Who's Harry Crumb? Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Who's Harry Crumb? Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 16, 2019

Mill Creek has released the John Candy Comedy 'Who's Harry Crumb?' to Blu-ray for the first time as part of the first wave of titles to feature "Retro VHS" slipcovers which mimic the look of classic 1980s rental copies (which often had vastly superior artwork compared to today's Photoshopped messes). In this case, the artwork on the slip and the case are similar, but not entirely identical. See the 'Special Features and Extras' section below for more on the slipcover. As this is the first time the film has been released to Blu-ray, find below brief film, video, and audio reviews.

Jennifer Downing (Renée Coleman), daughter of millionaire P.J. Downing (Barry Corbin), has been kidnaped. Downing, who has a connection at the Crumb & Crumb detective agency, recruits the firm to find his daughter. But because the firm's president (Jeffrey Jones) is actually in on the kidnapping, he assigns the agency's worst detective to the case: Harry Crumb (John Candy), the last of a long and proud line of Crumbs who built the business from the ground-up and whose names have become synonymous with the best of modern detective work. Crumb returns to Los Angeles from "assignment" in Tulsa, Oklahoma, thrust into a case filled with twists and turns and surprises that only a man of his gifts could see coming -- accidentally see coming, anyway.

In Who's Harry Crumb?, John Candy plays the type of character that defines his career, the lovable but bumbling leading man whose heart is in the right place but whose actions frequently embarrass him or, worse, land him in trouble. Movies like Delirious, Armed and Dangerous, and Uncle Buck feature Candy playing, basically, the same character and to much success in each, a person in some level of authority whose stature is challenged by his own buffoonery. In this film, and in every other, practically, Candy portrays a man who is goofily gregarious, comfortable in his own skin and confident in himself but disaster seems to follow, disaster usually, of his own making. Yet for as "Candy" as his work in Who's Harry Crumb? may be, the film ultimately feels most closely related to The Naked Gun, that film featuring Leslie Nielsen not exactly in a similar role but portraying a very similar character, which coincidentally (or not) even features nearly identical scenes, here when Candy stumbles through P.J. Downing's office, reminiscent of an encounter between Nielsen's Frank Drebin and co-star Ricardo Montalban in The Naked Gun.

Who's Harry Crumb? Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mill Creek's 1080p Blu-ray presentation of Who's Harry Crumb? shows some warts but generally offers a decently filmic presentation. The picture is texturally complex and fairly robust, maintaining a sometimes splotchy grain structure but offering, generally, high yield detail. There are more than a few elements that appear slightly pasty, but the picture more often than not impresses with a firm command of core textural elements like faces, attire, well manicured lawns, and offices. Colors present nicely, with fine tonal balance and vibrancy to more intense shades, such as natural greenery and lipstick. Whether warm interiors at the Downing mansion, the steely shades inside Crumb & Crumb, or robust daytime exteriors, the palette regularly impresses with its accuracy and saturation. Skin tones and black levels appear fairly close to true. Print speckles and scratches are present but not overly distracting. This is a fairly nice release from Mill Creek.

Who's Harry Crumb? Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The included DTS-HD Master Audio two-channel lossless soundtrack is surprisingly robust from the outset. Opening title music does not struggle with spacing, stretching far and wide along the front and featuring fine instrumental detail. Musical presentation remains similarly pleasing throughout the film. Light environmental ambience helps define a few scenes, even limited to the farther reaches of the front end. Office details at the Crumb & Crumb agency in an early film scene are well detailed and adequately spaced, as are mild natural elements such as chirping birds and light winds in chapter five. Small additional effects are nicely folded in as well, presenting with good foundational clarity and front end position necessary to reflect on-screen action. Dialogue is clear and well prioritized. It images naturally and effortlessly to the front-center position.

Who's Harry Crumb? Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Finally, a purpose for slipcovers! So often the collectible outer shell features the exact same artwork, front, back, and side as the Blu-ray case inside, making them largely ornamental at best. Occasionally embossing/debossing work adds a little variety but this reviewer has always pitched them in the trash, partly for that reason and partly because doing so saves precious (albeit finite) shelf space, critical when one's collection is in the thousands. Mill Creek has taken a step to make slipcovers a little more meaningful with this line of "Retro VHS" slipcovers that offer a shrunken-down approximation of a vintage rental store copy and also feature a portion of a VHS tape extending from the side of the case, even if most VHS covers were open at the bottom.

For Who's Harry Crumb?, the cover features a bit of fake wear (creases, edge frays) and a genre sticker appears on the box. The VHS tape features the film's title mostly visible as it's partially pulled out from the side of the box. The sticker shows some handling wear, too, and a "please rewind" sticker has also been slapped on. Of course these are not real stickers but rather part of the print, and there's no texture to the cassette, either. Still, it's a pretty nifty visual. The rear side is a little less neat, keeping up with the vintage look at the top but showing a few necessary tech details on the bottom that correspond to the Blu-ray. The bottom side of the VHS tape is also visible. Humorously, a handful of Blu-ray disc logos appear on the front, rear, and spine to break the illusion (though not entirely); the one on the front, situated at the top, in large print, and in red coloring, is the worst offender.

What would be really cool would be if the entire box art mimicked the VHS cover and the Blu-ray artwork underneath entirely mimicked the VHS tape, which could have easily been accomplished. That would offer more of a seamless illusion of actually pulling a VHS tape out of the package rather than it simply appear printed on part of the slipcover.

As far as on-disc extras, there are none. No DVD or digital codes are included, either. The main menu screen offers only one selection, "Play."

Note: Photographs of several other Mill Creek 'Retro VHS' slipcovers can be found here, here, and here. Because each slipcover offers the same basic layout with only some small unique identifiers distinguishing one from another beyond cover art, photos will not be included for every release in the line. Those linked images do offer a good overview representation of what to expect form this line.

Who's Harry Crumb? Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Who's Harry Crumb? is less concerned with weaving together a story with firm plot points and instead focused on transitioning Candy from one scene to the next, allowing him to flex his comic muscles in various disguises, locations, and irrefutably hilarious moments that mostly do sew together a crude and basic plot that simply allows the actor to shine. It's classic Candy in one of his more readily identifiable and enjoyable films. Mill Creek's featureless Blu-ray, part of the "Retro VHS" slipcover line, features fair video and audio presentations. The release is also dirt cheap. Highly recommended.