6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
W.C. Fields heads to Esoteric studios to pitch a story idea to producer Franklin Pangborn. The producer wants to make a conventional romantic musical starring Fields' niece, teen-aged soprano Gloria Jean, but "The Great Man" has other ideas.
Starring: W.C. Fields, Gloria Jean, Leon Errol, Billy Lenhart, Kenneth BrownComedy | Insignificant |
Musical | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.36:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Edward F. Cline's "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break" (1941) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include an exclusive new audio commentary by critic Eddy Von Mueller and the vintage documentary "Wayne and Shuster Take an Affectionate Look at W.C. Fields". In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Another buptkie!
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
The release is sourced from an older master that was supplied by Universal Studios. However, this master isn't as good as the one that the major supplied for The Bank Dick. Indeed, both delineation and clarity are mostly decent, while clarity tends to be rather underwhelming. There are minor traces of digital corrections as well, which is why grain can have a somewhat smeary appearance. The gray scale is good, but the digital corrections have boosted some of the blacks. Image stability is good. A few minor scratches and blemishes can be spotted, but I don't think that they ever becomes distracting. All in all, the technical presentation is a bit shaky, so if in the future the film is fully restored, you should expect to see an all-around stronger organic appearance. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The dialog is clear and easy to follow. Dynamic balance is very good, too. In the upper register there are no serious age-related anomalies that I was able to detect. I spotted some extremely light background hiss, but it is not of the type that impacts clarity and sharpness. Can the audio sound better? Yes, I think that there is a little bit of room for meaningful improvements, though I still think that the quality of the current lossless track is very good.
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break is a very interesting film to deconstruct because it is immediately obvious that it is unlike all the other films W.C. Fields made. There are plenty of clues in it revealing that Fields knew that pretty soon a lot will irreversibly change, so when seen with the awareness that it is such a personal film, it becomes awfully difficult not to admire it. Keep in mind that it is still a very, very wild film too, so there is a lot happening on multiple levels. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from an old and a bit shaky master that was supplied by Universal Studios, but it is definitely worth picking up. RECOMMENDED.
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