Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Fedora Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 23, 2016

Billy Wilder's "Fedora" (1978) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include a collection of deleted scenes and restoration comparison. The release also arrives with a booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Neil Sinyard, a new essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns, a vintage piece on the film's production, and archival imagery. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The stranger

Washed-up American producer Barry 'Dutch' Detweiler (William Holden, The Bridge on the River Kwai) arrives in Greece looking for the great actress Fedora (Marthe Keller, Dark Eyes, Black Sunday). Fedora hasn’t been in front of a film camera for years, but Detweiler has a script he believes will convince her to come out of retirement.

The producer is quickly redirected to Corfu, the stunningly beautiful Greek island, where Fedora lives in a secluded villa. Soon after he checks in a local hotel, he realizes that getting to the villa is easy but seeing Fedora is virtually impossible. The bubbly owner of the hotel then reveals to him that only the plastic surgeon Dr. Vando (Jose Ferrer, Lawrence of Arabia) routinely sees the actress because he closely monitors the medications she takes.

Eventually, Detweiler meets Dr. Vando in the hotel’s tiny bar and tries to convince him to take his script to Fedora. When the old man refuses, he comes up with an ambitious plan to enter the secluded villa and meet the elusive actress.

After Detweiler’s decision Billy Wilder’s Fedora heads in a completely different direction and it is best if one knows as little as possible about it so that one can experience the film as intended. However, there are a few details that can be mentioned without spoiling it.

The film opens up with a short prologue in which Fedora jumps in front of a train. Detweiler is then seen attending her private funeral. Throughout the film there are also numerous flashbacks revealing that when she was younger Fedora fell madly in love with the handsome Michael York. In one of the film’s most beautiful sequences the two are seen dancing and then kissing while an enthusiastic director and his assistant observe them from afar. In another flashback Detweiler is seen placing large leafs over Fedora’s naked body on the set of a lavish film production. Later on the actress asks him why he did not appear intimidated by her beauty.

There is a message behind these flashbacks, which is that there is a time in everyone’s life that is the right time to fall in love. There are people who follow their hearts, discover true love at the right time and when they grow older fondly remember how it all happened. And then there are those who choose a different path in life, hoping that they will discover love when they are ready to do so, and when they grow older come to regret their decision.

Fedora offers a taste of the happiness and sadness people in the two camps experience. It is shot like a beautiful dream, one which initially looks quite surreal and then halfway through the film slowly begins to make sense. There is also a mystery in Fedora that is effectively solved, but its purpose is to merely show that even in the film business, where fantasies can become a reality, no one can cheat time.

There are some obvious similarities between Fedora and Sunset Boulevard. In both films there are great actresses living in exile, both are narrated by Holden. But they clearly belong to different eras, and both capture their essence in drastically different ways.

The cast of Fedora also includes Hildegarde Knef, Frances Sternhagen, Mario Adorf, Henry Fonda, and Hans Jaray.

Fedora Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Billy Wilder's Fedora arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

The release has been sourced from Bavaria Media/CinePostproduction's recent 2K restoration of the film, which was initially introduced by French label Carlotta Films. (You can see our review of this release here). In the United States, Olive Films accessed the same 2K restoration when they prepared their Blu-ray release of the film. (You can see our review of this release here).

The film has a light and very healthy appearance that I like quite a lot. I think that the warm color scheme is especially effective as it gives the daylight footage a wonderful glow. Depth and clarity are very pleasing. Some minor fluctuations can be seen, but they never impact fluidity. There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Debris, scratches, stains, cuts, and other age-related imperfections have been carefully removed. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Fedora Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless track serves the film very well. Miklos Rozsa's score has a secondary role, but it easily shines in all the right places. The dialog remains very clean and stable throughout the entire film. There are no pops, cracks, background hiss, or digital distortions to report.

Fedora Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Restoration Demo - before-and-after demonstration with information, in German, about Media/CinePostproduction's recent restoration of Fedora. (4 min).

• Deleted Scenes - a collection of deleted scenes. In English, not subtitled. (13 min).

• Booklet - a booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Neil Sinyard, a new essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns, a vintage piece on the film's production, and archival imagery.

Fedora Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Eureka Entertainment's upcoming release of Billy Wilder's Fedora is sourced from Bavaria Media/CinePostproduction's 2K restoration of the film, which was initially introduced by Carlotta Films in France. However, there is a very big and very good documentary film on the French release that is not included here. This is rather unfortunate, but I should also mention that the documentary was also not included on the U.S., which leads me to believe that it may not be available for licensing. RECOMMENDED.