Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Madame Bovary Blu-ray Movie Review

For Emma, forever ago.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III June 10, 2024

Gustave Flaubert's 1857 romantic novel Madame Bovary has been adapted for film or television at least nine times in total (as recently as 2014, to mixed results), and Vincente Minnelli's 1949 cinematic take on the material follows three versions released during the previous decade and a half. Crafted from a screenplay by Robert Ardrey -- who's perhaps most famous for the previous year's The Three Musketeers and 1966's Khartoum -- it's not quite the same caliber as Minnelli's best-remembered films, but still stands as a watchable re-telling of sturdy source material.

Said source material was, of course, at the center of public controversy soon after its first publication in 1856 in serialized form as a featured story in the French literary magazine Revue de Paris. Initially deemed "obscene" due to the actions of its main character, Flaubert was actually put on trial but thankfully acquitted of all charges... and not surprisingly, the story's resulting novelization in two-volume form only months later made it an instant bestseller. Who'd have thought that a legal firestorm about lewd material would attract the public's attention?

Needless to say, adapting this story into a major Hollywood film in 1949 -- more than a full decade after the stifling Hays Code went into effect -- meant that certain actions, ideas, and other melodramatic twists had to be implied rather than discussed, much less visualized. Shrewdly, Robert Ardrey's screenplay bookends the story proper with a mock courtroom scene where Gustave Flaubert (played by James Mason) is on trial for his book's "immoral" content and attempts to explain the story's meaning from his own more realistic perspective. It's then, of course, that we journey back to the first meeting between lovely Emmy Bovary (Jennifer Jones) and her future husband Charles (Van Heflin), a country doctor on a house call, and everything that happens thereafter: the gradual disappointment of matrimony due to forced routine, her disillusionment with motherhood, an affair with Léon Dupuis (Christopher Kent), meeting wealthy aristocrat Rodolphe Boulanger (Louis Jourdan), a bout with depression, financial debt, and other hits.

It's a decently interesting way to tell the oft-adapted story, though admittedly the more stinging sections of Flaubert's narrative are unavoidably dulled a bit; that, and it's fairly abridged at just 114 minutes in length including those two bookending scenes. This prevents Minnelii's film from being the definitive version it could (and probably should) have been... but luckily the production as a whole stays well above water thanks to clear fundamental strengths, from the lead and supporting performances to Robert H. Planck's solid cinematography band a memorable original score by the prolific composer Miklós Rózsa, both of which give it a lustrous sheen at almost all the right moments.

Luckily, the film's clear-cut A/V strengths are supported quite capably by Warner Archive's welcome Blu-ray edition, which replaces Warner Bros.' DVD released almost two decades ago. (Interestingly, this is one of the rare higher-profile WAC releases that the boutique label never reissued on that older format.) It's a nicely well-rounded release overall, pairing yet another great restoration with a nice little assortment of vintage extras that fans will enjoy.

Madame Bovary Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Warner Archive applies their usual level of polish to Madame Bovary, which is advertised as being sourced from a recent 4K scan of the best-available preservation elements. Not surprisingly, MGM's typically lavish production and costume design, not to mention the great visuals by cinematographer Robert H. Planck (who had already filmed another perpetual literary adaptation earlier that year, Mervyn LeRoy's production of Little Women) give this 1080p transfer plenty of room to shine and it showcases a dazzling array of silvery grays, bright whites, and decently deep blacks which are all adorned by notable levels of film grain. Fine detail holds steady on this stable and extremely clean presentation, one what fittingly seems well-encoded on this 50GB disc and shows no real amounts of compression artifacts or other anomalies. It's great work indeed, and quite honestly worth the price of admission alone.

Madame Bovary Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix follows suit with a clean and crisp split-channel presentation of its original mono source, once that likewise has been carefully cleaned of all major age-related wear and tear without sacrificing the dynamic range. As such, conversations sound clean and easy to follow, foreground and background effects are mixed well without fighting for attention, and there's more than enough room left over for the memorable original score by composer Miklós Rózsa, whose work graced such films as Ben-Hur. Spellbound, El Cid, and Double Indemnity. (Also Dragnet, according to the legal system and anyone with ears.) Anyway, more great restoration work as usual.

English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature, not the extras listed below.

Madame Bovary Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with poster-themed cover artwork and no inserts. Extras are slightly meatier than expected and include a mid-length studio retrospective and two other goodies from the MGM vault.

• Some of the Best (42:18) - This 1949 production, made to celebrate MGM's 20th anniversary, highlights a good number of the studio's most well-regarded pictures released between 1924 and the mid-1940s. Hosted by Lionel Barrymore with contributions by Lewis Stone, who worked for the studio before the merger that provided its long-standing name, the bulk of this piece features clips from such films as the pre-sound blockbusters The Big Parade and Ben-Hur (1925) as well as later classics like The Broadway Melody, The Great Ziegfeld, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Philadelphia Story, and even a few full-color features such as The Wizard of Oz and The Yearling. This one's certainly worth a look for classic film enthusiasts, "clip show" or not.

• Love that Pup (7:37) - More MGM on Warner Archive Blu-ray means more Hanna-Barbera Tom and Jerry shorts (likely bits and pieces of the still never-released Tom and Jerry Golden Collection, Volume 2); this 1949 outing is a personal favorite if for no other reason than the presence of Spike and Tyke, the latter of whom actually debuts here. As usual, it looks solid in HD and will absolutely delight starving T&J fans.

• Theatrical Trailer (3:07) - This vintage promotional piece can also be seen here.

Madame Bovary Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Screenwriter Robert Ardrey and esteemed director Vincente Minnelli's 1949 take on Gustave Flaubert's perpetually adapted Madame Bovary is a lively though understandably tame version of the author's scandalous novel. That said, it gets by on solid production design and sturdy performances by its three top-billed stars, at least attempting to stand out from the ever-growing pile of film and TV versions. As usual, Warner Archive's Blu-ray offers very supportive A/V merits and even a fairly decent slate of extras this time around. It may sit just below four-star territory overall, but anyone interested in the cast or original story should consider Madame Bovary a recommended purchase.