September 30, 1955 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

September 30, 1955 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 23, 2022

James Bridges' "September 30, 1955" (1977) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Scorpion Releasing. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary with author and critic Peter Tonguette and vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

My grandfather was in his late eighties when he passed away and over the course of his life never used reading glasses. He loved to read as much as he loved going to the local movie theater. We were extremely close and during the years had fascinating conversations about his favorite books and films. His favorite book was Emilio Salgari’s The Black Corsair and he had memorized entire sections of it, which I thought was incredible. He told me that reading The Black Corsair made it possible for him to temporarily visit places he knew he would never be able to reach while he was alive. He had a couple of favorite films. He told me that as a kid he saw all of the Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton films that were screened in the small town where he grew up and that they helped him meet my grandmother. He had mad respect for them. He also loved Gunga Din (1939) and had a giant vintage poster of it purchased from a pawn shop. He always praised Cary Grant, but I suspected that he had a crush on Joan Fontaine.

I decided to mention my late grandfather and his passion for books and films because I detected a very similar passion oozing through James Bridges’ September 30, 1955 (1977). The day Bridges used as a title for his film meant a lot to many young people that grew up after the end of WWII, and I remember discussing it with my grandfather as well. This was the day when James Dean tragically died in that horrific car accident. My grandfather told me that it was a huge event with massive ripple effects that very few people were able to properly grasp. According to him, Dean’s tragic death crushed an entire generation and some young people never recovered from the loss, just like two decades later many could not accept that Elvis Presley had passed away.

The world is a very different place now. Young people still have favorite actors and performers, but after the passing of Michael Jackson, there are no more icons that can be compared to Dean and Presley. This is the naked truth. Another truth of the time we live in is that the Internet has made it virtually impossible to have another icon like Dean, Presley, and Jackson. It takes time and patience to nurture such icons, which means that they are incompatible with our fast-moving world. The other enormous problem is that the Internet has made it impossible to create the crucial mystique that icons need to appear, well, iconic. All potential candidates have their lives under social media’s microscope around the clock.

In September 30, 1955, Bridges visits a small town in Arkansas, the state where he grew up, and begins following a couple of teenagers as they learn about Dean’s death. Two of them, Jimmy J. (Richard Thomas) and Billie Jean (Lisa Blount), are obsessed with Dean and have started seeing and understanding the world around them while looking through his eyes. When a local radio station breaks the tragic news, they temporarily become lost in a sea of strange feelings and then begin wondering whether it makes sense to continue living without their idol. As they gradually recover, Bridges overlaps many personal feelings about the loss from his youth years with those of the film’s protagonists.

The key to understanding precisely what Bridges wanted to convey with September 30, 1955 is to focus on what Dean’s image as a grand movie star in the making represented to young people in rural America during the 1950s. Dean was their connection to the bigger world where they thought anything was possible. Like them, Dean grew up in a small town in rural Indiana, and later, while living his dream, experienced freedom as he understood it. So, while a very intimate film that reveals a lot about Bridges, September 30, 1955 really is about the power of movie stars to inspire young people.

The young leads are very good, but what makes September 30, 1955 fascinating to behold is its ability to accurately recreate a very particular period environment. For example, feelings and emotions are rearranged incredibly quickly and yet the small town is not interested in registering any of them. As a result, it looks like Jimmy J., Billie Jean, and their friends are placed in a giant surreal cage where the adults cannot figure out how to coexist with them.

September 30, 1955 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, September 30, 1955 arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Scorpion Releasing.

The release is sourced from an older master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. Unfortunately, this master has quite a few of the shortcomings that we have come to expect when older titles emerge from the major's vaults. To be perfectly clear, it is not terrible, but very large portions of the film have that harsh digital appearance that can be quite distracting. Unsurprisingly, delineation, clarity, and depth can be a lot more convincing. In darker areas, various nuances can be better exposed as well. Color balance is good, but this is another area where many meaningful improvements can be made. Image stability is very good. I did not encounter any distracting large cuts, debris, or blemishes, but a few tiny black marks and nicks can be spotted. All in all, the current master that was used to produce this Blu-ray release likely comes from the DVD era and more importantly does not have strong organic qualities. (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).

September 30, 1955 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 had the volume of my system turned up quite a bit and thought that the overall quality of the lossless track was very good. There are a few chase car chase scenes that sound very nice and elsewhere the music produces decent dynamic contrasts. The upper register is healthy but in a few areas there is room for minor cosmetic work. There are no distortions, dropouts, or other similar encoding anomalies.

September 30, 1955 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for September 30, 1955. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by author and critic Peter Tonguette (The Films of James Bridges). The commentary is very informative. Mr. Tonguette discusses in great detail the conception of September 30, 1955 and specifically James Bridges' decision not to shoot in California but at home in Arkansas, personal significance of the story that is being told in the film, the casting choices that were made, the film's Americana qualities, etc. It is a very well-researched commentary, so if you enjoy the film, listen to it in its entirety.

September 30, 1955 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I wanted to do a review of James Bridges' September 30, 1955 because every time I see the film or the Blu-ray release I am reminded of my late grandfather, who liked James Dean and told me what it was like immediately after news broke that the star had tragically died in a car accident. It really was a very big deal that permanently scarred a lot of teenagers that had fallen in love with Dean. September 30, 1955 reveals that Bridges was one of them too, so it is a very personal film, but I think that it is an outstanding piece of Americana as well. It is unfortunate that September 30, 1955 did not end up in the Criterion Collection, or with another boutique label that could have managed to restore it. This release from Scorpion Releasing is serviceable, but the film needs to be redone in 4K so that it looks as it should. RECOMMENDED, but only if you can find it heavily discounted.