6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 2.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.1 |
Spy Harry Palmer is sent to East Berlin, where he is to extricate a Russian general who wants to defect. But the true situation turns out to be rather more complicated.
Starring: Michael Caine, Paul Hubschmid, Oskar Homolka, Eva Renzi, Guy DolemanDrama | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: Paramount is offering several older films which are being released on BD-R through Amazon, but which are reportedly (based on
our
Forum) available as pressed discs from other retailers. This review disc came from Amazon, and our link points to Amazon, so the spec states
BD-R.
The first few years of the sixties were among the most epochal of the 20th century, this despite the fact that earlier in the century, the globe had
been embroiled in two World Wars. Just think about all of the unbelievable things that occurred in just the United States from around 1960 to, say,
1964 or 1965, a list which includes a nuclear showdown with Cuba (and/or the Soviet Union), the assassination of a President, a burgeoning Civil
Rights movement, increased
volatility in Vietnam, and (just
for good measure and perhaps in happier news) the arrival of The Beatles. While probably not in the same “league” as some of these other events,
one of the cooler phenomena, and one that was certainly global in scope, was another “arrival” from the British Isles: namely, James Bond in the
form of Dr. No in 1962 and then arguably even more
sensationally in Goldfinger in 1964. It may be hard for
those who weren’t around when these films came out to realize what a huge impact they had, but one piece of evidence might be the absolutely
huge number of other spy or secret agent properties that suddenly starting appearing on both movie and television screens in the wake of the first
two James Bond films. By the fall of 1964, American television viewers were being treated to shows like The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and the next few years saw a virtual avalanche of properties
featuring suave undercover operatives who typically had access to lots of fancy gadgets, not to mention lots of curvaceous females (even if some of
them were occasionally painted gold). In that regard, relatively soon after Goldfinger had stormed the international cinematic beaches
along with Fort Knox, there started appearing more "serious" spy films that ostensibly sought to proffer a more "realistic" account of what working
for an intelligence organization might be like. Two 1965 films were paradigms of that effort, with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold being culled from a novel by John le Carré,
and The Ipcress File being culled from a novel by Len Deighton.
Funeral in Berlin is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Paramount Pictures with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is an unfortunately less than optimal presentation of the film, with a source element that looks dated and pretty faded a lot of the time. The palette does pop occasionally rather nicely, especially in some outdoor material, but a lot of this presentation looks brown or even slightly peach colored at times, often without much suffusion. There's a somewhat digital appearance on display as well, and signs of sharpening can be spotted in some of the screenshots accompanying this review. Kind of weirdly, the opening credits are windowboxed, and at least some of that sequence looks anamorphically squeezed to me (see screenshot 19). Grain resolves naturally for the most part, and on the plus side there's very little noticeable age related wear and tear.
Funeral in Berlin features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track that is a bit boxy sounding at times, especially with regard to some of the score by Konrad Elfers, but which delivers dialogue with perfectly capable support. Occasional sound effects like the machine guns spraying a defector's mode of egress in the film's opening sequence reverberate with sufficient force as well.
There are no supplements of any kind on the disc.
Funeral in Berlin is elaborately plotted and creates a suitably suspenseful mood, though you can feel this nascent franchise moving just a tad closer to James Bond territory at times, at least with regard to the femme fatale aspect. Video is certainly improvable but audio is generally fine for those who are considering a purchase.
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