6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
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 | 28% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.75:1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
“Suddenly” is an adverb indicating quickness or an abrupt transition, but that hardly characterizes the long wait I had to endure to finally receive a screener of this film from HD Cinema Classics (which is somehow connected to another label called Film Chest), a company which has specialized in releasing Blu-rays of public domain titles over the past couple of years. In one of our Blu-ray.com staff meetings earlier this year, we discussed how this “remembered for the wrong reasons if it’s remembered at all” film was actually being given two Blu-ray releases, one by Image, and this one. Since the Image release was advertised as having been sourced from an “original 35mm studio fine grain master print”, I mentioned up front that the HD Cinema Classics release might not have much to offer in terms of video quality, since the label tends to source from less pristine elements and often applies rather aggressive DNR to their releases to cover up any perceived flaws. Initially the PR firm handling this release told me it had been inexplicably delayed, and when I mentioned the more or less simultaneous Image release to them, they seemed surprised and stated they knew nothing about it. Repeated inquiries about a screener were unanswered, and I frankly concluded that HD Cinema Classics had pulled the plug on the release after having found out about the Image offering. I was rather surprised, then, to see some members here posting in the Forum about the HD Cinema Classics release, and actually taking me to task for not having secured a screener or knowing about its availability. In my (perhaps sputtering) defense, I can only say I handle upwards of seventy or eighty releases per month, and I count on the PR firms handling those releases to keep me abreast of various developments, including changing street dates and the like. I don't regularly "scout" Amazon to see if the PR firms have misinformed me, nor do I ever visit other review sites to check on what has been covered. When I received no answers to repeated inquiries, I made that oft-derided decision to assume something I probably shouldn’t have, and so I offer a hearty mea culpa. But now, some months after its release, Suddenly is not so suddenly in my hands.
Suddenly is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of HD Cinema Classics with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. As Michael Reuben has suggested in his review of the Image release, the supposed original aspect ratio of 1.75:1 is almost certainly incorrect (one could reasonably argue 1.85:1 or even 1.66:1), but this so-called "full frame" presentation offers a well balanced visual presentation, albeit with considerable head room at times. Now, here's where the vagaries of reviewing and personal opinion will perhaps be of some interest. I have tried to replicate at least a few of the screenshots accompanying the Image Suddenly review for comparison's sake, while at the same time providing some other moments of the film as well. Though HD Cinema Classics doesn't claim to have sourced this from a "fine grain print" (emphasis mine) as Image does (a somewhat suspect term in any case), it does clearly state that its high definition transfer was culled from 35mm source elements. To my eyes (and judging only from the screenshots of the Image release, as I haven't yet picked it up), the HD Cinema Classics image (no pun intended) is at times sharper and crisper than the Image release, though it also has a patently more artificial look which I attribute to digital sharpening techniques. While grain is still more than apparent throughout this presentation, my best guess is that HD Cinema Classics did indeed apply some DNR, as there is a kind of weird unnatural look to the grain at times. Contrast seems a bit more distinct in this HD Cinema Classics release as well, with a wider disparity between blacks and whites. HD Cinema Classics does seem to be getting better at "gussying up" older public domain releases, and Suddenly certainly hasn't been drowned in DNR like some of the label's earlier releases. In motion, most of Suddenly looks quite good most of the time.
The audio menu on Suddenly boasts a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (supposedly mono) track, but what is actually on this disc is a Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono) offering. There's nothing egregiously horrible about the audio, and aside from one kind of strange moment early in the film when David Raksin's underscore breaks up even as the dialogue continues unabated, the film sounds fine within its lossy confines. Dialogue is very cleanly and clearly presented and while things have a kind of just slightly boxy overall sound, for the age of the film and the fact that this was sourced from a print, things sound really rather good overall.
Suddenly doesn't waste a lot of time and/or celluloid cutting to the chase, and if there is fault to be found with the film, it's that it attempts to create characters wholesale in a kind of generic way without getting into the nuts and bolts of what actually makes them tick. There are a few too many convenient coincidences dotting the landscape as well, but otherwise Suddenly is a fantastically taut little thriller that is certainly one of Sinatra's crowning achievements as an actor. Blu-ray aficionados now have two editions to choose from. This HD Cinema Classics release offers good, if occasionally problematic, video, though its advertised lossless audio turns out to be Dolby Digital. The commentary by Tom Santopietro is excellent however, and with caveats noted, this release comes Recommended.
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