7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Nathan Detroit runs the best crap game in town, but with the police creeping in on him, he needs to find a new safe location to do business. He finds one but needs a grand to get it going, so he coaxes a bet with Masterson, a high-stakes gambler, to take a prim missionary to Havana, land of fun and sin.
Starring: Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine, Robert KeithRomance | 100% |
Musical | 87% |
Comedy | 48% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.55:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.55:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The Broadway musical has been defined by a number of iconic duos who together offered scores filled with brilliant material, many of which helped define The Great American Songbook from the twenties through the sixties (and maybe just a tad into the seventies). Kern and Hammerstein, the Gershwin brothers, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Adler and Ross, Bock and Harnick and Kander and Ebb are just a few of the many legendary pairs who have offered audiences huge hits (and the occasional flop), creating some of the most beloved works in the history of American theater. “One stop shopping” creators who forged both the music and lyrics for their shows are a relatively rare breed, and if asked, most people could probably only come up with a couple writers who filled this double bill: Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim (though Sondheim of course famously paired at various times with Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne and Richard Rodgers). But there are at least a few others, including The Music Man’s Meredith Willson and a man who helped inspire Willson to write that musical, Frank Loesser. Loesser, like Willson, had achieved quite a bit of success in Hollywood before he attempted to write for Broadway (ironically the exact opposite trajectory that most of the iconic writers of the thirties and early forties took). Loesser’s first musical, Where’s Charley?, a musicalization of the venerable farce Charley’s Aunt, was a major hit and a career high for Ray Bolger, as well as producing the standard “Once in Love With Amy”. Two years later Loesser created what is one of the greatest musicals ever written, Guys and Dolls, which became a major smash (helping to give a major shot in the arm to the career of Robert Alda—Alan’s father—in the process). Guys and Dolls might not seem like the sort of thing that would take Broadway by storm. It was based on the highly stylized writing of Damon Runyon, writing that includes dialogue that is artificial, to say the least (note how many of the characters use no contractions). Runyon’s characters were also not exactly paradigms of honor (at least for the most part), meaning that several of the key players in Guys and Dolls’ story had questionable backgrounds and motives.
Guys and Dolls is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Brothers with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.55:1. This CinemaScope feature has been considerably improved from the previously released DVD in terms of sharpness and clarity, though this of course does not approach the pristine clarity of some of the larger format musicals which have been released on Blu-ray. Perhaps most impressive here is the utter lack of any typical artifacting like aliasing, even with a glut of close cropped patterns like Nathan Detroit's natty pinstriped suit. Colors are nicely saturated, but things seem to have tilted a bit toward the brown side of things, usually a sign of faded or aging elements. This mostly affects flesh tones. The transfer does suffer somewhat from a lack of shadow detail, especially noticeable in scenes where the men are wearing dark suits against black backgrounds or the club sequence featuring Brando and Simmons, where Brando seems to basically blend into the booth. Still, those who owned the DVD (or, heaven forfend, the VHS) of this title should be very well pleased with the overall look of Guys and Dolls on Blu-ray, especially since there doesn't appear to have been much if any digital tweaking of the image.
Guys and Dolls' lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix presents Frank Loesser's brassy score in all its glory, with the fabulous orchestrations by (among others) Alexander Courage and Nelson Riddle sounding nicely clear and mostly full bodied. There's a certain narrowness in the midrange which is occasionally problematic, and there are also some very minor synch problems from time to time. Fidelity is very good, with dialogue sounding crisp and clear. Surround activity is mostly limited to the musical elements, though occasionally (as in the Havana club scene or some of the supposed New York material) we get some environmental effects dotting the side and rear channels.
Adelaide (SD; 00:51) features Tom Mankiewicz talking about his father's secretary who was named Adelaide;
Brando Dance Lesson (SD; 1:34) has Michael Kidd talking about teaching Brando to dance;
Goldwyn's Career (SD; 2:38) offers biographer A. Scott Berg talking about the producer;
On the Set (SD; 1:12) brings back Tom Mankiewicz who talks about being on the set as a kid while the picture was being shot;
Rehearsing Adelaide (SD; 1:29) has Michael Kidd talking about the song Loesser wrote specifically for Sinatra for the film.
Fugue for Tinhorns (SD; 1:42)
I'll Know (SD; 5:01)
Guys and Dolls (SD; 3:26)
Adelaide (SD; 3:34)
Luck Be a Lady (SD; 3:14)
Sue Me (SD; 3:15)
Guys and Dolls remains one of the most colorful and enjoyable musicals of its era, and some (myself included) would argue that it has aged considerably better than the "other" iconic musical that premiered that year (and which bested Guys and Dolls in the Best Adapted Score Academy Award), Oklahoma!. Mankiewicz keeps things moving along briskly (the film really doesn't seem like it's two and a half hours), and it's simply a joy to see Blaine and Kaye recreating their iconic Broadway performances. This Blu-ray ports over the special features from the previously released deluxe edition DVD and sports generally excellent video and audio. Highly recommended.
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