Syncopation Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Syncopation Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 31, 2020

Eureka! Entertainment has released William Dieterle's rather odd ode to jazz, 1942's Syncopation, around five years after Cohen Media Group released their own Blu-ray for the Region A market. And in fact, this is more or less a carbon copy of the Cohen Media Group release, down to and including the Cohen masthead at the head of the presentation. None of Cohen's rather interesting supplements have made it to this release, unfortunately.

As indicated above, Syncopation was granted a release on Blu-ray back in 2015 for the Region A North American market. Those interested in a plot recap are encouraged to read my Syncopation Blu-ray review of that version. The technical merits are to my eyes and ears identical to the Cohen release, so this review will repeat my analysis of those factors from my original review. That review of the Cohen release is also a good source to compare screenshots, as well as to see the nice slate of supplements that Cohen assembled which are sadly not included on this release. On the flip side, the Cohen release did not feature any subtitles, and this Blu-ray does have optional English SDH subtitles.

Syncopation Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Syncopation is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. According to the re- release trailer included on the original Cohen Media Group Blu-ray, Cohen invested in a 2K restoration of this largely forgotten film, and the results are very commendable. Contrast is strong, with deep, convincing blacks and nicely modulated gray scale. Detail and clarity are also pleasing, though the transfer struggles at times to provide substantial shadow detail in some of the darkest sequences. There are still some minimal signs of age related wear and tear which crop up occasionally, but they're transitory and never very distracting. There are similarly no issues with image instability or compression issues. Very occasionally the at times thick grain field can look slightly unnatural, a tendency which is limited to (again) darker scenes. It does look to me like this release is just slightly brighter looking overall than the Cohen release.

Syncopation Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Syncopation features an LPCM 2.0 Mono mix that doesn't offer much in the way of depth but which is free from major damage in the form of clicks, pops or dropouts. There's a fairly tinny sound to a lot of the music, especially the brass material, but it's never overly problematic. Dialogue comes through just fine, with no problems to report. Unlike the Cohen release, which rather surprisingly had no subtitles (a real rarity for that label), this Eureka! Entertainment release does have optional English SDH subtitles.

Syncopation Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are offered on the disc. Eureka! Entertainment sent only a check disc for purposes of this review, so I can't authoritatively opine on any non-disc supplements as in an insert booklet. This release does evidently come with a DVD version of the film.

Syncopation Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm not sure if it is all the frankly overwhelming at times intervening things that have happened just in the relatively short space between 2015, when the Cohen Media Group Blu-ray was released, and this new offering from Eureka! Entertainment, vis a vis understanding about stereotypical racial depictions, but I was frankly a little more put off by some of the depictions of the black characters in this film than I was the first time I watched it. This may be an especially heightened awareness of mine courtesy of other relatively recent reviewing duties I've had for titles like Watchmen: An HBO Limited Series and perhaps even more saliently Bamboozled, with its devastating montages of clips from various films with stereotypical depictions of black characters. The film's "history" with regard to jazz is pretty laughable from start to finish, but there are some fun, if brief, performances by a coterie of forties musical luminaries in this film. This has the same generally excellent technical merits as the Cohen Media Group release, but it unfortunately omits that release's rather nice slate of supplements, for those who are considering a purchase.