6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A rich businessman and a young woman are attracted to each other, but he only wants an affair while she wants to save her virginity for marriage.
Starring: Cary Grant, Doris Day, Gig Young, Audrey Meadows, John AstinRomance | 100% |
Comedy | 31% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
What a difference either one year or five years, depending on how it’s looked at, can make. In 1962, Cary Grant, then 58, settled into a familiar role as a lothario chasing after a pretty woman, played by Doris Day, then 38, in That Touch of Mink, which became one of the Top 5 films of that year at the box office. That’s a twenty year difference between the two, for those who aren’t especially good at math. A mere year later, in 1963, Grant insisted that Charade (also available in this edition) be structured so that his co-star Audrey Hepburn, then 34, chase him, due to the twenty-five year difference in their ages. There have long been disparities between male stars’ ages and those of their female co-stars, something that has angered successful women actors of a “certain age” who feel they’re being bypassed in favor of younger ingénues. But in the case of That Touch of Mink, the age difference is really a non-issue for a couple of reasons. Doris Day never really had the same gamine quality that Audrey Hepburn did, and in fact she seems more or less the same age as Cary Grant, despite his ever so slightly gray hair (something else that had changed by the time Charade rolled out a year later). But even given the age difference, obvious or not, there’s an underlying class difference that’s more salient in this ebullient comedy, one which holds up surprisingly well and delivers some solid laughs along the way, even if it’s not particularly subtle and in fact is has a rather undeniably smarmy subtext. Grant portrays gazillionaire Philip Shayne, who is being chauffeur driven (in his Rolls Royce, of course) one rainy Manhattan morning. Cathy Timberlake (Doris Day), a working girl (not that kind, of course—Day is once again here the Perpetual Virgin), is standing on the sidewalk waiting to cross when Shayne’s passing limousine drives through a mud puddle and covers her in dirty detritus. There’s “meet cute” and then there’s “meet sloppy”, which of course soon cascades into all sorts of unexpected opportunities and problems. If That Touch of Mink never quite attains the giddy heights of some of Day’s other romantic comedies of the late fifties and early sixties, it’s still an often hugely winning affair (no pun intended, considering Shayne’s proposition which sets the main plot in motion), with some nicely arch supporting performances from the likes of perennial second lead Gig Young and Thelma Ritter wannabe Audrey Meadows.
That Touch of Mink is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Though the elements here have quite a bit of minor speckling and a few minimal scratches, this is actually one of the nicer looking catalog releases we've seen from Olive, especially in terms of the lustrous color, which does not look very faded, if at all. While flesh tones creep just slightly toward the brown side of things, otherwise this is still a really bright and beautifully vivid presentation, one which shows off the nice location work as well as a glut of fashions Day is adorned by throughout the film. While just a bit on the soft side, That Touch of Mink still offers very nice fine object detail and maintains a crisp, precise looking image that suffers from no egregious compression artifacts.
That Touch of Mink's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix has some surprising depth for an older mono track, something that helps George Duning's charming glockenspiel inflected score sound spry and magical. Dialogue is mostly very clearly presented (I had a few transitory moments where Audrey Meadows wasn't quite as loud as the rest of the film, but that could simply because she kind of yells throughout most of it). Fidelity is excellent, though there's negligible dynamic range.
No supplements are offered on this Blu-ray disc.
Doris Day and Cary Grant both excelled at light comedy, and while That Touch of Mink is probably not the best film in this genre that either of these iconic stars made, it still has a wryly humorous ambience that carries it through its less effective moments. While Grant and Day are effortless in this exercise, most of the laughs come courtesy of Meadows and Young, both of whom have some great lines and, in the case of Young, business that really helps elevate the overall comedic impact of the film. Delbert Mann's direction is pretty unobtrusive, the film is bright and colorful, and though we know there's no doubt we're going to get to a happy ending, making the journey with these characters is quite a bit of fun. This Blu-ray features excellent video and audio and comes Recommended.
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