Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

What's So Bad About Feeling Good? Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 21, 2022

George Seaton's "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" (1968) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include remastered vintage trailers for the film and exclusive new audio commentary recorded by critics Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

It fits the description, doesn't it?

Let’s see if any of this sounds familiar. An exotic bird brings an unknown virus to American shores. The virus can be transmitted through the air and initially no one has any idea whether it is man-made or not. The bird infects a couple of New Yorkers that immediately become ‘carriers’ and a few days later medical authorities detect the first signs of an upcoming pandemic. But when the data is presented to the mayor, he tries to brush it off because the virus only changes the social behavior of the infected -- they instantly become polite, appreciative of their social environment, and optimistic about their future. Then one of the mayor’s assistants warns that the virus could dramatically change the voting preferences of the infected, which means that his chances of being reelected would dramatically decrease. The mayor instantly changes his tune and asks a top medical expert working for the federal government to help him deal with the enormously serious situation. The top medical expert then recommends that face masks become mandatory for federal employees, and urges public and government institutions to implement a range of different restrictions. As the number of the infected continues to rise the streets become flooded with masked people, and as some begin staging group protests the medical expert warns that the mayor may have to take appropriate measures to maintain order and close the city so that the virus does not spread to other parts of the country. The division between the masked and the unmasked becomes impossible to ignore, too. The former, who are part of the ’rational’ group, have a very difficult time dealing with the daily onslaught of horrible medical updates, while the latter, who are part of the ‘irrational’ group, not only continue to enjoy life, but actively begin promoting their newly discovered happiness and even try to infect some of their closest masked friends and relatives.

But director George Seaton does not stop here.

While following closely the previously extremely miserable lovebirds Pete (George Peppard) and Liz (Mary Tayler Moore), who are now ‘carriers’ and spreading happiness all across the city, Seaton casually reveals how big business and other ambitious politicians like the very concerned mayor constantly adjust their strategies so that they can have greater control over the population as well. Advertising campaigns, public policies, and political messaging are managed to perfection by people who understand perfectly the many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities the pandemic has presented. The top medical expert does too, but eventually goes too far and compromises the integrity of the campaign the mayor has asked him to run.

The period kitsch that flourishes throughout the film is needed because it hides pretty well the politics that Seaton channels through it, but it feels like it could have been managed better. Indeed, it routinely forces Peppard and Moore’s characters in some pretty silly situations where plenty of what they say and do sounds and looks pretty ridiculous. On the other hand, both are supposed to be ‘irrational’ because they carry the virus, so perhaps they are as euphoric as they are because they have never before experienced true happiness.

Even though Ernesto Capparos’ lensing isn’t particularly imaginative, it is worth mentioning that it has effectively preserved the glamorous image of a city that no longer exists. There are a couple of panoramic shots with Manhattan’s classic skyline, for instance, that are just gorgeous.

The three big music tracks that are heard throughout the film -- "What's So Bad About Feeling Good", "Blue, Black and Gray", and "I'm Bubblin' Over' -- are written and composed by Jerry Keller and Dave Blume. The soundtrack feature original music by Frank De Vol.

What's So Bad About Feeling Good? Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, What's So Bad About Feeling Good? arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

I was very impressed with the technical presentation of What's So Bad About Feeling Good?. The release is sourced from an exclusive new 2K master that not only has a very solid organic qualities, but the party that graded it did an outstanding job as well. This isn't an easy film to properly transfer in high-definition either. It was shot in Techniscope and as a result there are quite a few areas with unique density fluctuations and color nuances that produce 'difficult' visual contrasts. On a larger screen all of these fluctuations appear very natural and just look as you would expect them to look in the theater. As you could tell from the various screencaptures that are included with our review, there are wide ranges of beautiful and very healthy primaries and nuances as well, which are very nicely balanced. Image stability is excellent. I did spot a few white specks, but there any distracting age-related imperfections. Can this film look better? Well, an elaborate 4K restoration and presentation in native 4K will surely produce some minor improvements, with color saturation being one of the main areas where these improvements will become noticeable, but what this Blu-ray release offers is a top-quality presentation of the film that I guarantee will meet all of your expectations. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free Blu-ray player in order to access its content).

What's So Bad About Feeling Good? 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. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The lossless audio sounded excellent on my system. It is very clear and clean, plus its dynamic intensity was as good as I expected it to be. I am unsure if any particular work was done to optimize it, but I did not encounter any traces of troubling age-related imperfections to report in our review.

What's So Bad About Feeling Good? Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - two remastered vintage trailers for What's So Bad About Feeling Good?. In English, not subtitled.
  
  1. Trailer One. (2 min).
  2. Trailer Two. (3 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson.

What's So Bad About Feeling Good? Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Just a few years ago What's So Bad About Feeling Good? would have been extremely easy to describe as a wild satire with some absolutely outrageous prophecies. Well, for obvious reasons such a description of the film is no longer possible. Needless to say, this is both sad and disturbing because even some of the truly ridiculous political speculations that are channeled through the film are now part of the daily news cycle. I did a double bill the other night that featured The Last Man on Earth as well, so it was pretty bizarre to see how these once easy to dismiss films have gotten so much right. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release is sourced from an outstanding exclusive new 2K master. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.