6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Up the Himalayas... Up the Yang-tze... Up in a balloon... Up-stage with a stripper... Up-town in Hong Kong... You can't keep a great adventurer down
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Ursula Andress, Maria Pacôme, Valérie Lagrange, Valéry InkijinoffForeign | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: LPCM 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Note: This film is available as part of the double feature That Man from Rio / Up to His Ears.
The James Bond craze was just reaching mass hysteria proportions
when an unlikely upstart managed to steal a bit of the international cinematic spotlight from good old 007. Director Philippe de Broca had
been
toiling in the somewhat rickety post World War II French film industry since the early fifties, cranking out a regular supply of fairly successful
and
critically acclaimed films like 1960’s Les Jeux de l'amour, which captured the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize at that year’s Berlin Film
Festival, and the interesting 1962 portmanteau Les Sept péchés capitaux, where de Broca directed a segment alongside other
contributors like Claude Chabrol, Jacques Demy, Roger Vadim and Jean-Luc Godard (I’ve sometimes wondered if this film was at least partially
the inspiration for Vittorio De Sica’s study of just one mortal sin—adultery—in the similarly heptagon titled Woman Times Seven). For whatever reason, though, de Broca never seemed to penetrate
into the top echelon of French directors like Godard or Demy, at least that is until That Man from Rio (L’homme de Rio)
became an international sensation in 1964. The success of that film was so outsized (and probably unexpected) that of course de Broca was
almost immediately approached about shooting a sequel, which turned out to be (more or less, anyway) Up to His Ears, a decidedly
more hyperbolic and (therefore?) less successful follow-up featuring that man from Rio himself, Jean-Paul Belmondo. Cohen has collected
these
two linked films together, reportedly sourced from new 2K restorations, along with a generous supplemental package which should appeal to
Francophiles and cineastes in general.
Up to His Ears is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Like its double feature sibling That Man from Rio, this is advertised as having been sourced from a new 2K restoration, and the results are very enjoyable if not quite at the lustrous levels seen in the first film. The color space here seems just slightly off at times, teetering toward yellow and even slightly yellow-green at times. There's also persistent crush in a lot of the nighttime scenes, notably some of the moments aboard the little boat Alexandrine takes Arthur to. Sharpness is slightly variable as well, with some exterior footage being noticeably softer than the bulk of the presentation. All of this said, the palette is often generously saturated and detail remains strong, especially in the most brightly lit scenes. There are no issues with image instability, and the entire presentation has a very naturally filmic look, with an organic grain field.
Up to His Ears' uncompressed LPCM 2.0 mono track offers good support for the film's dialogue, at times rather busy sound effects array and Georges Delerue's typically charming score. Fidelity is very good, though occasionally a bit thin sounding (as was the case in That Man from Rio as well). There are no issues with distortion or damage.
Up to His Ears simply has the feeling of well intentioned folks trying way too hard to capture lightning in a bottle twice. The film is relentlessly (almost exhaustingly) busy, full of silly sight gags and nonstop frenzied action, but it never provides the lighter than air quality That Man from Rio did (despite the fact that there's a hot air balloon in this film). Up to His Ears is still incredibly scenic, and there are a few scattered laughs along the way, but for whatever reason the magic just didn't recur this time around. Still, there's certainly enough here to warrant checking out, and this is one of those releases where the supplemental package helps to make the overall offering more palatable. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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