Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

Sisters Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 11, 2018

Brian De Palma's "Sisters" (1973) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an exclusive new video interview with actress Jennifer Salt; vintage Q&A session with Brian De Palma; vintage program with cast and crew interviews; promotional materials; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Carrie Rickey, excerpts from an archival interview with Brian De Palma, and a reprinted article by the director. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

A young and beautiful white girl (Margot Kidder, Superman, The Amityville Horror) approaches a handsome black man (Lisle Wilson, The Incredible Melting Man) and the two end up in a night club. Later on, she invites him home and then makes love to him. On the following morning the man heads to a nearby bakery to purchase a birthday cake for the girl and her twin sister. When he returns with the cake and tries to surprise the girl, he is stabbed multiple times with a large kitchen knife.

Single newspaper reporter Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt, Midnight Cowboy) watches from her apartment as the covered with blood man slowly dies. Convinced that something truly terrible has happened in the building across the street, she immediately phones the police. Soon after, two detectives appear but instead of rushing in the apartment where the man was stabbed they bombard the reporter with annoying questions. Eventually they meet the girl and then search her place, but much to the reporter’s disappointment do not discover anything suspicious.

Enormously frustrated, the reporter vows to do whatever it takes to find the body of the dead man and prove that the beautiful girl is responsible for his death. She is soon joined by an old friend (Charles Durning, The Sting, Tootsie) who has been waiting for a good opportunity to use all of the knowledge he has accumulated at The Brooklyn Institute of Modern Investigation.

Hitchcock’s influence is easily felt throughout the film. In fact, there are entire sequences where the camera moves and observes the action in ways that Hitchcock invented and popularized with his thrillers. Consider the sequence where the reporter watches the stabbed man while the camera peeks through the window, moves back and then moves forward as if to get a better look at the bloody hand. This is a classic Hitchcockian mise-en-scene.

The main characters also have Hitchcockian identities. The beautiful girl with the accent looks sweet and harmless, but she is different. Then there is the persistent reporter who most of the time looks paranoid but is the only character in the film that seems to have a properly functioning head. There is also a brilliant scientist that cannot be trusted.

And yet the film has an identity of its own. A good dose of light humor is used to counter the bizarre and scary, while the serious is delivered with an authority suggesting that it is in fact worth spending some extra time with. (I don’t want to be too specific so that I don’t spoil the film for you, but the archival clips for instance definitely offer some food for thought). The end result is a bit rough, especially when one compares Sisters to the likes of Dressed to Kill and Blow Out, but the ride is good and the finale satisfying.

The two female leads are very good. In the film the two have completely different personalities, but both look equally relaxed in front of the camera. Durning’s performance, however, is disappointing. William Finley, who passed away in 2012, looks appropriately delusional.

Sisters is complemented by an unusually intense music score courtesy of the great Bernard Herrmann (North by Northwest, Taxi Driver, Obsession).

Sisters 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, Brian De Palma's Sisters arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet that is provided with this release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 16-bit 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Fim's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm magnetic track. Clicks, thumps, his, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.

Transfer supervisor: Brian De Palma.
Film scanning: EFILM, Hollywood.
Colorist: Lee Kline/Criterion Post, New York."

The release is sourced from a brand new 4K remaster, which was approved by Brian De Palma. (This isn't the same master that Arrow Video used in 2014 for this release of the film). Quite predictably, the entire film now has a substantially stronger organic appearance, and the larger your screen is, the easier it will be for you to appreciate the nuanced strengths of the remaster. For example, the visuals now have all-around better balanced highlights, while in the darker/indoor footage shadow definition is superior (see screencapture #11). There is better depth as well, though it is worth mentioning that the new remaster also makes some of the native density shifts even more pronounced (see the split-screen footage). Grain exposure is better, and the surface of the visuals lacks the light harshness that is present on the old master (see screencapture #18). The grading job is very convincing. The primaries look fresher -- and the proper highlights actually enhance them even more -- and there is a better range of nuances. There are no traces of sharpening adjustments, or other equally distracting digital corrections. Image stability is very good. Cuts, damage marks, burns, specks, and all other conventional age-related imperfections have been removed as best as possible. (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).

Sisters Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I did some quick comparisons with the lossless track from the European release and on my system the sound is slightly thicker and better rounded. The range of nuanced dynamics, however. remains unchanged. I tested a couple of different sequences where the music has a very important role and could not hear a difference. The dialog is stable and easy to follow.

Sisters Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interviews -
  
  1. Jennifer Salt - in this new video interview, actress Jennifer Salt recalls her initial encounter with Brian De Palma and the work they did together, and discusses the evolution of her friendship with Margot Kidder, the 'scene' in Los Angeles, the conception of Sisters and the specific 'neighborhood feel' that the film had, some of the improvised material, the very dark sense of humor that permeates Brian De Palma's work, etc. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2018. In English, not subtitled. (25 min).
  
  2. The Autopsy - this archival program focuses on the production history of Sisters. Included in it are vintage interviews with Brian De Palma, actors Charles Durning and Bill Finley, editor Paul Hirsch, and producer Edward R. Pressman. The program was produced by French label Wild Side Video in 2004. In English, not subtitled. (27 min).
  
  3. Brian De Palma at the AFI, 1973 - presented here is a long Q&A session with Brian De Palma, which was recorded after a screening of Sisters in 1973. You can access it while viewing the film as well. (91 min).
  
  4. Margot Kidder at the Dick Cavett Show, 1970 - presented here is an archival episode of the popular TV show with a few quite hilarious revelations. In English, not subtitled. (9 min, 1080i).

• International Poster Gallery - a gallery of vintage promotional materials for Sisters. With music. (12 min).

• Radio Spots - a collection of vintage U.S. radio spots for Sisters. In English, not subtitled. (4 min, 1080p).

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Carrie Rickey, excerpts from an archival interview with Brian De Palma, and a reprinted article by the director about his professional relationship with composer Bernard Hermann.

Sisters Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I am not a particularly big fan of Brian De Palma's Sisters. Parts of it work well, but elsewhere the film looks quite rough and feels somewhat underdeveloped. What Sisters misses the most, however, is a good dose of the excess that typically makes the American director's best films truly unpredictable. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release is sourced from a fantastic new 4K restoration that will remain the ultimate presentation of the film on the home video market. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.