Sacha Guitry: Four Films 1936-1938 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Sacha Guitry: Four Films 1936-1938 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 30, 2018

The back cover of the slipbox of this new Arrow Academy release makes the case that Sacha Guitry was the Gallic Noël Coward, but I’d like to offer another, perhaps decidedly more outré, comparison. While it may sound a little cheeky, something I won’t argue too much with, in a way Sacha Guitry might be thought of as the Tyler Perry of his time, despite their obvious differences in nationality and ethnicity. Much as with Perry’s ubiquitous output, Guitry seemed almost preternaturally able to write both plays at the drop of a veritable hat, many of which he filmed, as well as original screenplays written expressly for the big screen. Additionally, Guitry frequently starred in these productions, though I have yet to be able to discover any cross dressing (a la Madea). Perhaps most saliently, at least for some curmudgeons (ahem) who have found at least occasional deficits in Perry’s writing and execution, even some experts quizzed as talking heads in supplements included on this new set unashamedly mention, some of Guitry’s offerings were decidedly on the pedestrian side. This may be especially ironic, given Guitry’s association with so-called (and I’m about to pun horribly) “Boulevard Theater”. Within this kind of wide ranging style that was often aimed at the popular masses (as opposed to the intelligentsia), Guitry was well known for playing “boulevardier” roles, “slackers” of a sort who nonetheless often had peculiarly observant qualities that frequently allowed them to act as almost individual Greek Choruses in plays and films, offering trenchant commentary on the foibles of whomever they were watching, supposedly from the sidelines. (The fact that “Boulevard Theater” was in fact aimed at the supposedly common everyday working stiff sort is one reason that I might quibble a bit with the Coward comparison, since Coward’s work was typically fairly highbrow.) The four films in this set are in fact filmed versions of plays, and as such are almost unavoidably theatrical, though it’s interesting to see Guitry experimenting with then still fairly new techniques like long tracking shots within confined areas. Three of the four films have at least some things in common with Coward outings (and in fact Perry outings), positing fractured family relationships that often revolved around things like marital infidelity. The fourth film in the set, Let’s Go Up the Champs-Élysees might be thought of as a “limited French edition” of Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part I, with the focal element being the famous titular boulevard.

For reviews of the four films in this set, please click on the following links:

The New Testament Blu-ray review

My Father Was Right Blu-ray review

Let's Make a Dream. . . Blu-ray review >

Let's Go Up the Champs-Élysées Blu-ray review

Sacha Guitry: Four Films 1936-1938 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each release is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Sacha Guitry: Four Films 1936-1938 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each release is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Sacha Guitry: Four Films 1936-1938 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supplemental material on each disc (which may include material not necessarily linked to an individual film) is detailed in the above linked reviews. Additionally, Arrow has (as it tends to do) packaged this set handsomely, with a sturdy chipboard box and a nicely appointed insert booklet. The one kind of odd thing about the release is that Arrow has provided reversible cover inserts for the two keepcases included, meaning that you have to choose which of the two films on any given disc you want to "advertise".

Sacha Guitry: Four Films 1936-1938 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm not sure there's going to be a huge audience for this release, and as even some of the French talking heads included on supplements in this set mention, Guitry can be something of an acquired taste. But for me personally, the two "Let's" films were rather enjoyable, and the supplementary material is first rate as well. Video and audio show their age, but on the whole this set comes Recommended.