7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A young officer, falsely imprisoned by his jealous "friends," escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge.
Starring: Richard Chamberlain, Trevor Howard, Louis Jourdan, Donald Pleasence, Tony CurtisDrama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
History | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is currently available only in the double feature The Count of Monte Cristo / Man Friday.
Shout! Factory has been going whole hog lately with a slew of double (or more) features under several of its imprints,
including Timeless Media Group. Some of these offerings, such as Movies 4 You: Timeless Westerns, at least had a genre knitting the
disparate films together, though even supposed genre siblings like The Hot Spot / Killing Me Softly might seem at least a little odd to
some. Taking the cake in this recent sweepstakes of forced disc-mates is the rather unlikely pairing of The Count of
Monte Cristo, a made for television opus starring Richard Chamberlain which was quite well received in its day but
which has languished in the home media department, and Man Friday, a fascinating reboot of the hoary Defoe
epic
Robinson Crusoe, a big screen effort teaming Peter O’Toole and Richard Roundtree in a decidedly different telling
of
the famous tale. Aside from the fact both of these entries are part of the ITV catalog, there really isn’t much
recommending a pairing of them, other than that they both are circa mid-seventies.
The Count of Monte Cristo is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Timeless Media Group (an imprint of Shout! Factory) with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The elements here are in okay if not spectacular shape, with some fairly noticeable scratches and specks showing up quite a bit of the time. Colors have actually maintained a great deal of their original vivacity, especially blues, which remain quite convincing. On the other hand, greens seem faded and flesh tones are a bit on the pink side. The bulk of the film looks quite soft, as perhaps befits its television origins, and fine detail rarely rises above merely adequate levels. The biggest problem for some videophiles will be transitory mosquito noise that crops up in a couple of darker scenes, especially some of the jail sequences, where it swarms over the lower third of the frame.
The Count of Monte Cristo lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix (presented via DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0) sounds quite full and vibrant, especially with regard to Allyn Ferguson's rousing, sometimes heraldic, score. Dialogue is well prioritized and always easy to hear, and the glut of environmental sound effects is also very well mixed into the proceedings. Things do sound rather narrow here, without much depth, but there's no real damage to report, and fidelity is fine given reasonable expectation. Dynamic range is also quite wide, courtesy of a few action sequences.
This early entry in Richard Chamberlain's made for television movie or miniseries filmography has been oddly missing on home video, with only a few sporadic releases through the years, some of them pricey imports. Looking back on this effort now from the vantage point of several decades, it's quite a bit glossier than a lot of television fare, but it also can't quite escape its "made for television" roots, including a truncated plot, some inexplicable changes in characters, and some kind of corny acting at times. Chamberlain and Howard are both standouts, but I personally found Jourdan and Curtis to be major distractions. Still, this outing has its fair share of fans, who will no doubt be thrilled this is out on Blu-ray, even despite some occasionally problematic video.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1971
1966
1949
Limited Edition to 3000
1958
1962
1956
1947
Limited Edition to 3000
1947
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1995
Warner Archive Collection
1935
2014
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1942
1958
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Warner Archive Collection
1940
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2017