They Might Be Giants Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

They Might Be Giants Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 19, 2020

Anthony Harvey's "They Might Be Giants" (1971) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc inlcude vintage trailer for the film; archival promotional featurette; and audio commentary by Anthony Harvey and film archivist Robert. A. Harris. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

On paper, Anthony Harvey’s They Might Be Giants must have looked like a great project. In the present, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson accidentally discover each other in New York City and begin working on a puzzling case that may or may not be real. Well, there is some serious potential here, admit it. Plus, having George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward on board to play the two legendary characters? This film had success written all over it, and all it needed was someone to direct it.

Well, having just seen it for the first time, I have to admit that I am enormously disappointed. It starts off nicely, with Scott emerging as a man trapped in his fantasies and also doing a great deal of attractive posturing that does make you wonder whether he might be an impostor that is taking everyone for a ride. The man makes perfect sense when he must and then looks silly just long enough to make you ponder whether his real identity is entirely different. For a while, the film is deliciously vague. However, the arrival of Woodward’s character, who is a psychiatrist, slowly but irreversibly alters its identity. The two become attracted to each and while working on the puzzling case eventually discover true love in the most unbelievable of ways. What a letdown.

But the trouble with this film isn’t that it is entirely unbelievable, because as the type of quirky thriller that it should have been believability still would have been incompatible with its narrative. The trouble is that it attempts to see the world of its characters in much the same way two decades later Terry Gilliam’s film The Fisher King would and it simply does not have a clear plan how to do it. For example, the crucial overlapping of the real and imaginary worlds in which Scott’s mind supposedly roams free never really materializes, so he ends up doing a lot of random character switches that quickly damage the film’s atmosphere. (Gilliam’s film does exactly the opposite and produces fantastic overlapping that makes its strange characters and their equally strange adventures appear entirely legit). Also, virtually everything that Woodward does pushes the film in an entirely new direction, where it essentially needs to work as a soapy melodrama for her character to look convincing, and when she leads Scott becomes a follower who essentially behaves like a fish out of water. Predictably, the film becomes so silly that neither the case Scott is trying to solve nor the romance that flourishes between him and his female partner looks right.

What effectively sinks the film, however, is the slapstick material where big crowds of ‘normal’ people suddenly tune in on the fun that the lovebirds have been experiencing. The supermarket sequence is particularly difficult to watch because everything that is supposed to be funny only looks amateurish. The mini parade at the very end is just as awkward and even sad because it effectively illustrates what a grand misfire the entire film is.

Harvey relied on the services of cinematographer Victor J. Kemper whose credits include the vastly superior films The Gambler, Dog Day Afternoon, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, and Husbands.

Oscar-winner John Barry delivered the original soundtrack for the film.

They Might Be Giants Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, They Might Be Giants arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. It is not a newly restored master -- though it apparently uses footage that was not seen in the theatrical version of the film -- but it has good organic qualities. Indeed, the entire film looks a bit softer than it should, especially in darker areas, but clarity and density are quite nice. The darker areas also tend to flatten some of the finer background nuances, so on a larger screen it is rather easy to see ideally delineation should be better. The color grading is very convincing. However, the flattening that emerges in the darker footage produces black crush which then collapses some native nuances. (A proper high-quality master will improve delineation, shadow definition, and restore and strengthen the struggling/missing color nuances). There are no serious stability issues, but this is another area where there is room for improvement. From time to time, some very small movement within the frame can be spotted. There are no serious age-related imperfections to report in our review. My score is 3.75/5.00. (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).

They Might Be Giants 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.

The audio is clean and stable. Balance is also good, but perhaps this is one area where some very small adjustments can be made to strengthen it. The best dynamic contrasts emerge whenever John Barry's score becomes prominent, but the overall dynamic intensity of the original soundtrack is predictably modest.

They Might Be Giants Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for They Might Be Giants. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 480/60i).

• Commentary - this audio commentary was recorded by director Anthony Harvey and film archivist Robert. A. Harris.

• Madness... It's Beautiful -an archival promotional featurette for They Might Be Giants. In English, not subtitled.(8 min, 480/60i).

• Additional Trailers - additional trailers for the following releases from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
  2. The Hound of the Baskervilles
  3. Ordeal by Innocence

They Might Be Giants Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There is a truly fantastic concept behind They Might Be Giants, but the finished product is a major disappointment. It is surprisingly bland and in certain areas quite poorly acted film, leaving the impression that it was put together by multiple creative minds with incompatible ideas of what it should be. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from a slightly dated-looking but overall good organic master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. RENT IT.