6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.1 |
The star has injured an ankle, but the show – and inexperienced stage assistant Polly Browne – must go on. Break a leg, kid. And don’t let the presence of Hollywood director and talent scout Mr. De Thrill add any pressure. Curtain up. Maybe someone will be discovered tonight.
Starring: Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Max Adrian, Bryan Pringle, Murray MelvinMusical | 100% |
Romance | 73% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The Boy Friend was director Ken Russell's follow-up to The
Devils, a film so condemned for
sacrilegious indecency that even today it remains securely locked in Warner's vaults. Presumably
seeking a change of both pace and image, Russell decided to adapt a frothy musical comedy from
the Fifties, which had been a smash hit in London and provided a young Julie Andrews with her
first starring role on Broadway. But Russell was too singular a talent to content himself with
merely adapting writer Sandy Wilson's light-hearted romp for the screen. Refashioning Wilson's
story as a play within a play (and then some), Russell created a meta-valentine to movie
musicals that, depending on one's inclination, can be either transporting or soporific.
The Boy Friend was heavily marketed as the film debut of Sixties fashion icon Twiggy, who was
a supermodel before the term was coined. The novelty of seeing a famously alluring face and
figure in the unlikely role of a mousy wallflower may have attracted audiences in 1971, but today
the film has to stand on its own terms. For those to whom Russell's elaborate visuals are
sufficient to carry the day, the Warner Archive Collection offers The Boy Friend on Blu-ray in a
new transfer that reproduces the director's singular creation with stunning vibrancy.
The Boy Friend was shot by British cinematographer David Watkin, an architect of sumptuous imagery whose work includes Out of Africa (for which he won an Oscar), Chariots of Fire and Moonstruck. The Warner Archive Collection released the film on DVD in 2011, based on a new scan from an interpositive struck for that purpose, but upon review WAC determined that the scan, though only five years old, was inadequate by the standards of current technology. Accordingly, for this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, WAC commissioned a new 2K scan by Warner's Motion Picture Imaging facility, followed by extensive color-correction and cleanup. The result continues WAC's 2017 winning streak of superb Blu-ray releases, with an image that vividly renders director Russell's visual conceits. Every scene in the film is highly stylized, even the supposedly realistic sequences, where the theater's worn surroundings are bathed in a nostalgic warmth that casts a romantic sheen over even the petty backstage backstabbing. The palette of the musical numbers, both real and imaginary, covers the entire spectrum, as richly saturated primaries alternate with pastels, metallic shine and fantastical shades of purple, orange and gold. Sharpness and detail are exceptional for a film source shot anamorphically; scenes with opticals are somewhat less sharp, but even these are reproduced with impressive clarity. The film's grain pattern has been finely and naturally rendered. WAC has mastered The Boy Friend at its usual high bitrate (here, 34.98 Mbps), with a superior encode.
The Boy Friend was originally released to theaters in four-track stereo, with a six-track variation
accompanying a 70mm blowup—but not in America. The same penny-pinching regime at MGM
that decided to shorten the film's running time also cut corners on the soundtrack, which is why
the film's entry at IMDb mistakenly lists "mono" as the original audio format.
WAC's DVD featured a 2.0 soundtrack folded down from the original four-track mix, but for
Blu-ray WAC has returned to the source to create a new 5.1 soundtrack, encoded in lossless
DTS-HD MA. The mix lends punch, authority and presence to the instrumental accompaniment,
which shifts fluidly between the actual handful of musicians in the Theatre Royal and the
massive orchestra that appears in fantasy sequences (see screenshot 9). The very contrast serves
as a comic underscore whenever Max bemoans his inability to afford a full orchestra. The new
soundtrack has excellent fidelity and dynamic range, but it's mixed somewhat "hot", and you
may find yourself lowering your usual volume settings. The dialogue is clearly reproduced,
although ears unaccustomed to Cockney pronunciations may require some adjustment (there are
optional English SDH subtitles, if needed). Sandy Wilson's songs from the stage musical have
been artfully arranged by Peter Maxwell Davies (reuniting with Russell from The
Devils) to shift
between lush orchestration and music hall minimalism.
Russell's attempt to meld nostalgia with psychedelia has always struck me as incongruous, especially since, by 1971, the musical had
evolved into such a different art form on both stage and screen. The year following The Boy
Friend would see the release of Bob Fosse's
Cabaret, in which the song-and-dance sequences
were every bit as surreal as Russell's while at the same time servicing a serious drama with
genuine emotional stakes. Self-reflexive musical fluff reached its height with Singin' in the Rain,
and it's no accident that The Boy Friend concludes by invoking that earlier MGM classic. Still,
The Boy Friend retains a devoted following, for which WAC has provided a definitive rendition
on Blu-ray. Highly recommended for fans.
1935
1982
1961
Warner Archive Collection
1947
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!
1999
1945
70th Anniversary
1954
1975
1951
Warner Archive Collection
1956
1934
Warner Archive Collection
1950
70th Anniversary Edition
1952
1936
Warner Archive Collection
1933
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1943
1953
Warner Archive Collection
1957
1983
Warner Archive Collection
1929