7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Biographical movie about the American musical theater composer Sigmund Romberg.
Starring: José Ferrer, Merle Oberon, Helen Traubel, Doe Avedon, Walter PidgeonMusical | 100% |
Biography | 27% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.75:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Songwriter Sigmund Romberg isn't well-known today, but he was a dominant force in American musical theater for the first half of the 20th Century, with a string of hit musicals that sold out on Broadway and toured America. He worked with everyone from George Gershwin to Oscar Hammerstein II. His 1929 show The New Moon, co-written with Hammerstein, was twice filmed by Hollywood, and several of its numbers became jazz standards. The show's song "Stout-Hearted Men" remained a popular tune (often parodied) for decades after Romberg's death in 1951 at the age of 64. If Romberg is not better known today, it is partly because the musical as a popular art form no longer occupies a preeminent place in American culture. But the musical itself had already changed significantly by the time it was dethroned, and those changes were evident even in Romberg's later years, because so much of its transformation was attributable to Romberg's frequent writing partner, Oscar Hammerstein, through his collaboration with Richard Rodgers, which overlapped that with Romberg. Having trained as a classical composer in his native Vienna, Romberg wrote music to express emotion, whereas Hammerstein and Rodgers were pushing musical theater toward the revelation of character through song. Their partnership would produce masterpieces like The King and I, South Pacific and The Sound of Music and spawn what is now recognized as a Golden Age of musical theater. Romberg, for all his musical talent, could not compete, and his shows have faded into obscurity. But Romberg had influential admirers, including filmmaker Stanley Donen, who directed what is still considered the greatest movie musical of all time, Singin' in the Rain. In 1954, Donen and producer Roger Edens (another Romberg admirer) filmed a lavish tribute to Romberg and his work in the form of a fictionalized bio-pic that allowed them to roam freely through the composer's catalog, selecting his best songs and presenting them in contemporary arrangements with modernized costumes and choreography. Because he was working at MGM, Donen was blessed with a cavalcade of stars from which to choose. Most of the biggest names appear only for a single song, but they give Deep in My Heart the quality of an MGM variety show that, whatever it may lack in dramatic heft, has a quality unlike any other musical from the Dream Machine.
Deep in My Heart was shot by George J. Folsey (Meet Me in St. Louis) on Eastmancolor stock. Like another film recently released on Blu-ray and shot in 1954 during the studios' transition to widescreen, the film was original framed at 1.75:1. For this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, the Warner Archive Collection has framed DiMH at 1.77:1. DiMH was previously released by Warner on DVD in 2008, but for Blu-ray a new scan was created at 2k from an interpositive by Warner's Motion Picture Imaging facility. Substantial cleaning and restoration of the image was undertaken in the digital domain, and a few shots had to be substituted from dupes because of damage or similar issues. The Blu-ray image is remarkable, with mostly solid blacks except where dupes have been used. An alert viewer may occasionally notice a bluish cast to some of the tuxedos worn by Romberg or his musicians (e.g., in the concluding concert scene), but this is an effect of lighting rather than an issue with the image, as the remaining blacks in the frame remain steady. Colors are vibrant, and detail is strong, all of which allows one to appreciate the elaborate decor and costumes of the many production numbers, as well as Romberg's increasingly improved fortunes as his success grows. No filtering or noise reduction has been applied, nor does there appear to be any edge enhancement or artificial sharpening. The grain pattern is fine and natural. WAC has mastered DiMH at its preferred rate of 35 Mbps, and the film's complex imagery makes good use of the bandwidth. The compression appears to have been carefully performed.
According to IMDb, DiMH was released to theaters in three-track stereo. When the film was being released on laserdisc in 1996, a new 5.0 mix was created from the original dialogue and effects tracks, using the mixing log from 1954. The goal was to recreate the release mix as closely as possible. No ".1" track was included, because the source materials did not provide sufficient deep bass for a true LFE channel. Unfortunately, this new multichannel track proved to be too expensive to provide on laserdisc at a point where Dolby Digital was just making its first appearance in the home. The 5.0 mix was first heard, in lossy format, on the 2008 DVD of DiMH, and it is now making it premiere on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA 5.0. The remix gives the orchestral performances a thrilling fullness across the front soundstage, with the rear channels providing a sense of space and depth. Dynamic range and clarity are both impressive, especially in the rendering of the vocal performances, which reach operatic highs in the case of singers like Helen Traubel; rich deep voices such as Howard Keel's baritone sound equally good. Dialogue is clearly rendered, even when José Ferrer delivers it at top speed, which is often. Whether or not one emerges from watching the Blu-ray of DiMH as a fan of Romberg's music, there is little doubt that this reproduction gives it as good a showcase as possible.
The extras have been ported over from Warner's 2008 DVD of Deep in My Heart.
Deep in My Heart won't appeal to all viewers, but it's a unique artifact of a bygone era, and it reflects a genuine love of an art form that provides an essential substratum for modern entertainment, just as silent films laid the foundation for the movies of today. Anyone who loves movie musicals will find something to enjoy here, whether it's the central performance or the kaleidoscope of production numbers or simply the idealized evocation of Broadway a century ago. WAC has done their usual creditable job in bringing DiMH to Blu-ray. For those who have a taste for it, recommended.
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