7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Passionate tale of a young heiress who must choose between love or money. Based on the 1880 Henry James novel.
Starring: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney, Maggie Smith, Ben Chaplin, Judith IveyRomance | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The Heiress was a considerable triumph in 1949, garnering eight Academy Award nominations, and winning trophies for Best Actress Olivia de Havilland, Best Original Score for Aaron Copland (!), Best Costume Design (Black and White) for Edith Head and Gile Steele, and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Black and White) for John Meehan, Harry Horner and Emile Kuri. (The film’s non-winning nominations included Best Picture, Best Director — William Wyler, Best Supporting Actor — Ralph Richardson, and Best Cinematography (Black and White) — Leo Tover.) In what is perhaps an example of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, 1997’s Washington Square, based on the 1880 novel by Henry James bearing that name and which also provided the source material for The Heiress, didn’t connect with the public or the award certifying cabals in the same way the 1949 opus did. That’s perhaps a little mystifying, since Washington Square is well made and extremely well performed, but the film’s lack of recognition may actually say more about 1997 audiences than it does about any perceived inherent deficits in the film itself.
Washington Square is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber Studio Classics, an imprint of Kino Lorber, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a largely pleasing looking transfer, one that boasts a generally healthy looking palette that delivers some especially vivid reds and blues, but which offered flesh tones that looked slightly pinkish to me at times. Detail levels on fabrics on costumes and furniture and draperies are often nicely precise looking. There are some minor nicks and blemishes along the way, but nothing major. Grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation.
Washington Square features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix that offers excellent support for a rather ravishing string drenched score by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, one which reminded me personally of both Debussy's and Ravel's string quartets at times. Dialogue is also rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this presentation, and several outdoor scenes have realistic sounding ambient environmental effects.
The Criterion Collection recently released The Heiress, and this might make an interesting double feature for fans who picked up the old William Wyler classic. I'm not sure Holland's more stylistically overt tendencies really help the film, and some may feel, as I did at least on a couple of occasions, that they're downright distracting. That said, performances here are superb, and the production design very handsome. Technical merits are solid, and with caveats duly noted, Washington Square comes Recommended.
1949
2004
Warner Archive Collection
1967
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1943
2011
1935
2002
1954
Special Edition
1996
2016
1981
2013
2017
1993
Warner Archive Collection
1949
2014
1984
Warner Archive Collection
1936
1944
2009