7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A recently blinded woman is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment.
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Jack WestonPsychological thriller | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Horror | 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 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Audrey Hepburn was nominated for an Oscar for her lead performance in Wait Until Dark (or
"WUD"), and Hepburn is the reason why the film remains watchable today. Adapted from a
successful play of the same name by Frederick Knott (Dial
M for Murder) and efficiently
directed by Terence Young (Thunderball),
WUD became a cause célèbre when it was released in
1967, assisted by a William Castle-style ad campaign warning that no one would be seated
during the last eight minutes and urging smokers in the audience not to light up during that
portion of the film (how times have changed!). Viewers of the era may have been accustomed to
slow-burn Hitchcockian suspense, but "jump" scares of the kind that filmmakers like John
Carpenter would later make commonplace were still a novelty, especially in studio films with A-list stars. And psychopaths who tormented victims for
the fun of it had not yet become a
cinematic staple, allowing a young Alan Arkin to create an eccentric villain whose tics were just
as unnerving as his violence. Theater audiences routinely screamed in unison at the film's
climax, and afterward people traded stories of how they had been scared out of their seats.
I doubt anyone will have a similar reaction to WUD today, but Hepburn's emotional intensity as
the film's tormented heroine remains just as moving as it was in 1967. The curious can now
judge for themselves—and existing fans can revisit a beloved classic—in this new Blu-ray
edition from the Warner Archive Collection.
Wait Until Dark was shot by cinematographer Charles Lang, with whom Hepburn had previously
worked on Sabrina and Charade. For this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray from the Warner
Archive Collection, a new scan was done at 2K from a recent interpositive by Warner's Motion
Picture Imaging facility, followed by MPI's usual careful color-correction and cleanup. (The
version previously available for broadcast and streaming is a fifteen-year-old 1080i master.) The
result is an accurate and film-like image that I suspect will be unsatisfactory to those accustomed
to the clarity of digital photography. Much of WUD takes place in darkness and shadow, where
detail is deliberately obscured, and even scenes set in full daylight have a soft texture (which is
more pronounced in screenshots than when the image is in motion). The image is sufficiently
detailed to convey the Hendrix apartment's functional decor and the characters' everyday
wardrobe. The film's grain pattern is natural and undisturbed by digital manipulation, although
the grain is somewhat heavier in WUD than in many other films of the era. Black levels are accurate (which is especially important for WUD's
many dark scenes), and the palette is largely dull and muted, with occasional flashes of intensely saturated color, usually red (e.g., Gloria's red
sweater or the skiing outfit worn by one of Susy's neighbors).
WAC has mastered WUD at its usual generous bitrate, which here averages 35.00 Mbps.
WUD's original mono track has been restored from a composite magnetic track and encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. The fidelity and dynamic range are good enough to give breathing room to Henry Mancini's ominous score, and the sound effects are clearly rendered, including a lot of breaking glass in the finale. The dialogue is always clear, even when Alan Arkin is speaking with Roat's bizarre intonations.
The extras have been ported over from Warner's 2003 DVD release of WUD, with the omission
of an essay entitled "Stage Frantics" that traced the film's adaptation from stage to screen.
WUD was a triumph for Hepburn, but it also marked her withdrawal from the film industry into
private life. She would not make another film until 1976, when she co-starred with Sean Connery
in Robin and Marian, and she took only four additional roles before
her death in 1993. (The last
was the ethereal Hap in Steven Spielberg's Always.)
Although Susy Hendrix may have been a departure from the star's previous characters, she is instantly recognizable as a
Hepburn creation, and the film endures because of her. Highly recommended.
1948
1952
1987
1990
1981
Warner Archive Collection
1984
1979
Warner Archive Collection
1947
1945
1990
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1964
Warner Archive Collection
1947
Warner Archive Collection
1932
Warner Archive Collection
1949
1955
1947
1946
1944
Paramount Presents #47
1999
Warner Archive Collection
1935