De-Lovely Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

De-Lovely Blu-ray Movie Review

S'okay.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 13, 2020

Some online sources tout “Night and Day” as Cole Porter’s most popular and enduring song, and if that’s at least a debatable proposition based upon nothing other than the amazingly monolithic output Porter enjoyed over a long and legendary career, it’s perhaps salient to note (no pun intended) that the song’s title was also utilized for Night and Day, the 1946 (supposed) biographical film about Porter which was, as they say, (highly) “fictionalized”. There is in fact one salient difference between the 1946 and this 2004 version of Porter’s life, which, if not entirely equivalent to the difference between night and day, is rather remarkable in its own way, at least in terms of what has become more acceptable to mainstream audiences in the intervening years between the two films, namely the depiction of gay relationships. When Night and Day came out in 1946, and both Cole Porter and his wife Linda Lee were still alive, it was of course unthinkable to offer a realistic account of Porter’s already pretty legendary dalliances with men. But it was a different time, not to state the obvious, and the 1946 effort was a Technicolor dream obviously fashioned to take post-War audiences away into a fantasy land that just so happened to have a surplus of memorable Porter tunes to help bolster the dramatics. De-Lovely offers at least as much, and arguably more, music than Night and Day did, but it also attempts to give a more accurate history of Porter’s sexuality.

Unfortunately, the film trades its more contemporary (and accurate) depiction of the desire of Porter (Kevin Kline) to have relationships with men, while his wife Linda Lee (Ashley Judd) more or less agrees (for a while, anyway), for a rather odd framing device that seems lifted out of, well, Technicolor dreams from days of yore. In this formulation, an aging Porter (Kline under what must have been pounds of latex) is visited by the Angel Gabriel (Jonathan Pryce) to "review" his life, which is presented almost as a stage performance. That introduces an artificiality, not to mention a distancing factor, that the "warts and all" aspect of some of the content may not gel with very organically.

There’s also a kind of curiously contemporizing element introduced by the film’s use of what were at the time of its release a who’s who of musical heavyweights who appear in the film performing various Cole standards. These include some “usual suspects” from the standpoint of offering a more or less “traditional” interpretation of an evergreen from the Great American Standpoint like Natalie Cole and Diana Krall, but the film also goes off on a few odd tangents by including Vivian Green and Mick Hucknall, which may grate against the sensibilities of perceived “purists”.

The film has a very handsome production design that rather capably recreates its era(s), and the focal performances by Kline and Judd are winning and (for the most part) believable. The film is still just a bit discursive about the whole “gay thing” (though of course it would be more overt in any case than Night and Day was), but it still manages to offer a sympathetic portrayal of a hugely gifted artist trying to live his own inner truth while also attempting to “put on a front” for the public, albeit a front based in genuine love.

Musical theater geeks are going to notice not just some factual inaccuracies in this film, but also some kind of odd choices for tunes at various moments, including some that don't really fit the film's supposed time line. That said, the arrangements are often quite winning (if occasionally anachronistic as well), and most of the singing is top notch. Porter was evidently not much of a vocalist, but Kline is of course and he gets a chance to strut (or at least the sit at the piano version) his stuff and show off his own musical theater chops (he also reportedly played the piano himself, which it looks like he did do).

De-Lovely Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

De-Lovely is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Metro Goldwyn Mayer with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. MGM hasn't always been the most reliable curator of its catalog, but perhaps due to the relatively recent provenance of De-Lovely, this is generally a very winning looking presentation. Things can occasionally be just a tad murky looking in dark sequences, with some noticeable ebbs in fine detail, but the bulk of this presentation offers a really nicely burnished palette that is often commendably vivid. Fine detail on the sumptuously appointed costumes and sets is also typically excellent. My hunch is given the age of the film and now the age of this Blu-ray, the master is no doubt on the older side, but overall resolution is very good, though it doesn't look like any kind of restoration was undertaken, and so a few minor signs of age related wear and tear can be spotted.

De-Lovely Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

De-Lovely features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that has some noticeable spikes in amplitude during musical numbers, but which never has any problematic distortion or breakup. The surround activity is largely dependent on things like the music or crowd scenes, where the background clamor of partygoers can spill into the side and rear channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.

De-Lovely Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: This is one of the "old style" Fox-MGM discs with no Main Menu, with the disc authored to just boot automatically to the warning texts and then straight to the film itself. To access the following supplements, use the Pop Up Menu button your remote:

• Audio Commentary by Director Irwin Winkler and Kevin Kline


• Audio Commentary by Director Irwin Winkler and Writer Jay Cocks


• Featurettes

  Making of De-Lovely (480i; 25:37) is an enjoyable overview, with some good interviews, including with some of the starry musicians who took part.

  
  

  Music of De-Lovely (480i; 15:19) has some more good interviews with some of the musicians, along with little snippets from the film.

  
  

  Anatomy of a Scene: Be A Clown (480i; 5:33) has some good candid footage of this sequence being shot.

  
  

  Anatomy of a Scene: Love for Sale (480i; 3:10) offers more of the same.

• Deleted Scenes (480i; 14:29)


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:22)

De-Lovely Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's indicative of the longevity of Porter's "Night and Day" that many younger listeners could probably cite any number of fairly recent versions, and in fact even a good two decades after the film Night and Day premiered and of course longer than that since Porter actually wrote the tune, there was a Top 10 charting version on the Adult Contemporary charts in the United States by Sergio Mendes (with some kind of cool touches like what sounds like a hammered dulcimer), and decades after that, Everything But the Girl enjoyed a modest success on the Hot 100 with their version. Unfortunately, De-Lovely misses the mark in terms of presenting a really rounded and believable account of Porter's life. It comes at least marginally closer than Night and Day did, but perhaps not by as much as might be assumed. Maybe three will be the charm for Porter biographical films. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.