7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Edmond Rostand's Nineteenth Century romantic tragedy swashbuckling tale and tale comes to the screen. Cyrano de Bergerac, the poetry-spouting swordsman with the oversized nose, reluctantly aiding another man in the pursuit of his one true love, uses the handsome but inarticulate Christian to pours his heart out to the lovely Roxanne, as a conduit for his feelings,. And she, wooed by the beauty of the words, falls in love with Christian, not realizing that is Cyrano whose voice has aroused her passion.
Starring: José Ferrer, Mala Powers, William Prince, Morris Carnovsky, Ralph ClantonRomance | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Few may realize it, but there was an actual, honest to goodness Cyrano de Bergerac. Yes, he apparently had a rather large proboscis (that’s nose for you less literary types). And, yes, he was apparently both a fantastic writer as well as rather handy with a sword. But there the similarities between Life and Art tend to part ways, and the Cyrano that most people think they know, the one from Edmond Rostand’s play, bears only a passing resemblance to the real life raconteur on whom he is based. Cyrano de Bergerac (the play, not the person) has had a rather long shelf life, having been adapted successfully into English by both Brian Hooker (whose work informs this film version) and, more recently, Anthony Burgess. Rather incredibly, though, the play, despite being the crowning achievement of Rostand’s life and one of the most popular entertainments of the twentieth century, had never been filmed in English before this 1950 version, a version which went on to win José Ferrer the Academy Award for Best Actor, despite some fairly heavy competition from William Holden in Sunset Boulevard and James Stewart in the new to Blu-ray Harvey. The film was produced by Stanley Kramer, who more often than not tended to favor “message” pictures, and if the message here is something as commonplace as unrequited love, it doesn’t dull the wit and ebullience of a story which has continued to hold sway over both filmmakers and artisans working in other media. (Anthony Burgess adapted his own adaptation of Rostand’s play into a rather charming musical in the 1970s which, like this film, flopped horribly but which won its star—Christopher Plummer—his own theatrical “Oscar,” the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical.) The role of Cyrano de Bergerac provides a field day for any actor lucky enough to undertake it, but Ferrer’s commanding voice and theatrical athleticism provided an uncommonly good fit for the part, and it is Ferrer’s performance that has allowed audiences to overlook some less than stellar contributions in the rest of the film, which was done on a paltry budget with at least a couple of actors who weren’t quite at the Ferrer levels of craft.
Cyrano de Bergerac is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. As some probably know, Cyrano de Bergerac lapsed into the public domain and has been released on a number of substandard PD media through the years. While I can't state with any certainty exactly what elements were used for this transfer, generally speaking this is far and away the best looking Cyrano I've personally seen, though there are still some occasional problems. The elements are in remarkably decent enough shape overall, though typical age related wear and tear do show up (the final couple of minutes of the film have the worst damage, with emulsion issues and some pretty bad bleed through). The more niggling problem for some videophiles is probably going to be contrast fluctuations. Much of the film, in fact the vast majority, looks very good, with deep blacks and crisp whites, but there are moments where contrast is overblown, giving a milky white, somewhat faded sheen to the film. There are also some curious inserts here and there that almost look like they were sourced from 16mm. But these are fairly transitory issues in what is overall a very nicely sharp and well detailed high definition presentation. As is typical with these Olive releases, there doesn't appear to have been any digital tweaking, and the film retains a natural layer of grain.
Cyrano de Bergerac's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix faithfully reproduces the original one track sound of this low budget film. Ferrer's sonorous voice rings out with very good fidelity and generally speaking all dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly and Dimitri Tiomkin's heroically heraldic score sounds nicely boisterous. There are occasional very minor issues with this track, including a couple of little pops and crackles along the way, but overall the track sounds clean and decently full bodied. The battle scenes, both sword play and otherwise, present the opportunity for some nice sounding foley effects, and those are offered with good fidelity and decently wide dynamic range.
No supplements of any kind are offered on this Blu-ray.
Cyrano de Bergerac is filled with luscious language, expertly delivered by José Ferrer. The film is inordinately sad, a kind of literary "three hankie weeper" that should appeal to those who like their love affairs unrequited and ultimately tragic. Though the film is somewhat hampered by feeling so stage bound, Ferrer's magnificent performance opens that stage up into untold heights and depths of expression. This Blu-ray offers generally excellent video and audio and comes Recommended.
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