by Arbelos using Digital Vision's Phoenix Refine. As much as possible the film's natural grain has been left untouched. The original mono soundtrack was remastered at 24 bit from the original 35mm magnetic track by Audio Mechanics.

This is an impressive looking transfer that will probably completely excite those who only know of this film courtesy of a now ancient DVD, but as can be seen in screenshots 15 through 19 in particular, that "natural grain has been left untouched" comment can lead to some unavoidably rough looking patches at times, where things can appear to be heading toward 16mm rather than 35mm territory in terms of lessened clarity, a bit less vivid saturation and unmistakably heavy grain. Some of this can be attributed to opticals (the film is awash in all sorts of things including dissolves, wipes and superimposed imagery), as well as one sequence that has burnt in subtitles (another kind of optical) for a funny moment when Street's lack of French knowledge is outed. Otherwise, though, the presentation, while just a bit drab and brown at times, offers really healthy densities, appealing detail levels and secure compression. As alluded to in my comments, and probably "glean-able" from some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, the film is rather freewheeling from framing perspectives.

Chameleon Street Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Chameleon Street offers an enjoyable LPCM 2.0 Mono track that delivers the films lo-fi audio ambitions without any issues. The film's weird mix of Art House Chic and something approaching a vérité sensibility can spill into the sound design, and some of the segues here may have been handled a bit more artfully with a higher budget. That said, everything from dialogue (including voiceover), effects and score are presented cleanly and clearly without any major issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

Chameleon Street Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary featuring Wendell B. Harris Jr. and Ashley Clark


• Commentary featuring Cast and Crew


• Being Independent is Glorious (HD; 24:26) starts with a rather long text card describing a video fan named Mike Plante who worked for a star called Casa Video in Tucson, and who managed to get a VHS copy of Chameleon Street and became an early champion. Later, Plante founded a magazine called Cinemad, which evidently ultimately transformed into a blog, and when Chameleon Street came out on DVD in 2007, Plante arranged for an audio interview, presented here. Kind of charmingly, there's a gap where the cassette tape had to be turned over. This is offers an edited version and the text card reports the full text transcription of the interview is online on Cinemad's website. This plays to photographs.


• The Process: The Making of Chameleon Street (HD; 25:15) is an original documentary featuring a wealth of interviews with various participants and some fun behind the scenes footage.


• Archival Interview with William Douglas Street Jr. (HD; 6:11) features an excerpt of an interview of Street conducted by Wendell B. Harris Jr. when Street was incarcerated at Kinross Correctional Facility.


• Colette Vignette (HD; 5:04) is a kind of slightly gonzo short piece about Colette Haywood auditioning for the film which ended up winning the Grand Jury Prize in a 1986 Sony video contest.


• So, You Say You Know Leadbelly. . . (HD; 6:39) offers some early improvisational efforts that led to some of the scenes in Chameleon Street.


• Marriage Counseling (HD; 13:27) does similar service, offering a series of evolving versions of one of the sequences in the film.


• Original Theatrical Trailer (HD; 5:13)


• 2021 U.S. Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:45)

Additionally Arbelos provides a nicely appointed insert booklet which includes a really interesting interview with Wendell B. Harris, Jr.

Chameleon Street Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I have at least a couple of friends who agree with the description on the back cover of this release calling Chameleon Street a "lost masterpiece", as well as some other friends who think this is an overcooked piece of silliness that somehow has managed to eke out an undeserved reputation. I'm probably more in the former camp than the latter, but that said, I'm not immune to some of the arguable stumbles in technique (both from filmmaking and performance standpoints) the film has to elide. One way or the other, this is audacious filmmaking, and Arbelos offers a presentation with generally secure technical merits and some really enjoyable supplements. Recommended.