7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.1 |
A young girl's lonely isolation under the watchful eye of her stern and bitter father is abruptly shattered by the arrival of a seductive fugitive from the law.
Starring: Melvyn Douglas, Patricia Gozzi, Dean Stockwell, Gunnel Lindblom, Sylvia KayDrama | 100% |
Coming of age | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
If you were asked to name a notable performance by a young actor in the early to mid-sixties, chances are most American minds at any rate would immediately gravitate to either Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker or perhaps Mary Badham in To Kill a Mockingbird. For those fonder of lighter fare the kids of Mary Poppins or even The Sound of Music might enter the fray. How many of you thought of Patricia Gozzi in either Sundays and Cybčle or Rapture? Probably very few, if any, and of those the vast majority most likely thought of Sundays and Cybčle. Gozzi is largely forgotten today, partially due to the fact that she largely gave up acting after she married, but simply based on these two films alone she must certainly be accorded all due respect as one of the finest adolescent performers of her era, and perhaps of all time. Winsome, vulnerable, yet surprisingly alluring, with eyes that seem like windows into an ocean deep soul, Gozzi gives two radically different performances in Sundays and Cybčle and Rapture, though both of the roles are emotionally fragile young girls who are victims of boorish adult behavior. How Gozzi failed to be nominated for an Oscar for either (in fact both) of these films is one of the vagaries of show business, probably as much due to the fact both films were either international or foreign releases without huge impact on American shores, at least at the time. (It’s a bit harder to explain with regard to Sundays and Cybčle, since that film did indeed garner several Academy Award nominations, and won the 1962 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film). Rapture has at least a couple of well known names in its performer pool, notably Melvyn Douglas and Dean Stockwell, and Ingmar Bergman regular (and recent costar of the Dragon Tattoo trilogy) Gunnel Lindblom is also on hand, but chances are it’s going to be Gozzi and Gozzi alone who sears the synapses and refuses to vacate memories long after Rapture has ended.
Rapture is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This Cinemascope black and white presentation delivers a really solid looking, beautifully defined image that features abundant but natural looking grain, excellent contrast and some luscious black levels. The film was lensed by Marcel Grignon (Oscar nominated for Is Paris Burning?), and the film looks gorgeous, with incredible vistas of the Brittany coast bringing the stormy interior lives of the characters out into the open. There are a couple of issues with the transfer that may bother some, though truth be told when not frozen in a screencap, they're much less noticeable. The first of these is rather evident haloing courtesy of digital sharpening (see screencap 4 for a good example), and some slight though apparent crush in some of the film's many darker scenes. Overall, though, this is a fantastic looking transfer that wonderfully recreates the widescreen ambience of a mid-sixties 'Scope black and white feature.
Rapture features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 soundtrack that isn't especially bombastic but which serves the film's quieter ambitions quite ably. Some of the performers have obviously been post-looped, so some of the lip motions don't quite match the dialogue, but overall levels are consistent and the entire track has clarity and good dynamic range. Fidelity is excellent throughout, with no damage, and Georges Delerue's magnificent score (see below) also sounds brilliant.
Isolated Score. Georges Delerue may not be a name that's familiar to some of the younger readers of the site, but the French composer has a handful of Oscar nominations (and one win) to his name, as well as other international awards, and his scores tend to be incredibly melodic and evocative. (Though Delerue won his Academy Award for A Little Romance, I highly recommend checking out his first nominated score, his wonderful work on Anne of the Thousand Days from 1969). That's certainly the case with his work on Rapture, one of his earlier efforts that reveals Delerue's mastery of emotional content within generally instantly accessible themes and ideas. The best thing about this presentation is that there were evidently still stereo stems available, so while the main soundtrack is mono, we have a glorious stereo presentation of the score here via a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. You'll also hear the engineer calling out take numbers throughout this track.
Rapture is one of the most unique films of its era, one with an amazing cast and crew and one which defies any real attempt to adequately describe it. Dreamlike in the best Fellini way, though without his joie de vivre, and in fact hallucinatory in the best (frankly morose) Bergman way, Rapture is emotionally devastating due largely to the absolutely incredible work of Patricia Gozzi. How this young woman didn't go on to superstardom is beyond me (though evidently it was at least due in part to her own decision to stop acting). Rapture proves what an incomparable actress Gozzi was, and though the film is beautifully made and receives a nice high definition transfer here, it's Gozzi's contribution that ultimately makes Rapture Highly recommended.
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