Man of La Mancha Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Man of La Mancha Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson June 7, 2018

It has always been very difficult to adapt Don Quixote (just ask Orson Welles and Terry Gilliam) and veteran director Arthur Hiller faced that arduous task in 1972 when he translated Dale Wasserman's musical play, Man of La Mancha, to the silver screen. Wasserman adapted his own play, a Broadway production in 1965 that played more than six years in New York and also enjoyed a prolonged tour across the country. The movie version had a nearly $10 million production budget and counted on the play's huge popularity to lure audiences to the cinema. It also boasted an attractive European cast headlined by Peter O'Toole (doing triple roles—as Miguel de Cervante, Don Quixote, and Alonso Quijana) and Sophia Loren (who portrays Dulcinea and Aldonza). The film contains sixteen songs composed by Mitch Leigh with lyrics by Joe Darion. However, not all of the songs in the play have been incorporated into the movie, according to film critic Jack Zink of the Fort Lauderdale News. O'Toole's voice was dubbed in post-production. Man of La Mancha marks the the first time that Loren sang in front of the camera (for her other roles, she mimed pre-recorded voices). Although James Coco is quite funny as Cervante's Manservant and as Sancho Panza, he tends to sing off-key as his voice register doesn't come out right. (Oddly, he also played the same parts on Broadway so he should have had the cues down.) I agree with the Tampa Bay Times' J. Oliver Presscot who opined that "Coco's lip synchronization with the recorded soundtrack is plainly awful."

While the vocal performances are a mixed bag, Hiller does an effective job with the play-within-a-play. He and Wasserman begin in 16th-century Seville during the Inquisition where Cervantes is encircled by his fellow prison inmates. As a diversion, Cervantes narrates the quixotic journey of Quixote, including his bemusing horseback ride to the large windmill where he thinks there's a monster lurking. Hiller maintains continuity editing through the story's many detours thanks to crisp cutting by Robert C. Jones and assistant editor David Blangsted.

The main man unmasked.

I don't have any concrete box-office figures on Man of La Mancha so I can't compare how it fared with two of Hiller's prior hits, the bittersweet romance Love Story (1970) and Neil Simon's comedy The Out of Towners (1970). The film received some mixed reviews but many were highly favorable. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's George Anderson, who saw the Broadway show many times and in different venues, didn't tire of the songs, calling the adaptation "a vigorous and effective film." Film critic Bill Mahan was hyperbolic in his praise: "a superb film...a prime example of innumerable talents molding together with perfect finesse. There is not a flaw in the film and the contemporary, almost futuristic, editing will undoubtedly put some of today's young filmmakers who like to resort to gimmicks in place of talent back in the classroom to learn what film technique is all about. Both O'Toole and Loren give their best performances to date and will undoubtedly walk away with all honors. James Coco as Sancho Panza is equally good. Technically the film should go into the cinema departments of colleges and universities, so young, hopeful filmmakers could have the opportunity to study every aspect of it. Not only is the film editing outstanding, but the photography, sets, costumes, choreography, music editing, sound editing, and most especially the makeup are A+." Mahan was a bit biased since Dale Wasserman was an old friend of his.

Man of La Mancha Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout! Factory has brought Man of La Mancha to Blu-ray as part of its Shout Broadway line. The MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50 sports an average video bitrate of 31995 kbps and a total bitrate of 35.54 Mbps. The Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated film appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Shout's transfer is struck from a dated master in UA's library. Though not without its flaws, the image is solid and seems more vibrant than the picture on MGM's 2004 DVD. Grain is coarse and sprinkled across the picture pretty evenly. On shots of light blue skies, I noticed some dirt. Also, damage marks are still present. Late in the film, I spotted a lavender hairline over James Coco's figure. I'm able to confirm that Man of La Mancha was shown in 70mm. Hiller screened it for a group of critics in New York and it was the only print made for that format before the film went into wide release. Shout's transfer appears to mimic the theatrical presentation. I echo Bernard Drew of the Democrat and Chronicle (NY): "Giuseppe Rotunno's photography, alternately murky and pristine clear, just as the film, at times rather confusedly, constantly moves from reality to fantasy."

Shout has provided twelve chapter breaks.

Man of La Mancha Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (1720 kbps, 24-bit). (The R1 made a 5.1 remix out of the original 4- and 6-track magnetic master.) I found it convenient to turn on the optional English SDH not only to read the song lyrics but also to discern the actors' British and Italian accents. The soundscape is focalized at the center and front channels. The lossless track sounds above-average without any major anomalies. "The Impossible Dream" and other ballads are given a lively presentation.

Man of La Mancha Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Vintage Featurette (10:04, upscaled to 1080p) - an original promotional featurette recorded during the film's production. In English, not subtitled.

• Photo Montage with Overture Music (3:02, upscaled 1080i) - this is presumably the same photo gallery with the overture in accompaniment as the MGM disc.

• Theatrical Trailer (3:12, 1080p) - a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen trailer for Man of La Mancha.

Man of La Mancha Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Man of La Mancha is a good but not great adaptation of Cervante's 1605 novel and the acclaimed Broadway play. The narrative sags for the first forty minutes but gathers energy for the last ninety. The picture was released in a period when Hollywood was recovering from the musical's decline and demise in the mid to late sixties. Shout! Factory's budget release delivers adequate video and audio presentations along with a few minuscule extras. This edition is RECOMMENDED for fans of Hiller, O'Toole, and Loren.