Dementia Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Dementia Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 27, 2022

Dementia begins with one of the most astounding text crawls of all time, especially considering its source, to wit:

EN GARDE!

Art is a medium for the transmission of emotions. It is not difficult then to determine, for yourself at least, whether a work of art has failed or succeeded. It was intended for YOU (italicize this last word). YOU (italicized) are the only judge. I (italicized) enjoyed DEMENTIA. It stirred my blood, purged my libido. The circuit was completed. The work was a work of art. Whether YOU (italicized) like it or not will depend entirely upon the permeability of your emotional shell, your idioplasm and your previous conditions of servitude. It is not important.

PRESTON STURGES
Hollywood 1953

Putting aside for a moment the unintentional hilarity that the venerable Mr. Sturges was probably instructing whomever had been tasked with making this text crawl to italicize certain words, instructions which the "artisan" then thoughtfully left in the screed, take just a moment to parse this comment and wonder what in heaven's name was going on in Preston Sturges' life circa 1953 that he would have even seen this film, let alone felt compelled to contribute an imprimatur of sorts to it. In between visits to your online dictionary to look up words like "idioplasm" (don't be embarrassed, I [italicized] had to), it may be helpful to find out that while Dementia is typically given a release year of 1955, it evidently was running into censorship trouble as early as 1953, where after what was its first screening, the New York State Film Board banned it, which may have incited the ire of Sturges, who famously had to fight code enforcers when putting out such obviously harmless fare as The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.

Understanding the unabashedly gonzo content of this film may also be aided by the knowledge that filmmaker John J. Parker hailed from Portland, and I say that as a near lifelong resident of the so-called center of keeping things weird. Parker had a secretary named Adrienne Barrett who relayed a nightmare she had had to Parker, who decided it would not only be the perfect fodder for a short (and, later, feature), but that Barrett herself would make the perfect "heroine", here nameless and called (in the credits only) The Gamin. Dementia is a remarkable piece of cinema for a number of reasons, not the least of which is, as its original trailer proudly trumpets, "not one word of dialogue is spoken", and in fact while there are some very minor sound effects way down in the mix, one of the most interesting things about the film for some will be its score by George Antheil, which features Music Direction by future Oscar winner Ernest Gold, and wordless vocals by Gold's wife Marni Nixon, in what was the only screen collaboration between the spouses. The music here may have easily provided inspiration for Alexander Courage and Loulie Jean Norman's memorable vocals on the original theme for Star Trek: The Original Series: Season 1.

Now, whether or not Sturges' comment sprang from his own battles with censors, Dementia is most certainly not another Miracle of Morgan's Creek, and is in fact a rather dark and frankly disturbing journey through one poor woman's roiling Id. The entire film plays like a fever dream, or probably more accurately, fever nightmare, with the woman stumbling through perilous urban environments where she's regularly assaulted, and with locations and characters morphing almost seamlessly, much like in a real dream (or nightmare). There are Freudian implications galore sprinkled throughout the film, including having the same actor portray both a savior policeman type and the woman's alcoholic abusive father. Suffice it to say The Gamin evidently had neither a happy childhood nor adulthood, but she's aces with knives and other sharp bladed implements.

Now the "entertainment" value of Dementia is probably questionable, but it is a viewing experience like none other. Parker evidently never made another film, but there's some surprising technical finesse here (even if opening and closing matte shots are pretty ham handed). Ed Wood's frequent collaborator William C. Thompson contributed the cinematography, and it's frankly pretty evocative, especially a graveyard scene that plays a bit similarly (in look, anyway) to the one(s) in Plan 9 from Outer Space. The supporting cast features Orson Welles lookalike Bruno Ve Sota (who also co-wrote and co-produced, and reportedly co-directed), and a nightclub scene features real life jazz stalwart Shorty Rogers and his band. Aaron Spelling and Shelley Berman are reportedly uncredited extras.

Dementia Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dementia is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection, an imprint of Cohen Media Group, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. The back cover of this release states that this was "digitally remastered from the 35mm negative". A restoration featurette on the disc documents the damage that had to be overcome, which was evidently rather significant in places, but one arguable misstep the restoration team may have made is in darkening the element pretty considerably. I typically don't include screenshots from restoration featurettes, but I've uploaded one to position 19 accompanying this review so that those interested can so just how much darker the finished product is from the original source. The overall look here is solid, to be sure, and fine detail is often exceptional in close-ups, but there's also no denying that at least when glossing over the restoration featurette, some of the film's darker moments may have had at least slightly better shadow detail in the "before" version. There are also still numerous signs of age related wear and tear, but they tend to be minor blemishes and hairline scratches. Grain looks natural throughout the presentation.

Dementia Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dementia features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track which capably supports a film that is almost entire score, with only a couple of soft sound effects which can just barely be heard beneath the music. Antheil's score is motif based, and works over the same melodic and harmonic tropes repeatedly, with Marni Nixon's vibrant soprano on display throughout. Because there is no real dialogue, no subtitles are necessary and this disc does not offer any.

Dementia Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Restoration Demonstration (HD; 3:13)


• Daughter of Horror (HD: 55:15) is a very slightly rejiggered version, with a couple of moments of salient narration (hilariously by Ed McMahon) which was obviously added to help the addled viewer figure out what the frell was going on. This comes from a pretty badly damaged print with all sorts of issues like severe wobble and missing frames.


• Trailers

  Restoration Trailer (HD; 1:15)

  
  

  Original Trailer (HD; 1:00)

Dementia Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is the sort of film that may appeal the most to trivia lovers, and so for them I'll simply pass on one fun sidebar. The fact that Ernest Gold and Marni Nixon were Mr. and Mrs. is a kind of fun factoid in and of itself, but they were parents to one of the most remarkable musical talents to emerge in the 1970s and beyond, and who died tragically young, Andrew Gold. Television fans may instantly recognize Gold from his heartwarming "Thank You For Being a Friend" which was co-opted by The Golden Girls, but as anyone who has seen the appealing documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice may also recall, Gold had a hand in fashioning all sorts of hits for a number of outstanding vocalists. At or near the top of that impressively lengthy list, I'd personally place this gorgeous Gold arrangement and production of a Wendy Waldman tune. And indeed The Gamin seems to have survived a life of people turning a cold back on her, to devastating effect. Dementia is an oddity, to be sure, but it's a fascinating one for a variety of reasons. Technical merits are generally solid, for those who are considering making a purchase.