Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Man Who Wasn't There 3D Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 30, 2023

Bruce Malmuth's "The Man Who Wasn't There" (1983) arrives on 2D/3D Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by critics Jason Pichonsky and Paul Carupe and vintage theatrical trailers. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

If you start seeking logic in the decisions that various important characters make in The Man Who Wasn’t There, you are going to give yourself a serious headache and go to bed angry that you chose to end your night with it. The original poster for The Man Who Wasn’t There, which is used as a cover art on the Blu-ray release, should be an obvious warning not to do it, but apparently some people have had trouble noticing it.

State Department employee Sam Cooper (Steve Guttenberg) is about to tie the knot with the girl of his dreams (Morgan Most). But before the wedding ceremony, he must oversee a different ceremony -- a big and busy reception welcoming the ambassadors of numerous countries from around the world that very few Americans can locate on a map. When everything that could go wrong goes terribly wrong and the ceremony becomes an embarrassment for the State Department, Cooper decides to quietly check out early but gets noticed, called out, and scolded by his fuming boss. At the upscale hotel where the bride and guests have been waiting for him to appear, Cooper then has a most unusual encounter with an injured invisible man who passes through his room in a desperate attempt to lose several kooky hitmen. Before the invisible man dies, he hands Cooper a tiny metal sphere with some capsules in it and urges him to “get it to Runkelman”. While his overwhelmed mind struggles to process all the information that has been dispatched to it, Cooper becomes a murder suspect, a fugitive, and a prime target for the kooky hitmen. Then, somewhere along the way, he hooks up with his future wife’s best friend, Cindy (Lisa Langlois), who reveals a most surprising willingness to help him overcome his troubles.

Directed by Bruce Malmuth in 1983, The Man Who Wasn’t There probably looked pretty good on paper until someone very ambitious decided that it could be a very big summer crowd-pleaser. It is when various corrections must have been made to ensure that it does a lot of things like the conventional very big summer crowd-pleasers did during the 1980s, which of course was a terrible mistake.

The narrative is broken into multiple segments that can be so drastically different that at times it legitimately begins to look like they were shot by different directors. The tone and pacing of the material, the camerawork, even the editing choices are oddly uneven. As a result, once Guttenberg and Langlois become partners, the viewer is left with the impression that their main objective is to pass through various scripted situations, rather than figure out how to reach Runkelman. Some of these situations are pretty entertaining, but there are twice as many that are just classic filler material. (Something very, very similar occurs in William Webb’s Dirty Laundry, another strangely uneven comedy from the 1980s, though the ratio is reversed there).

The most disappointing aspect of the entire production, however, is the wrong quality of the comedy material. Indeed, despite being stamped with the big R, The Man Who Wasn’t There lacks the adult wit that this rating makes possible, so instead of quality zesty humor, there is an abundance of silly humor and a few bums that are out of sync with it. (Silly humor can work, but only when a director goes all in on it, much like Rafal Zielinski did the same year with Screwballs).

What about the quality of the 3D content? It is decent, in a few areas even quite good. Of course, it has all the limitations that 3D content from the 1980s is known for, so by contemporary standards, it is a bit rough. Also, while effective, the 3D conversion work is not quite as ambitious as the one seen in Ferdinando Baldi's Treasure of the Four Crowns.

Miles Goodman’s soundtrack is a genuine oddity. It produces intense atonal harmonies that are just not right for the type of thrills The Man Who Wasn’t There aspires to deliver.

*Kino Lorber's release offers new restorations of 2D and 3D versions of The Man Who Wasn't There completed by 3-D Film Archive, LLC. 3D glasses are included with the release. I tested the polarized 3D version on a 3D TV set. (The 3D versions are polarized and anaglyphic).

The Man Who Wasn't There 3D Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVCand granted a 1080p transfer, The Man Who Wasn't There arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The film can be viewed in 2D and 3D. If you choose to view it in 3D, you can use the pair of 3D glasses from the Blu-ray case. Obviously, the 2D version can be viewed as it is.

I tested the polarized 3D version on a 3D TV set and thought that the overall quality of the presentation was very nice. However, if I had to compare The Man Who Wasn't There and Treasure of the Four Crowns, which is another 3D film that was restored by 3-D Film Archive, LLC, I would say that the latter clearly provides better visual thrills. The overall health of the two presentations is virtually identical.

Delineation, clarity, and depth are usually very good, though in a few areas -- and not the ones with the 3D effects -- minor density fluctuations produce some unevenness. Grain exposure is convincing, but it could be more even and healthier. Color balance is very good. I thought that saturation levels and the overall color temperature of the visuals were almost as good as they could be. Image stability is very good. I did not see any traces of problematic digital corrections. Finally, I did not notice any large cuts, debris, marks, warped or torn frames to report. My score is 4.25/5.00. (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).

The Man Who Wasn't There 3D Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

All exchanges were clear and very easy to follow. Miles Goodman's soundtrack breathes easily throughout the entire film, though I must say that I found the harsh atonal harmonies incredibly distracting and annoying. Dynamic intensity is good, but there might be a bit of room for some small balance adjustments. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report.

The Man Who Wasn't There 3D Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer One - presented here is a theatrical 3D trailer for The Man Who Wasn't There. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Trailer Two - presented here is a remastered theatrical 2D trailer for The Man Who Wasn't There. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Trailer Three - presented here is a remastered theatrical 3D anagpyphic trailer for The Man Who Wasn't There. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Jason Pichonsky and Paul Carupe. The two gentlemen discuss the Coen Brothers' film, the 3D boom during the 1980s, the quality of the 3D material in Bruce Malmuth's film, some of the casting choices that were made, the quality of the humor, the box office receipts, etc.

The Man Who Wasn't There 3D Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In the 1980s, an R-rating provided tremendous freedom for creativity, so Bruce Malmuth's The Man Who Wasn't There should have turned out a dramatically more entertaining film. It begins quite well -- paying tribute to Blake Edwards's classic comedy The Party -- but then quickly starts to stutter with material that lacks imagination and wit. I think that this was the reason it did not meet expectations at the box office and then disappeared into oblivion. If it played in my neck of the woods, I missed it, so this 2D/3D Blu-ray release made it possible for me to see it for the first time. It looks good, but I had a much better time with the other outrageous 3D film that was released in the summer of 1983, Ferdinando Baldi's Treasure of the Four Crowns. RECOMMENDED only to 3D completists.