If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 11, 2016

Nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, Mel Stuart's "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" (1969) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. The only bonus feature on the disc is an original theatrical trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

"Ladies and gentlemen, this will be, for the next three weeks, your home sweet home away from home sweet home, complete with all comforts of same."

Mel Stuart directed this wonderful road comedy that pokes fun at all sorts of different clichés about American tourists and the ways they behave while they visit foreign countries. It ranks amongst the very best of its kind.

Their dream vacation will last 18 days. It will start in London and end in Rome. Along the way they will stop in France, Holland, Germany and Switzerland. Then they will get on a plane in Italy and fly back to the States where they will resume their boring lives.

They all have different plans. Samantha (Suzanne Pleshette, Hot Stuff) is engaged and will use the trip to think about her future. She also secretly hopes to have a few unforgettable rendezvous. John (Sandy Baron, Birdy) will be meeting distant relatives in Italy which he has never seen before. Jack (Michael Constantine, The Hustler) wants to show his friend Freda (Pamela Britton, D.O.A.) where he fought the Germans during WW2. Harve (Norman Fell, The Graduate) plans to follow his wife Irma (Reva Rose), who wants to make plenty of new friends. Bert (Marty Ingels) has promised his drinking pals that he will sleep with as many foreign girls as he can and bring back a pile of pictures. Jenny (Mildred Natwick, The Trouble with Harry) plans to dine and wine in style. Harry (Aubrey Morris, A Clockwork Orange) collects souvenirs and will be bringing back as many as he can get -- without paying for them.

A good portion of the film is dedicated to Samantha’s constantly evolving relationship with the British tour guide, Charlie (Ian McShane), who discovers that she really is unlike the many girls he has had an affair with. Initially they both underestimate each other, but then gradually realize that the other is exactly that special ‘other half’ they have always wanted in their lives. Then Samantha begins wondering whether she should listen to her heart, while Charlie is forced to admit that he has been wasting his best years spending time with people he never truly cared for.

Of course, there are plenty of laughs. As the tourists move from one country to another they find themselves in a number of awkward situations and are forced to improvise as best as they can in order to rejoin their group on time and look as respectful as they did in the beginning of their trip. A lot of big European stars have cameo appearances in them. For example, Vittorio De Sica plays an Italian shoemaker that agrees to send a pair of handmade shoes to America for a fraction of their market price (spoiler: not really). Virna Lisi becomes John's sexy cousin in Rome. Catherine Spaak also agrees to have her picture taken. Senta Berger is an elegant saleswoman in a trendy store. Even the Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan also quickly steps in front of the camera.

There is plenty of wonderful footage from the various European cities the tourists visit, but the film does not evolve into a show off piece. On the contrary, Vilis Lapenieks‘ stylish cinematography only adds up to the special atmosphere.

The soundtrack combines original music from Oscar-nominated composer Walter Scharf (The Fighting Seabees) as well as original tracks from Donovan, Ian McShane, and Jimmy Webb. The classic track “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium” is sung by J.P. Rags.

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium 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, Mel Stuart's If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

There are a couple of rough spots and density is a bit inconsistent, but overall the film does have a very pleasing organic appearance. It is easy to tell that an older master was accessed, but no attempts have been made to repolish and resharpen the film with powerful digital tools. This makes a huge difference because a lot of the important organic qualities that we want to have preserved when these older films transition to Blu-ray are retained. Some encoding optimizations could have been made to better expose the existing grain and have tighter visuals, but even on large screens depth is typically quite good. Colors are natural and stable, but ideally saturation should be better. A wider range of nuances should be present as well. Image stability is very good. A couple of dirt specks and tiny stains can be spotted, but there are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, or torn frames to report in our review. Ultimately, the film does look a tad softer than I would have liked it to look on Blu-ray, but it still has a nice organic appearance. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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

The audio does not appear to have been fully remastered, but depth and clarity are quite good. More importantly, there are no serious balance issues to report. This being said, some minor optimizations in the mid/high registers will likely introduce some improvements and affect clarity. Still, the music is very pleasing and the dialog always easy to follow. There are no audio dropouts, pops, distracting background hiss, or digital distortions to report in our review.

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original theatrical trailer for If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. In English, not subtitled. (4 min, 1080p).

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It is true: They really do not make them like this anymore. Mel Stuart's If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium is a charming and very witty comedy that will put a smile on your face even if you just had the worst day in your life. There are some interesting similarities between this film and Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and to be honest, I think that there is a lot that works much better here. It was such a pleasure to revisit If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium on Blu-ray. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.