Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		2.5

Hail Caesar Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 4, 2024

Though noted occultist Aleister Crowley famously opined "spelling is defunct", he may have been talking about the magic(k)al variety of that word, and even if some who peruse internet memes can't help but think he was right one way or the other, orthography can help to differentiate between various similar titles. In that regard and in case some got to this review thinking they would be reading about Hail, Caesar!, I'll simply point out this film is lacking both a comma and an exclamation point in its version of its title. While many will probably know whether or not they came to this review by mistake that the Coen Brothers directed the effort with punctuation, arguably just as many will either not have known or have forgotten that this is the sole feature film example of Anthony Michael Hall "really want(ing) to direct". The results of this kind of haphazard affair may indicate as well as anything why Hall hasn't become a regular in the helmsman's chair (his IMDb page lists only one other directing credit, for an episode of The Dead Zone).

To cut Hall maybe just a little slack, it can't be argued that he isn't a so-called multi-hyphenate, as evidenced not just by the fact that he starred in and directed this film, but also provided some of the music that is supposedly part of the work of a band called Hail Caesar which is front and center in this story. Hall portrays Julius Caesar MacGruder, an aspiring rock star who is nonetheless stuck in a dead end factory job without any real future and who has had the further misfortune to antagonize the factory's owner Mr. Bidwell (Nicholas Pryor) by falling in love with Bidwell's gorgeous daughter, Buffer (Bobbie Phillips). A wager with a foregone conclusion made by Bidwell provides some supposed suspense as to whether Julius will be able to stay with Buffer, as the story also follows Julius' attempts to get a recording contract.

The screenplay by Robert Mittenthal is ostensibly based on a story by Mark Twain, but this is sadly lacking any of Twain's wit or observational skills about human behavior. Instead, a vignette driven approach tries to milk laughs out of tired punchlines and some pretty lame slapstick. At least Hall evidently called in any number of chits, and the cast is filled with some admittedly remarkable names, including Judd Nelson, Frank Gorshin, Robert Downey Jr. (and Sr.!), and Samuel L. Jackson.

Hail Caesar Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hail Caesar is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the MVD Rewind Collection, an imprint of MVD Rewind, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a somewhat perplexing looking transfer and I'd love to know the provenance of the element and digitization process, but this has some rather peculiar anomalies. This looks to have been sourced from a pretty seriously dated master. As can be easily seen in several of the screenshots accompanying this review, grain is very heavy a lot of the time (heavier than I would regularly expect with a 35mm feature) and there's softness combined with what I might term fringing if this were a three strip Technicolor offering or perhaps ghosting if it were culled from a videotape, as can also perhaps be made out in some of the screenshots accompanying this review. This particular anomaly seems to show up mostly in midrange and wide shots, and I'm wondering if perhaps Hall just never noticed there was a malfunctioning lens, or if this had some peculiarity in perhaps a telecine stage at some point. This latter thesis may also help to explain a kind of overly processed look that is probably also discernable in some of the screenshots. One way or the other, the major positive here is probably the palette, which has weathered the vagaries of time and tide rather well, even if there is a noticeable orange tone (irrespective of any paint that may fall on Hall's character) at times. There are also several occurrences of brief but noticeable age related wear and tear.

Hail Caesar Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Things fare much better in the audio department with this disc's LPCM 2.0 track. The story is, as mentioned above, at least tangentially concerned with the attempted fame and/or fortune of a rock group, and so music is rather prevalent, and both Hall's contributions and Roger Tallman's underscore sound nicely full bodied and problem free. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and there are no issues of any kind to report. Optional English subtitles are available.

Hail Caesar Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers includes Hail Caesar (HD; 2:15) along with trailers for other releases from MVD.

The keepcase houses a folded mini-poster, and packaging features a slipcover.

Hail Caesar Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hall is an engaging screen presence to be sure, and his long and at least intermittently successful acting career is a testament to his resilience in the wild and woolly world of Hollywood (especially considering the fact that he started as what might be called a child star). The fact that he also has considerable musical talents can't easily be discarded, but unfortunately this film simply doesn't utilize any of those skills very well, and the fact that so many of the actors in this piece are mugging to almost ludicrous proportions may indicate that his first (and to date, only) attempt at directing a feature film needed a more nuanced approach. If there are Hall completists, they may want to check out this odd film, but even they should be aware that the video quality is arguably on the questionable side, though audio is fine.