Le Retour du grand blond Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Le Retour du grand blond Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 5, 2014

Yves Robert's "The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe" a.k.a. "Le retour du grand blond" (1974) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers and a documentary produced by Jeremie Lambert and Yann Marchet. In French, with optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

He is back!

The sequel to The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe begins some time after François Perrin (Pierre Richard, The Toy, The Bottom Line) and Christine (Mireille Darc, Weekend) have relocated to Brazil. Now they are madly in love and enjoying their freedom.

Meanwhile, in Paris the new Minister of the Interior (Jean Bouise) summons Colonel Toulouse (Jean Rochefort, The Hairdresser's Husband) and his assistant Perrache (Paul Le Person, Alexandre le bienheureux) and informs them that he would like to meet The Tall Blond Man, whom the late Colonel Milan (Bernard Blier) never properly profiled. Before he died Milan studied the Tall Blond Man and confirmed that he worked for Toulouse, but he was never able to figure out his methods. In a classified report he described the Tall Blond Man as the greatest chameleon he had ever encountered, a perfect secret agent who had multiple identities and always knew how to evade those who tried to compromise him.

Determined to never again see Perrin’s face, Toulouse quickly comes up with a brilliant plan. He would dispatch his best 'cleaners' to Rio de Janeiro to eliminate the ‘agent’ and when his body is flown back to Paris he would inform the Minister of the Interior that the Tall Blond Man was tragically lost in a top-secret mission. Then the ‘agent’ would be buried with highest honors and the Tall Blond Man case will be closed forever.

The 'cleaners' arrive in Rio de Janeiro and immediately track down Perrin and Christine. They repeatedly try to kill The Tall Blond Man, but somehow he always finds a way to dodge their bullets. Eventually, the frustrated Toulouse comes up with a different plan and orders the ‘cleaners’ to bring the Tall Blond Man back to Paris alive. However, soon after he pops up at Orly, Toulouse is forced to change his plan for the third time.

The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe has a slightly more exotic flavor, but its pacing is virtually identical to that of the first film. After Toulouse’s killers arrive in Rio de Janeiro, the Tall Blond Man resumes his old tricks and, rather predictably, once again all hell breaks loose. In Paris, Toulouse and his lackey, Perrache, are also confronted by opponents who once again want to make their live as miserable as possible.

The twists and turns are very similar to those of the first film. A few are probably slightly more elaborate than they should be, but watching Richard’s ‘agent’ driving a lot of people mad while having absolutely no clue that he is constantly a target is great fun.

Perhaps the only minor disappointment comes from the fact that Darc and Richard are now on the same team. As a result, Darc’s Christine does not get the type of attention she does in the first film. A new femme fatale would have made the sequel far more interesting.

Director Yves Robert completed The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe two years after the first film. Both films were lensed by cinematographer Rene Mathelin, who also collaborated with Robert on the equally entertaining comedies Pardon Mon Affaire and Pardon Mon Affaire, Too!

Le Retour du grand blond Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG04 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Yves Robert's The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Gaumont.

The technical presentation is underwhelming. As it was the case with The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe, there are obvious improvements in terms of clarity and color stability. The overwhelming majority of the daylight footage, in particular, looks far better than it does on the R2 DVD release of the film. Most of the indoor footage, however, looks quite flat -- there are traces of some moderate denoising corrections which have affected image depth and contrast stability. Definition is still better, but the bigger your screen is, the easier it will be to see the damaging effects of the denoising corrections. For example, take a look at screencaptures #14 and 15 and see how on the left side of the frame the blacks flatten the image and gray becomes prominent. When there is an abundance of natural light the image is fairly pleasing, but it is easy to tell that the film could have looked better. (There are traces of some denoising corrections on the first film as well, but they are more delicate and the end result is very pleasing. The nighttime footage, in particular, looks a lot better). Overall image stability is excellent. Also, there are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, or stains to report in this review. All in all, The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe looks better in high-definition, but there is no doubt in my mind that it could have looked far more convincing. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Le Retour du grand blond Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Gaumont have provided optional English and French SDH subtitles for the main feature.

A direct comparison with the lossy track from the DVD release immediately reveals that on the lossless track depth and clarity are far better and dynamic intensity dramatically improved (especially during the footage from Brazil). Still, the film's original sound design is quite modest so you should not expect to have your audio system tested. The dialog is clean, stable, and easy to follow. There are no pops, cracks, hiss, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.

Le Retour du grand blond Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bande-annonces - original trailers. In French, not subtitled.
  
  1. The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (4 min).
  2. The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (3 min).

• Francois et Christine: Dans le blond des yeux - new video interview with Pierre Richard and Mireille Darc. In French, not subtitled. (16 min).

• Vladimir Cosma - Pierre Richard: L'accord parfait - documentary program focusing on the life and legacy of acclaimed composer Vladimir Cosma. The program features clips from interviews with Stephane Lerouge, Vladimir Cosma, Daniele Delorme, Yves Robert, Pierre Richard, and Francis Veber. The documentary was produced by Jeremie Lambert and Yann Marchet. In French, not subtitled. (46 min).

Le Retour du grand blond Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Gaumont's technical presentation of Yves Robert's The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe isn't as convincing as that of the first film, but I still think that the Blu-ray release is worth picking up because it is very attractively priced. (The two Tall Blond Man films are part of the French label's recently introduced Discoveries line).