Oliver! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Oliver! Blu-ray Movie Review

Director Carol Reed's 1968 Musical 'Oliver!' was previously released to Blu-ray in 2013 courtesy of label Twilight Time in a limited run package. Sony has now released the picture as part of its pressed disc MOD (Manufactured on Demand) program with one new supplement, a few carryover extras from the Twilight Time disc, and a few supplemental omissions as well. I do not have access to the Twilight Time disc and cannot make any direct video and audio comparisons, so this review treats the A/V presentation independently from the Twilight Time disc.

Oliver! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Oliver!'s 1080p transfer is imperfect but it's also a fairly good-looking release when the various issues recede or go away entirely. Broadly speaking, the picture is nicely filmic. Grain is complimentary and fairly consistent, a bit on the dense and heavy side at times but usually settling into a pleasing and filmic structure. The Blu-ray capably captures the dull stone work; wooden supports, windows, and doors; iron railings; and the tattered and filthy clothes the orphans wear in the film's opening minutes with very nice attention to detail across all of these areas of visual concern. The Blu-ray allows for a thorough examination of the relatively poor living conditions and is a critical aid in establishing the film's tone and world. Exteriors offer a little more life while painting the same level of core textural excellence. Though still heavy on the stones and bricks and somewhat grungy façade around a largely bleak London, the 1080p presentation reveals the film's, and the locations', impressive density and the finest details on various surfaces with commendable ease and visual complexity. Such definition extends to clothing, too, particularly more nicely appointed garments seen on many characters throughout the film, in contrast to the tattered garb the orphans wear. Facial textures are stable and nicely revealing as well.

Colors are sparse in the orphanage. The picture favors bleak grays and bland clothes that are presented with good attention to detail and nuanced shading. Later scenes elsewhere in the film reveal more intensive (though certainly nor prolific) colors that stand out particularly well against the dreary locales, such as when Oliver meets Jack Dawkins, "The Artful Dodger," who is wearing a blue jacket which is the only real bolder color of note in the entire scene. As the film progresses, more colors are introduced with greater boldness and intensity, primarily on attire but also splashes on brighter (white) building façades, flowers, and other odds and ends. The gradual increase in color is critical to the film's narrative.

Exteriors, particularly against snowy backdrops, can appear diffuse with blooming evident in various scenes and to disagreeable visual extremes in the most prolific examples. Look at merchant walking away at the 16:55 mark for one of the more obvious examples, though the entire sequence is practically aglow. There is also some edge enhancement visible in places, perhaps nowhere more obvious than, again, against the white snow in chapter three. It can be mild and it can be thick; viewers sensitive to it will find some parts of the film difficult to watch. Light print wear is evident in spots as well with random and infrequent speckles and pops appearing here and there. At its best, the image rises to about a 4.5 score. It bottoms out around a 2.5 in chapter three with all of the blooming and edge enhancement. The image favors the better end of the spectrum for most of its runtime, however, so a score of 3.75 feels about right, rising upwards to 4.0 on the Blu-ray.com scale.

Oliver! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Though Oliver! is a song-and-dance film and takes place in busy orphanages and bustling city streets, its sound design is generally reserved, never offering anything notably big or that really pushes the system to its limits. Sony's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack capably delivers the basics without much flair, keeping the listening experience grounded within the constraints of the film's modest, maybe even described as pedestrian, sound design. Musical numbers largely remain up front, almost exclusively, with surround support kept to a bare minimum to the point that it's often barely noticeable, if at all. Front side width is good, yielding decent stretch for some of the larger and often multi-participant songs while the more intimate solos are usually kept more within the center channel's field of coverage, yielding much more modest spread at the widest points. Lyrics sometimes stretch out beyond the middle, poking out in that area between center and side if a character is singing off to one side of the screen or the other. Clarity only rises to the level of fair; this won't be mistaken for a modern sound design with more bells and whistles in the form of more expansive immersion, higher yield detail, or seamless sound traversal about the listening area. Atmospherics do open up the rears at times. Around 31 minutes into the movie, for example, the back channels pick up modest but essential-for-immersion sonic odds-and-ends details that helps draw the listener into the busy London streets. Basic dialogue is clear enough and largely maintains a grounded front-center position.

Oliver! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Sony's Blu-ray release of Oliver! contains several extras, several of which carry over from the Twilight Time disc and one of which appears only on this disc, and is given a brief description below. Missing from this disc that appeared on the Twilight Time disc include the Isolated Score track, Sing Alongs, Dance Instructions, and Dance and Sing Alongs. For reviews of the carryover content, please click here. See below for everything included on this disc. This release does not ship with a slipcover or DVD or digital copies of the film.

• Original Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (1080i, 7:37).
• NEW! The Locations of Oliver! (1080i, 4:37): A quick run-through of some of the locations that were created for the film as well as real-world locations seen in the film.
• Meeting Oliver! (1080p, 14:45).
• Meeting Fagin! (1080p, 13:24).
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 1:44).

Oliver! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Oliver! is one the better Musicals of its time. It lacks the majesty of the genre's best, both as a film and as a Blu-ray, but it's a densely created and rewardingly adapted translation of Charles Dickens' cherished, classic novel. Musical numbers are unforgettable, as is the story. Production design is terrific and the performances are exceptional. Sony's Blu-ray adds one extra not included on the Twilight Time disc but subtracts a few others. Video and audio on this release are good, generally, though neither stretch the format all that far. Video can be problematic in a few areas, notably by way of some undesirable edge enhancement. It also looks very good at its best. Recommended.