Ring of Bright Water Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Ring of Bright Water Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson September 16, 2019

Ring of Bright Water is one of the more forgotten animal-centric films of the late '60s. It reunited Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, who co-starred in Born Free (1966) and were also husband and wife at the time. Travers portrays Graham Merrill, an accountant for an insurance company, who yearns to escape the bustling streets of London. After work one day he spots an otter in the display window of a pet store. Graham overhears a circus owner say he'd buy the otter to use him as a performer in his traveling troupe. But Graham ends up buying the semi-aquatic mammal and brings him home to his London apartment. In the audio commentary, Lee Gambin argues that the film isn't really a comedy but I'd disagree insofar that it employs some highly comedic elements. The otter, which Graham names Mijbil ("Mij" for short), can't sit still as it squirms across the room, brings down the draperies, and knocks over the aquarium. Graham doesn't harshly scold it as he bemusedly tames it. (The film is even funnier when Mij flees a train compartment and intrudes on an entire section of seated passengers.) Graham sets up his own cage partitions in his unit but the fact is Mij and he feel too crammed. Graham's landlord wants him to get rid of Mij but Graham gets out of his lease so he can rent a cottage at Sandaig Bay, Camusfearna, which is located in the West Highlands of Scotland. There he meets Mary MacKenzie (Virginia McKenna), a country doctor who has a Springer Spaniel to play with Mij. Graham also wanted to get away from urban life so he can work on his book on the Marsh Arabs. However, most of his attention is set on fixing the ramshackle and letting Mij thrive in his natural habitat.

Ring of Bright Water is based on the eponymous nonfiction autobiography by Gavin Maxwell. It's co-scripted by Travers and director Jack Couffer, who was known for directing Disney nature films. Fortunately, Couffer doesn't indulge the narrative with any sentimental schmaltz between the animals and their human counterparts. His movie is a slow-burn and hits a skid in the middle but as a whole, it's touching and affecting.

Ring of Bright Water Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ring of Bright Water makes its Blu-ray debut courtesy of Kino Lorber's Studio Classics on this MPEG-4 AVC encoded BD-25. The sixty-year-old film appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1. The transfer gets off to an ominous start during the first reel with various speckles, blips, and thin tramlines (see Screenshot #15) creeping into the frame. The trailer looks pretty beat up so I worried that Kino also did not clean up these similar anomalies. To my delightful surprise, the artifacts go away. The presumed 2K scan sometimes has a coarse grain structure, particularly establishing shots (see #14), and there's been no artificial sharpening or post-processing DNR. Kathy Lang, then a film critic for The Cincinnati Inquirer, described Wolfgang Suschitzky's cinematography as photogenic and colorful, as most others did that saw release prints of the film. I felt that I was transported to a cinema in 1969. Suschitzky produces some sparkling water effects from the stream, which sparkle here. There are also picture-postcard compositions (see especially frame grabs # 5, 12, and 13). Kino has encoded the feature at a mean video bitrate of 23560 kbps.

The 107-minute feature comes with the usual eight chapter stops.

Ring of Bright Water Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kino supplies the original monaural recording, rendered here as a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1558 kbps, 16-bit). I had trouble fully comprehending the Scottish Burr and had to switch on the optional English subtitles, which deliver a pretty accurate transcription of the spoken words. The Boston Globe's Marjory Adams reported that she and the audience that watched Ring of Bright Water had difficulty picking up the Scottish dialogue so this isn't a fault of Kino's technical authors or its audio engineers. Frank Cordell wrote a blithe score highlighted by playful piccolos and woodwinds which underscore the humorous relationship between Graham and Mij. There is some hiss present on the low-end sounds.

Ring of Bright Water Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Lee Gambin - Gambin gives an insightful thematic analysis of the film. He also talks about the lives and careers of Gavin Maxwell, Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, and Joseph Strick. I have some minor disagreements with him but this is an astute and very satisfying commentary. In English, not subtitled.

• Theatrical Trailer - official US trailer for Ring of Bright Water that's in rather rough condition.

• Bonus Trailers - an unrestored trailer for The Earthling (1980) and SpaceCamp (1986), whose image looks much better than the other two trailers.

Ring of Bright Water Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ring of Bright Water has been overshadowed by Born Free and that's a shame since it's also a beautifully acted and photographed film. Kino Lorber's transfer gets off to a rough start but shines for much of its run time, bringing the Technicolor back to its full glory ca. 1969. The lossless mono audio has some age-related limitations but no major issues. The Anchor Bay and MGM DVDs had no extras so it's a bonus to have a most informative commentary by film historian Lee Gambin. Cineastes who love nature films will lap up Ring of Bright Water. I'm hoping that Kino will also release Mike Nichols's The Day of the Dolphin (1973). A WARM RECOMMENDATION.