6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
After teaching in a public school for twenty years, Crocker-Harris is being put out to pasture in a less stressful job teaching English to foreigners. Meanwhile, his home life is also falling apart: his wife is having an affair with the American chemistry teacher, who nevertheless admires Crocker-Harris for his dignity and decency. Through it all, Crocker-Harris hides his pain behind his stiff British reserve.
Starring: Albert Finney, Greta Scacchi, Matthew Modine, Julian Sands, Michael GambonDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: LPCM 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (A, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the box set The Browning Version.
Films about teachers and school life have been around since the dawn of the celluloid age, but films dealing with British school life often
seem to have their own rather distinctive character. As some of the supplements included in this set from Imprint get into, in that regard it's easy to
define at least a few way markers, including the beloved 1939 version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips (rather oddly still unavailable on Blu-ray as of the writing of this review) and Lindsay Anderson's
devastating 1968 opus If..... More or less in the middle of that 29 year
span the first big screen adaptation of Terrence Rattigan's 1948 one act play The Browning Version was released in 1951, giving Michael
Redgrave one of his more memorable roles, and in a way it both harkens back to the crusty but (maybe?) lovable teacher aspect of the James Hilton
work while also presaging some of the dysfunctions that Anderson explored in his film. The 1994 remake of The Browning Version may
therefore seem like a bit of an afterthought, or as one hoity toity type at the school Browning teaches at describes the focal teacher's prospective
farewell speech, an "anti climax", though it's still enjoyable and benefits from a winning performance by Albert Finney.
The Browning Version is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint and Via Vision Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The back cover of this release has some slightly odd verbiage, mentioning "a new 2K scan in the original as-exhibited aspect ratio", which one assumes is the same as the original aspect ratio (I'm joking a bit). With no real information on the provenance of the element or any restoration gauntlet undertaken, I'll just state that generally speaking this perhaps understandably is in much better condition than the 1951 version, though more eagle eyed viewers may be able to catch occasional very minor blemishes and nicks. The element tends to look healthier in terms of palette as it progresses, with some of the early scenes striking me as just a tad faded, with flesh tones veering toward brown territory. Things warm up considerably a bit further on, and the good news is despite some minor fluctuations in color temperature, detail levels tend to be excellent throughout the presentation. The production design tends to emphasize a lot of neutral colors, perhaps echoing the empty emotions of Crocker-Harris, and so things don't really "pop" in any significant way. This may have had some high frequency filtering, but there is a noticeable grain field which resolves naturally.
The Browning Version features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks. The surround track nicely opens up Mark Isham's gorgeous score, as well as providing good immersive moments in some of the crowd scenes at the school as well as a big cricket sequence later in the story. A glut of outdoor material also offers opportunities for well placed ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
Finney delivers yet another really memorable performance in this film, but this The Browning Version doesn't have quite the same power as the 1951 version. This 1994 film does benefit from beautiful location photography and a really sumptuous score from Mark Isham, and performances supporting Finney are uniformly excellent. Technical merits are generally solid, and this disc has some outstanding supplements. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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