7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.4 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.1 |
Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau star in the charming tale of Dolly Levi, a New York matchmaker who falls in love with a wealthy bachelor from Yonkers named Horace.
Starring: Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford (I), Marianne McAndrew, Fritz FeldRomance | 100% |
Musical | 94% |
Comedy | 44% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.20:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.20:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 4.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
German: DTS 2.0
English SDH, German, Japanese, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Hello Dolly! is often referred to as the "last great Hollywood musical," but this obviously isn't true in any literal sense. Not anymore, anyway. For one, the big-budget musical has seen a small resurgence in the past decade or so thanks to Baz Luhrmann's glittery re-appropriation of the form and recent box-office successes like Les Misérables. And then there's the issue of how to define great. If we mean "a huge spectacle," then yes, Hello Dolly! fits the bill. But if we mean "exceptional" or "exemplary of its genre" or just plain "fantastic," I'm not sure the film qualifies. A relative flop with middling critical reviews when it released in 1969, Hello Dolly! put the already-hurting 20th Century Fox—which was hoping for a hit the size of The Sound of Music—in the financial lurch, making the studio hesitant to invest in other large-scale song 'n dance productions. So, if not necessarily "last" or "great," it's certainly fair to say that the film marked the end of the era when musicals could be made on lavish Bubsy Berkely-esque sets and shot in the prohibitively expensive 65mm Todd-AO format. Regardless of its faults—an overlong run-time, questionable casting, a story that's short on drama—Hello Dolly! has developed a cult following over the years, and members will be wowed to see the film for the first time high definition, where the detail inherent in the far-larger-than-35mm negative can truly be appreciated.
Gorgeous. Immaculate. Delovely. I could go on. Hello Dolly! is simply beautiful on Blu-ray, with a 1080p/AVC- encoded transfer that's hands-down the most vibrant, candy-colored picture I've seen thus far this year. Vivid reds and pinks. Soft pastels. Barbara Streisand's fiery ginger hair. The patriotic hues of the huge parade. Gold everywhere. It's all lushly reproduced, backed up by perfectly balanced contrast. The image is strikingly detailed too, from the visible cloth patterns in Horace Vandergelder's tweed suits to the intricate beadwork in Dolly's evening gown and the feathers in her hair. There's some clear soft-focus-flattery going on in most closeups, but on the whole the picture is crisp and revealing. The image quality is the product of the DeLuxe color processing—a tonally similarly but less wieldy and expensive cousin to three-strip Technicolor—and the large 65mm Todd-AO negative. If you've seen any other 65mm/70mm films on Blu-ray—Lawrence of Arabia, The Sound of Music, Samsara—you already know there's just something inimitable about a large-format film transferred in high definition. 20th Century Fox gets that transfer process right with Hello Dolly!, leaving the film's fine grain structure intact, leaving no traces of edge enhancement, and using a fairly high bit-rate for such a long film. The print itself is absolutely pristine—I don't think I saw a single white speck—and beyond some light color/brightness fluctuations, there are no distractions whatsoever. Fans couldn't ask for better.
The film's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is almost as finely attired as the video transfer. Most of the sound issues forth from the front speakers, with the rear channels really only used as quiet bleeding room for the music. The issue here—and it's a small one—is that when the surround speakers are not in action, you can often hear them put out a low-level but noticeable hiss. But this is my lone criticism of the track. In all other regards, this mix is wonderful. Jerry Herman's songs sound rich and textured and punchy—no tinniness or crackling here—and the vocals always cut through cleanly. The same goes for the spoken dialogue, which is clear and easy to understand. The disc also includes three dubs—Spanish Dolby Digital 1.0, French Dolby Digital 4.0, and German DTS 2.0—along with English SDH, Spanish, and German subtitles, which appear in white lettering.
Hello, Dolly! may not be the last or the greatest of the grand Hollywood musicals, but it's certainly a big-budget spectacle, with gorgeous 65mm cinematography, ridiculously frou-frou costumes—Streisand's gold-beaded dress weighed over forty pounds!—and larger-than-life musical set pieces. At the time of its release, it was actually the most expensive musical production ever made, and the money certainly shows up on screen. As for the story, well, that's another matter; Hello, Dolly! just isn't as memorable as some of the truly great musicals from the 1950s and '60s. Still, it's obtained quite a following over the years, and its cult will be pleased to finally have the film on Blu-ray. 20th Century Fox's transfer is simply astounding, and the disc even includes a short new retrospective made exclusively for this release. Recommended for all musical theatre geeks—I use the term lovingly—and Barbra Streisand fans.
1968
1955
Sing-Along Edition
2018
1949
1964
1982
1961
1953
1962
Warner Archive Collection
1951
Warner Archive Collection
1968
1969
70th Anniversary Edition
1952
1948
2-Disc Shake and Shimmy Edition
2007
1953
Warner Archive Collection
1955
Limited Edition
1947
Warner Archive Collection
1957
Limited Edition to 3000
1960