Perfect Friday Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Perfect Friday Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 26, 2020

Peter Hall's "Perfect Friday" (1970) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The only bonus feature on the disc is an exclusive new audio commentary by critic Peter Tonguette. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Lady Britt Dorset

Please note that the text below was initially used for our review of Network's release of Perfect Friday, which can me accessed here.

I can think of at least two directors that must have seen Peter Hall’s Perfect Friday and felt inspired to direct similar films. The first is Stephen Frears whose stylish crime thriller The Grifters earned multiple Oscar nominations in 1991. In it a rather naive but ambitious con artist, his equally skilled mistress and his mother begin competing with each other while their lives slowly spin out of control. It is a wonderful, very entertaining film that many believe is Frears’ best work. The second director is Spaniard Miguel Bardem. In 2004, Bardem directed the equally impressive crime thriller Incautos a.k.a. Swindled about a young but very experienced con artist, an old-timer with a great legacy, and his ex-mistress who is dying to prove that she can be just as good as the man who once wanted to marry her.

In Perfect Friday there are also three characters that have something to prove. Mr. Graham (Stanley Baker, Accident, Lizard in a Woman's Skin) is a manager in a bank somewhere in London who is convinced that he has devised the perfect plan to get rich and retire in a foreign country with beautiful beaches. But to steal the money from the bank Mr. Graham needs two accomplices. This is where the stunningly beautiful Lady Britt Dorset (Ursula Andress, The 10th Victim, Red Sun) and her extravagant husband Lord Nicholas Dorset enter the picture. Both desperately need money to continue living beyond their means, but only Lady Dorset is brave enough to state the obvious. To see how good Lady Dorset’s acting skills are, Mr. Graham allows her to convince him to give her a generous loan when she visits his office. Then he allows her to seduce him. Then he asks her to approach Lord Dorset and see if he would be willing to join them, without telling her that he has already spoken with Lord Dorset and requested that he does exactly the same thing – ask Lady Dorset if she would be interested in having a role in Mr. Graham’s plan.

When the testing games are over, Mr. Graham, Lady Dorset and Lord Dorset begin preparing for their roles. The perfect robbery is to take place on a Friday.

Hall’s film does not break any new boundaries, but there are some excellent twists in it that are timed very well. The exchanges between the three partners are also very entertaining. During the first half, in particular, where they test each other, there are some terrific one-liners.

The film’s greatest strength, however, is its style. Hall and his team obviously had a small budget to work with, but the carefully chosen locations and simple camera movement give the film a very stylish retro look. Andress also looks delicious. The different outfits she wears are pure class. There are a couple of scenes where she can also be seen without them.

In addition to John Dankworth’s original soundtrack, Network’s Blu-ray release features an alternate soundtrack. The original soundtrack has a contemporary '70s flavor which has plenty in common with the soundtrack Dankworth’s composed for Joseph Losey’s comedy Modesty Blaise. The alternate soundtrack uses wonderful chamber music. Surprisingly, both seem most appropriate for this film.

Perfect Friday was lensed by cinematographer Alan Hume (Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Runaway Train).

Perfect Friday Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Perfect Friday arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from the same master that the folks at British label Network worked with to produce their release of Perfect Friday in 2013. I quite like this master, though there are some inconsistencies on it which a fresh master -- and one that is struck from better elements -- will immediately eliminate. However, Kino's technical presentation is not on par with that of Network -- this release is encoded with incorrect gamma levels and as a result some of the limitations on the master tend to reveal themselves a lot easier. On my system I could quickly make the needed adjustments and almost entirely eliminate the issue, but this is quite annoying because the master is older and some of its weaker and darker areas simply do not look quite as well as they do on the Network release. The rest is practically identical -- clarity, delineation, color balance, and overall image stability are as they appear on the other release. (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).

Perfect Friday Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

I mentioned in our review of the first high-definition release of Perfect Friday that the audio must have been remastered because its basic characteristics are solid. However, I wish to mention that the other day while viewing the film I again felt that occasionally the sound becomes a bit too 'thin'. This could very well be a source limitation, but perhaps modern equipment could improve it a bit. More importantly, the alternate audio track that is present on the Network release is not included on this release.

Perfect Friday Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - in this new audio commentary, critic Peter Tonguette discusses in great detail the visual style of Perfect Friday, Peter Hall's career and working methods, cinematographer Alan Hume preferences and style, etc.

• Trailers - trailers for the following releases from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. The Criminal
  2. Robbery
  3. Accident
  4. What's New Pussycat?
  5. The Homecoming

Perfect Friday Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Perfect Friday is a very fine old-fashioned caper that is definitely worth seeing and owning. It is great to finally have it available on this side of the Atlantic, but I find Kino Lorber's technical presentation of the film underwhelming. Also, this release does not have the alternate soundtrack that was included on Network's release, which is really good. So, if you can play Region-B discs and wish to own a copy of Perfect Friday, consider Network's release first.