6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The tranquility of a small town is marred only by sheriff Tod Shaw's unsuccessful courtship of widow Ellen Benson, a pacifist who can't abide guns and those who use them. But violence descends on Ellen's household willy-nilly when the U.S. President passes through town... and slightly psycho hired assassin John Baron finds the Benson home ideal for an ambush.
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason (I), Nancy Gates, Willis BoucheyFilm-Noir | 100% |
Romance | 18% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.75:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.75:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
When I first wrote about Suddenly four years ago, I said that the 1954 film had "a lot of baggage". Add to that weight the peculiar distinction of being given three (3) Blu-ray releases, all of them different and each with its own pros and cons. The latest Blu-ray rendition of this public domain title is from The Film Detective, and the headline is that the new disc presents the film in what has now been conclusively determined to be its original aspect ratio of 1.75:1. From there, things get more complicated, as discussed in the "Video" and "Supplements" sections below.
Previous Blu-rays of Suddenly by Image
Entertainment and HD Cinema Classics presented the
film "full frame" at aspect ratios of 1.38:1 and 1.34:1, respectively. Although my 2012 review
expressed doubt about the likelihood of the film being shot for a wider ratio, archival research
has confirmed that the intended ratio was 1.75:1, which was one of the multiple ARs with which
Hollywood experimented in the early Fifties. Film Detective has matted its new transfer for
1.75:1, and the effect is more striking than I could have imagined. Suddenly's tense
confrontations and claustrophobic groupings of characters play with noticeably greater impact in
the wider AR, and this is apparent even before Frank Sinatra's cheerfully vicious killer enters the
scene. Such earlier sequences as the one in which Sterling Hayden's sheriff confronts Nancy
Gates's grieving widow over her son's desire for a cap pistol acquire additional dramatic heft
with the matted AR focusing attention more tightly on the drama. From a purely compositional
perspective, Film Detective's presentation is a meaningful improvement.
But (isn't there always a "but"?) the corrected AR comes at a price. The print from Film
Detective's library is noticeably inferior to the source used by Image, which is described on the
Blu-ray jacket as a "35 mm fine grain master print". While the damage isn't
terrible, there's more of it on Film Detective's source, including specks, blotches and vertical
lines that come and go. (The hair that intrudes into the upper right corner of the frame at about
31:20 exists in all versions and is most likely a flaw in the negative that would have to be painted
out digitally, at significant cost.) Film Detective's version also exhibits a much heavier grain
field that will surely disturb viewers sensitive to such phenomena. In comparison, the Image
disc's smoother surface appears to be the product of grain reduction, at least in part, but some of
Film Detective's graininess is no doubt source-based. The new disc also has more pronounced
contrast, which yields a slight increase in detail, though at the cost of accentuating grain.
Finally, there is the issue of media. Image uses pressed BD-ROMs, where Film Detective's
edition of Suddenly arrives on a 1080p, AVC-encoded BD-R. While most players can handle
burned discs, some cannot. Many members of Blu-ray.com have also expressed concerns about
the durability of BD-Rs. On that point I reserve judgment, but the concerns can't be dismissed
out of hand.
(Note: I have tried to match the screenshots accompanying this review to those accompanying
my prior review of the Image disc. I do not have HD Cinema Classics' Blu-ray to perform a
comparison.)
Film Detective has encoded Suddenly's mono soundtrack in two-channel lossless DTS-HD MA, in contrast to Image's single-channel lossless rendition. At first blush, Film Detective's version may sound superior, simply because the doubling of channels results in a higher volume (and the 2.0 format may also be more easily spread throughout a speaker array by some decoders). But when the volume is equalized, the track is comparable to the prior disc I reviewed.
Buyers are out of luck in the extras department. Film Detective hasn't provided any. Image's disc had two informative commentaries (one of them by Frank Sinatra, Jr.), a gallery of marketing materials and an unrelated short film. HD Cinema Classics offered an entirely different commentary, plus a restoration demonstration and its own version of a trailer. Taken together, that's more supplemental material than most films receive, but you get none of it with the new disc.
Suddenly remains a fascinating film with an electrifying performance by Frank Sinatra. Buyers
now have three choices, each with its own positives and negatives. For future viewings, I will
probably load up Film Detective's version—but I'm keeping the Image disc.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1955
1958
Limited Edition to 3000
1967
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1955
1954
1950
1953
Gunmen on the Loose
1955
Warner Archive Collection
1943
1950
Warner Archive Collection
1948
Includes They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! and The Organization on standard BD
1967-1971
Warner Archive Collection
1936
1955
1955
Down 3 Dark Streets
1954
1957
1951
1961
1951