Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Murphy's War Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 30, 2024

Peter O'Toole shares a somewhat dubious record with Glenn Close for the most Academy Award nominations with no win (O'Toole was feted with a so-called "Honorary Oscar" for his lifetime achievements, something that has yet to be bestowed upon Close). O'Toole's many nominations frequently featured his penchant for playing eccentrics, whether that be T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, King Henry II in both Becket and The Lion in Winter, Mr. Chipping in Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Jack Gurney in The Ruling Class or Alan Swann in My Favorite Year. Even some of O'Toole's less celebrated performances, like Lord Jim and this particular outing, offer the actor in sometimes hyperbolic mode, and in fact some of the supplements included on this release at least allude to O'Toole's evidently well known reputation for often being out of control, which somewhat hilariously reportedly led to his then wife Siân Phillips being hired as his co-star, with perhaps a bit of implied babysitting thrown in for good measure.

Murphy's War and Lord Jim both feature a boating calamity early in their story going, though in this particular instance, Murphy (Peter O'Toole) isn't subject to any pangs of conscience like the character in the 1965 film is. In fact, Murphy has been aboard a ship sunk by a U- Boat, however unlikely it is (as some of the supplemental material gets into) that the Germans would have been patrolling the waters off of Venezuela, where Max Catto's source novel was rather strangely reset. There's all sorts of "resetting" of the source going on according to some of the bonus content, including O'Toole's decision to make the title character speak with a sometimes indecipherable brogue.

The main plot thrust follows Murphy and his would be physician Dr. Hayden (Siân Phillips) engaging in some quasi-The African Queen exchanges while Murphy simultaneously plots to exact revenge on the U-Boat, which is still around for no discernable purpose other than to provide a McGuffin. And in fact the very fact that this film centers on a hardcrabble, hard drinking wastrel and somewhat prim and proper woman with a subplot involving the bombing of a Nazi vessel will of course inevitably draw comparisons to The African Queen, one way or the other. The U-Boat and its nefarious captain (Horst Janson) become Murphy's veritable Moby Dick, indeed to the point that (spoiler alert) Murphy suffers the same fate due to his obsession that Ahab does.

The really excellent supplemental material on this disc (some of which is ported over from the Indicator release for the UK market) documents some of the production chaos that attended this project. It's an interesting effort, even if it's almost too willfully reminiscent of any number of other films in dribs and drabs, some of which have been linked to above. O'Toole is always a riveting screen presence, even if he can be a bit hard to understand here at times, and Phillips probably has more of a showcase in this film at least in terms of screen time than she did in her other screen appearances with O'Toole from this same general time frame, including Under Milk Wood and her memorable if brief turn as actress Ursula Mossbank in the 1969 musical version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

Svet Atanasov offered his Murphy's War Blu-ray review of Indicator's Blu-ray release for the UK market, and is evidently a greater fan of the film than I am, so some may enjoy reading his perspective.

Murphy's War Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Murphy's War is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.37:1. Arrow's insert booklet only contains some pretty basic information on the transfer, as follows:

Murphy's War is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 [sic] with original mono audio.

The master was supplied by Paramount Pictures.

Aside from the just slightly wider aspect ratio offered on this release, the color timing overall of Arrow's version is a bit different from the Indicator release linked to above. Judging only by screenshots (I don't have the Indicator release), it looks to me like that version is a bit yellower and brighter, while this version has a tendency more toward purplish-blue as well as a somewhat darker look. I actually like the less bright appearance of this version, again based solely on screenshots, as it seems to help with at least the perception of suffusion. Some tones, especially greens, struck my eyes as looking more natural in this version than the Indicator version, as well (contrast the foliage next to the explosion in screenshot 3 of this review with screenshot 18 of Svet's review of the Indicator release for just one example). There's some kind of hilariously inartful rear projection utilized for some of O'Toole's flying scenes, where the resolution of the Blu-ray clearly shows the "seams", but aside from baked in deficits like that, the bulk of this presentation offers really secure detail levels. Grain resolves naturally throughout.

Murphy's War Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Murphy's War features a nicely robust sounding LPCM Mono track. The film features a lot of seaplane material and that allows for both some rumbly sound effects as well as soaring interludes for John Barry and Ken Thorne's score. There are explosions and gunfire at various points as well which allow for brief moments of lower frequency energy. Dialogue is mostly rendered cleanly and clearly, though any issues in that regard are due to O'Toole's decision to make his character really Irish (as is addressed in a supplement, he's a bit variant in this regard, so certain lines are read with his more precise "normal" diction). Optional English subtitles are available.

Murphy's War Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Running Out of War (HD; 19:49) is a newly produced very well done appreciation by David Cairns.


• A Great Adventure (HD; 31:07) is an archival interview with co-editor and 2nd unit director John Glen.


• Dougie, Chic and Me (HD; 17:17) is an archival interview with focus puller Robin Vidgeon.


• One Man Army (HD; 17:18) is an archival interview with film critic Sheldon Hall.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 3:17)


• Image Gallery (HD)

Additionally, Arrow provides another nicely appointed insert booklet and packaging features a slipcover.

Murphy's War Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Murphy's War makes the none too subtle point that not only is war hell, it's sometimes at least arguably no longer necessary, as evidenced by the fact that Murphy keeps up his hostilities even after the Germans have surrendered. This is kind of a bizarre film on any number of levels, some of which are addressed in a really interesting package of supplements. Technical merits are generally solid, and with caveats noted, Murphy's War comes Recommended.