6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
When a millionaire practical joker dies, he divides his fortune among four heirs who must carry out his zany instructions to cash in.
Starring: Alastair Sim, Fay Compton, Guy Middleton, George Cole (I), Hugh GriffithComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: LPCM 2.0 Mono
None
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Note: This film is available as part of Alastair Sim's School for Laughter: 4 Classic Comedies.
Chances are if you are like many, maybe even most, American filmgoers, you tend to associate Alastair Sim with one thing and one thing only: his
inimitable portrayal of one Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 version of Charles Dickens' immortal A Christmas Carol. A few outliers might have vague memories of Sim in such underappreciated
gems
as Green for Danger (a film where he notably wasn’t even given
above
the title billing) or even his latter day stint in The Ruling Class, but
quite a bit of the rest of Sim’s multi-decade long filmography just doesn’t seem to be that well known by the public at large on this side of the
pond. Film Movement has now come to the rescue in that regard and assembled four charming Sim comedies that bridge the years of 1947 to
1960, and which offer a fine assortment of well
written, performed and directed outings that have a few linking elements besides Sim himself, including plots sometimes centered around the quest
for
riches, and occasionally with some chicanery and other shenanigans involved.
Laughter in Paradise is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement Classics, an imprint of Film Movement, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. As has been the case with several Film Movement releases I've reviewed, the insert booklet offers only a generic "new digital restoration" in terms of providing any technical information on the transfer. All of the releases in this set bear a StudioCanal logo, though interestingly (and perhaps saliently) this particular film does not appear to have had a prior UK Blu-ray release, as with several others in this set, at least as evidenced by our own usually pretty accurate database. While this is perfectly watchable, this is by far the most damaged looking presentation in the set, something that's evident from the get go, with the British censor card bobbing and weaving crazily, and some really noticeable nicks and scratches crossing the black background. Those nicks and scratches continue unabated throughout the presentation, and are joined by occasional other anomalies like warped frames. If you look at screenshots 17 through 19 in particular, you can see some of the sorts of damage that show up with pretty fair regularity. Aside from these issues, the rest of the transfer looks rather good, with a nicely resolved grain field and some rather fulsome levels of fine detail in elements like fabrics on costumes and sets. I'm scoring this at 3.0 to temper expectations, but my hunch is most fans will be generally well pleased with the look of this presentation, and some may feel a somewhat higher score is merited. My score is 3.25.
Laughter in Paradise features an LPCM 2.0 mono track that has no major issues. Both occasional narration as well as the film's dialogue and score sound distortion free and without any other major distractions like clicks, pops, or dropouts. There's an inherent boxiness, something this film's track shares with several of the others in this set, but everything resonates clearly throughout. Unfortunately, this release does not offer optional subtitles for those who might benefit from them.
This is the lone film in this set that does not have film specific supplements on the disc. The insert booklet that comes with Alastair Sim's School for Laughter: 4 Classic Comedies includes an essay about all four films in the set. As with many Film Movement releases, there's the About Film Movement option on the Main Menu which provides some text and a trailer.
Laughter in Paradise may actually not serve up that many laughs, but it's genuinely amusing a lot of the time, and it manages to even provide a couple of touching moments as well. This has the least pleasing transfer of the four in the Alastair Sim set, but it's still perfectly watchable. Audio is fine as well, though this release doesn't sport any on disc supplemental material. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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