On Approval Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

On Approval Blu-ray Movie Review

The Ladies Do Not Approve

Reviewed by Michael Reuben March 12, 2013

When most people hear the term "British comedy", their minds turn to Benny Hill or Monty Python (or possibly someone like their bastard stepchild, Eddie Izzard). But there is an older and more rarefied tradition of British comedy that is typically set in great houses and country mansions populated by egotistical blowhards, aristocrats with fancy titles and empty pockets, and well-dressed ladies who are either too smart or too dumb for the men courting them. For several centuries after Shakespeare's time, British dramatists polished such "drawing room" comedy to shiny perfection, and the early days of cinema saw several notable examples translated to the screen. One of them was On Approval.

Though in no other regard, On Approval shares one feature with Charles Laughton's Night of the Hunter, because it was the only film ever directed by a famous and successful actor, Clive Brook. Brook's sole directing credit happened by accident. He had acquired the rights to the play and was co-producing the film as a star vehicle for himself, but quickly discovered that the director he'd hired wanted to focus on the underlying melancholy of the characters. Not in my star vehicle, said Brook, who promptly fired the director and bought out his contract. With no additional funding in the budget to hire someone new, Brook was left with no choice but to become his own director.

The results were fortunate. Brook proceeded to create some of the film's most original and inspired sequences, including an entirely new opening and conclusion. His ability to communicate effectively with the actors led to the tight ensemble work that was essential to their precision comic timing, although Brook did have a habit of choosing the take that best flattered his aging features. While the film was not a success in Britain (which may have had something to do with its wartime release and also with the changing tastes that would shortly render the drawing room comedy passé), in America the film was widely praised and remains well regarded.

Specialty publisher B2MP, Inc. (the company responsible for restoring Lady for a Day) has created a new transfer of On Approval specially for this Blu-ray, which is being released through Inception Media Group.

Brook invented an entire prologue narrated by the then-familiar voice of newsreel reader E.V.H. Emmett, explaining why the story had to be set in the quieter, more formal Victorian era. In fact, the entire explanation was a put-on; the original play by Frederick Lonsdale had been set in the 1920s, but Brook wanted to distance the story's frivolous events even further from the grim reality of the contemporary war with Nazi Germany. He also wanted to establish the appropriately mocking tone, which the opening does brilliantly.

On Approval is a quartet for two men and two women. The men are George, the Tenth Duke of Bristol (Brook), an egotistical snob who has squandered his fortune; and George's equally impecunious friend, Richard Halton (Roland Culver). The women are Maria Wislack (Beatrice Lillie), a widow so wealthy that she is currently leasing George's London mansion, which George can no longer afford to keep; and her friend, Helen Hale (Googie Withers), the young American heiress to a great pickle fortune.

In the film's first act, George and Richard attend a gala party thrown by Maria at George's former home, where Richard attempts to persuade Maria to marry him. Maria, who is every bit as haughty and self-absorbed as George (whom she detests), knows that Richard wants her for her money, but she's willing to play along to the extent of a trial run. She suggests they spend a month together at her home on a Scottish island as husband and wife—taking each other "on approval", as it were—except that Richard has to sleep at an inn on the mainland. Helen will accompany them as chaperone. George, who has become interested in Helen's fortune, accompanies Richard hoping to inveigle Helen into matrimony.

With such volatile personalities driven by sheerly mercenary calculations, quarrels are bound to erupt. The servants in Maria's Scotland home abandon their mistress and her bickering guests, and eventually Richard and Helen decide they've had enough of their acerbic and self-centered prospective spouses. They tell both of them to get lost, leaving George and Maria in the unaccustomed position of being the spurned parties. Stung by rejection, the two forge a temporary truce in a farcical effort to make their former lovers jealous.

The sight of George and Maria acting as friends (and possibly more) is so unnerving that it inspires nightmares in Richard and Helen. The wordless scenes that Brook stages to convey their unnerving visions rely too much on movement to be conveyed in screenshots, but they are delightfully surreal. As to the ultimate outcome, it would be unfair to reveal. The film ends with an epilogue that explains everything, but Brook was dissatisfied with its original form. When the film's distribution was held up, he took the opportunity to rethink and reshoot various sections, including the epilogue, which now links up in perfect stylistic harmony with the prologue (also part of the reshoot). Even if you see the end coming, it still has a surprise or two.

On Approval Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

According to information supplied by the publisher, the transfer for this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was newly created from a so-called "safety negative" made from a nitrate fine grain print maintained by the British Film Institute. (A DVD released in 1999 by Image Entertainment was taken from a lesser source.) Although occasional scratches and damage are evident, they are quite minor and, indeed, it would appear the BFI may have performed restoration work on the source material, because the overall condition is impressive. The image is detailed, and the blacks that are so crucial for such scenes as the extended ball at Maria Wislack's residence, where ever gentleman is dressed from head to toe in formal wear, are solid and deep. The shades of grey into which cameraman Claude Friese-Greene translated the lavish decor and costumes are well-delineated, and the film's grain pattern has been left intact. Contrast is never overstated, although I am sure there were moments when the colorist may have been tempted to exaggerate it for modern tastes. This is a first-rate presentation of a Forties black-and-white film. I suspect the only way to improve upon it would require access to the original camera negative, which apparently no longer exists.

On Approval Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's original mono soundtrack is presented as lossless PCM 2.0, and I can't imagine it sounding any better. The actors' delivery of the clipped, precise dialogue is always clear, and the occasional underscoring by William Alwyn has sufficient dynamic range to create the necessary impact. Essential effects, whether source music at Maria's ball, or the sound of the boat crossing from the Scottish mainland, are distinct. There is a minimum of hiss and an absence of clicks or pops. The track may show the limits of its era, but there's nothing wrong with its presentation.

On Approval Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Jeffrey Vance: A former archivist for MGM/UA and the heirs of Charlie Chaplin, Vance has written volumes on Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. He has contributed commentaries to the Mary Pickford film Sparrows and the multi-star classic, Grand Hotel.
  
  Vance provides an informative, scene-specific comparison between the film and the play on which it was based, woven together with vast information on the film's production, its reception, its cast and their biographies and careers. An accomplished scholar capable of organizing a wealth of detail, Vance never forgets that a commentary should also function as entertainment, and his presentations are always lively and enthusiastic. Small wonder he's in such demand.



• Interview: Googie Withers Remembers On Approval (1080p; 1.33:1; 16:56): Withers, whose real name was "Georgette", was the youngest of On Approval's principal cast and the longest-surviving. (She was 94 when she died in July 2011.) The date of this previously unreleased interview is not provided, but the copyright date is 2012. With clarity apparently undimmed by the passage of time, Withers recalls the experience of shooting the film and speaks frankly about her co-stars and crew.



• Still Gallery: From the British Institute Film Collection (1080p): A series of stills from the film, including shots from a deleted scene and from the film's original epilogue, which is discussed in both Vance's commentary and Withers' interview.



• Insert: The Blu-ray case contains an insert with an essay on the film by critic Scott Eyman.

On Approval Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Don't watch On Approval when you're tired, because it requires close attention to every word. Like all good drawing room comedy, the film derives much its humor from nuances of language. It's aimed at viewers who enjoy the mean streak in a remark like George's after Maria has left the room in a huff: "She's not crying because I said she was forty-one. She's crying because she is forty-one." The Brits excel at this sort of thing, and few films have ever captured it with such precision as On Approval. The new Blu-ray from B2MP and Inception Media provides an impressive presentation with informative extras. Highly recommended.