7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Henpecked Egbert Souse has comic adventures as a substitute film director and unlikely bank guard.
Starring: W.C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel, Evelyn Del Rio, Jessie RalphComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.36:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Edward F. Cline's "The Bank Dick" (1940) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include exclusive new audio commentary by filmmaker and historian Michael Schlesinger as well as vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Too many wrongs -- wrong place, wrong time, wrong profession.
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Bank Dick arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
I like the technical presentation quite a lot. It is pretty obvious that the master Universal supplied isn't new, but I did not see any major flaws to address in our review. Indeed, aside from the grain being slightly more pronounced, as well as a few tiny specks and black marks that pop up here and there, the entire film actually looks really, really good. The best news is that there are absolutely no traces of compromising digital corrections, which are usually what make older Universal masters so problematic. The grading job is solid, too. The grayscale boasts strong but not boosted blacks and very nicely balanced grays and whites. I don't even think that there is any need for the highlights to be rebalanced because they look solid as well. Image stability is very good. All in all, I think that this is a very pleasing organic presentation of The Bank Dick that will make a lot of its fans very happy. (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).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
I was as pleasantly surprised with the quality of the lossless audio track as I was with the quality of visuals. I had the volume on my system turned up quite a bit because Mr. Souse tends to chew up a few words here and there and I did not notice any distracting imperfections in the upper register. The audio track is very clear, clear, and stable, so when the current master was prepared some optimizations were almost certainly performed to ensure optimal quality.
W.C. Fields' films offer a different type of comedy. They are looser and frequently deliciously subversive, more human and relatable than the ones Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd made. While they come from a very different era, virtually all of them have a character or two that you can still recognize at your local market place of favorite pub. I find this pretty remarkable because a lot of these films still produce plenty of good old-fashioned fireworks as well. The Bank Dick is one of Fields' best films and looks lovely on Blu-ray. If you do not yet have a copy of it in your library, you should plan to get one. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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