6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Dolly Payne is adored by two leaders of the fledgling American government, James Madison and Aaron Burr. She plays each against the other, not only for romantic reasons, but also to influence the shaping of the young country. By manipulating Burr's affections, she helps Thomas Jefferson win the presidency, and eventually she becomes First Lady of the land herself.
Starring: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Burgess Meredith, Peggy Wood, Stephen McNallyDrama | 100% |
History | 11% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Artists as diverse as Sam Cooke, Herman’s Hermits and Art Garfunkel have hit the top of the Billboard charts with versions of “(What a) Wonderful World”, a song (co-written by Herb Alpert and Lou Adler) that famously posits:
Don't know much about historyAside from the fact that the song was written more than a decade after Magnificent Doll was released in 1946, the first line of the lyric at least might have made an agreeable enough theme, for Magnificent Doll simply discards actual history, in this case the celebrated interrelationships between James Madison, Aaron Burr and Dolly Madison (the spelling of Dolly's first name is highly variable, with everything from Dollie and Dolley also showing up with fair regularity). Instead the film offers a pretty turgid and standard love triangle with just the hint of real history playing out in the background. If the drama were more compelling, that might not matter much, but Magnificent Doll rarely if ever lives up to its title, presenting a middling story at best.
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took
But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me, too
What a wonderful world this would be.
Magnificent Doll is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. The elements utilized for this transfer have the typical amount of wear and tear, including quite a few noticeable scratches and other damage (see screenshot 19), including occasional emulsion issues. This is overall a generally soft looking presentation, though contrast is quite strong and both black levels and grayscale look very good almost all of the time. There's not a lot of depth to the image here aside from a couple of (probably second unit) outdoor shots. There are a couple of moments that seem to have been sourced from dupe elements, including a brief shot of Stephen McNally as John Todd with much poorer contrast and increased grain. As with all Olive Films catalog releases, there has been neither restoration nor digital tweaking done to this release, and the result is an occasionally slightly problematic but organic looking presentation.
Magnificent Doll's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix is always listenable, but it does have recurrent issues in the upper midrange which frequently manifest in slight crackling in some of Hans J. Salter's brass inflected underscore cues. Dialogue emerges largely unscathed, though, and there's nothing here that should cause undue concern for those used to the limitations of older soundtracks. Fidelity is fine if not overwhelmingly impressive.
There are no supplemental features on this Blu-ray disc.
As history, Magnificent Doll is a laugh (even if it's not a "campy" laugh, as Olive's liner notes allege). As soap opera, the film is a bit better, though it's rather lethargic quite a bit of the time. Rogers and Meredith are certainly fine (if not much more) in their roles, but Niven is something of a minor revelation as Aaron Burr. This Burr may not (like the film itself) have a lot of connection to actual history, but the character is the one element in Magnificent Doll that is undeniably compelling. Technical merits here are very good if approached with reasonable expectations.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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