6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Al Capone and his gang go to war with Bugs Moran's gang, leading to Chicago’s most infamous episode in 1929.
Starring: Jason Robards, George Segal, Ralph Meeker, Jean Hale, Clint RitchieDrama | 100% |
Crime | Insignificant |
History | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Many, maybe even most, directors who have ever toiled in the wild and wooly scene of independent films yearn for the luxe budgets and more relaxed shooting schedules that a well financed studio picture offers. Not so Roger Corman. Corman, an iconoclast who rather unexpectedly delivered one towering smash after another throughout the 1960s for the “little studio that could,” American International Pictures, suddenly found his ticket punched for the supposed big leagues after years of successes which included everything from his vaunted Edgar Allan Poe adaptations (available on Blu-ray in The Vincent Price Collection and The Vincent Price Collection II) to what was in 1967 the relatively recent box office bonanza generated by The Wild Angels. When 20th Century Fox came calling, offering Corman what for him was an outsized budget and a supposed free hand to craft a film based on one of the most notorious gangland turf wars in American history, it may have seemed like, if not figurative manna from heaven, at the very least an incredible opportunity which was simply too lucrative to pass up. Corman soon found out that when there is a major Hollywood studio footing the bill, there are typically major Hollywood studio bean counters and other honchos rather desperately looking over the shoulders of any given film’s creative team, and Corman, despite evidently bringing in The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre rather substantially under budget, couldn’t tolerate the meddling of higher ups, not to mention what Corman perceived as the profligate tendencies of the big studio system in general. The resulting film is an odd study in contrasts. One can almost feel Corman’s anachronistic, independent tendencies pushing back against the strictures of a glossier, more staid template, with the upshot (no pun intended) being a somewhat wobbly narrative and an at times wildly veering tone.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.37:1. From a damage perspective, the elements are in very good condition, with only very minor damage showing up. The color is another matter, though. Perhaps original elements were not available, or at the least whatever was available had faded badly, for this has the look of a heroic effort in a telecine bay to establish something close to the original palette, to varying effect. Most of the film is at least slightly on the pallid side, and in the two flashbacks that set up various shootouts early in the film, things are pallid almost to the point of things looking like a colorized black and white film. Flesh tones tilt toward brown throughout the film, but can look healthy at times (see screenshots 17 and 3). Detail is commendable, with no problems resolving busy patterns like herringbone checks on suit jackets and the like. Fine detail is very good in close-ups. There are no issues with image instability. The rather heavy grain field resolves naturally and there are no signs of excessive digital intrusion, other than whatever efforts were made to stabilize the color.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix which provides some surprising bombast when the soundtrack erupts into gunfire. Dialogue is very cleanly presented, and the film's propulsive score (credited to Lionel Newman, but evidently including work by Fred Steiner as well) sounds fine. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is quite wide. There are no problems with drop outs or any other kind of damage.
It gets a little hard to square The St. Valentine's Day Massacre's quasi-verité ambience with its more overheated, potboiler elements, but that's also part of what gives this film its peculiar ambience. Robards becomes increasingly unhinged as Capone as the film progresses, pushing things perhaps unwisely toward camp a couple of times. Still, Corman creates a visceral intensity throughout this film, and he's certainly completely in control of the film's pace and framings. Probably best enjoyed as something of a curio, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre offers good to excellent technical merits and comes Recommended.
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