Rating summary
| Movie |  | 3.5 |
| Video | | 3.5 |
| Audio |  | 4.0 |
| Extras |  | 0.0 |
| Overall | | 3.5 |
Class Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 4, 2024
MGM recently reissued a few Blu-ray catalog titles formerly exclusive to the now-defunct boutique label Olive Films (Class, The Boost, and Betrayed, with presumably more on the
way), offering a straight port of their existing 1080p transfers and lossless audio with a few minor tweaks, including the long-overdue
addition of English subtitles if none were included the first time around. So while there's not much to see here, these quiet reissues at least give fans a
chance to pick up largely identical Blu-ray copies much easier and without paying out-of-print prices.
For a synopsis and appreciation of
Class, please see Svet Atanasov's review of Olive's
2016 Blu-ray. I'm in agreement that this is a well-made film from Lewis John Carlino, who wrote dozens
of screenplays and teleplays (mostly during the 1960s and 70s) but only directed two big-screen productions: 1976's
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the
Sea and 1979's
The Great Santini,
which is possibly due up for rescue on Blu-ray by Warner Archive. Despite living until 2020 and writing into his last decade,
Class
would be Carlino's last time in the director's chair; while I wouldn't necessarily call it his
best work (hence my slightly lower rating), it's well
worth watching and quite the shocker at times.
Class Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
For all intents and purposes, this 1080p transfer of Class seems to be identical to the one MGM supplied for Olive's 2016 Blu-ray. That's not necessarily a bad thing in this case, as it's a largely
clean and organic presentation that at least meets expectations for an older master dumped on a single-layer (25GB) disc. That said, I noticed a bit of
macro blocking here and there, not to mention light amounts of noise possibly related to the source material. I'll still maintain the 4/5 video rating that
Svet gave it for posterity, although it's probably a hair below by today's standards.
Class Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
Similarly, the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix sounds identical to the one featured on Olive's 2016 Blu-ray, so again please see Svet's review for more details. Please also note that MGM's Blu-ray
finally adds in optional English (SDH) subtitles for the main feature, which is certainly appreciated and basically a requirement in my book.
Class Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with noticeably downgraded cover artwork from Olive's 2016 Blu-ray, giving the film an ironically classless straight-to-video appearance.
Sadly, even the minimal bonus features from that older disc -- in this case, the film's theatrical trailer -- have not been carried over here, which is a
bummer.
Class Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
Lewis John Carlino's Class is a well-made and lightly underrated coming-of-age drama that has held up fairly well during the last four
decades. It also sports a great cast and also features the big-screen debuts of Andrew McCarthy, John Cusack, Virginia Madsen, Casey Siemaszko, and
Lolita Davidovich, giving it a good amount of historical value too. Olive Films' long out-of-print 2016 Blu-ray was fine for its time with solid A/V and that's about it,
so this near-exact reissue -- which adds in optional English subtitles and drops the only extra, a trailer -- can be seen as either an easy way
for newcomers to grab it... or a disappointment to die-hard fans for not improving on that older release.
