You'd Be Surprised Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

You'd Be Surprised Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 25, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Undercrank's release of Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian.

If a typical diehard film fan were asked to name a titan of early cinema with the surname Griffith, chances are just about everyone in this singular demographic would immediately respond with "D.W. Griffith", which in and of itself may help to point out the curious lack of remembrance for one of the silent era's most notable comic presences, Raymond Griffith. If you've never even heard of this particular Griffith, don't consider yourself uneducated, since many of this Griffith's films in which he appeared as an actor are presumably lost to the vagaries of time and tide, and if he's remembered at all these days, it may be more in his guise as either a producer or associate producer of any number of (talkie) films, including two Shirley Temple opuses, Heidi and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. As is discussed in an overview of Griffith's on screen career included as a bonus feature on this disc, he crafted an instantly recognizable persona that was kind of an arguably world weary dandy, replete with silk top hat and slightly sardonic attitude. Undercrank Productions, a label devoted to rescuing silent films from the veritable days of yore, with a little help from a Kickstarter campaign, is coming to the rescue of the lack of current day renown for Raymond Griffith by offering a double feature of the actor's silent film performances.

If you thought playful takes on the ever popular murder mystery genre began with Knives Out and/or Glass Onion, or even perhaps (if your memory stretches back a bit further) the Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple entries, you'd be surprised to find out that, well, You'd Be Surprised had all of those films beat by several decades. This fun take on a "locked room" (actually "locked ship", kind of like another Christie effort, Death on the Nile) mystery finds Raymond Griffith as a nattily dressed coroner named Mr. Green. In another kind of fascinating presaging of another kind of cultural totem, several other characters in this mystery have "colorful" surnames like White, Brown, Black and Grey, which may or may not have given rise to a similar conceit in Clue (the board game, not the film).

Part of this film's sparkling flavor is no doubt the result of co-writer Robert Benchley, as there is a definite Benchley-esque quality to some of the mordant intertitles, and the entire setup of the film seems similarly reminiscent of some of Benchley's upbraiding of the so-called patrician class. There are suspects galore, of course, and any number of red herrings, but this is one "case" where the actual mystery probably takes a back seat to various character shenanigans.

You'd Be Surprised Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

You'd Be Surprised is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Undercrank Productions and The Library of Congress with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.32:1. A closing credits text card provides just a bit of information on the transfer:

You'd Be Surprised was scanned and digitally restored at 2K resolution from a 35mm nitrate print in the Paramount Collection at the Library of Congress.

Another text card identifies Thad Komorowski as having performed the digital restoration, with Chris Crouse handling grading, with a final data point provided that there were "2K digital scans of archival 35mm material made by the film lab of the Library of Congress". As with Paths to Paradise, my hunch is anyone with significant experience watching older silents on Blu-ray will be generally very well pleased with the look of this presentation. This feature does not offer the same tinting that the other film on this disc does, and I'd argue that that actually may help to promote more consistent levels of fine detail and a more regularly observable grain field. Black levels are solid and gray scale is nicely modulated. There are still noticeable signs of age related wear and tear, but there is no missing reel on this effort and really no major damage to report. Undercrank Productions offers its releases on BD-Rs, but I noticed no inherent quality fluctuations in that regard.

You'd Be Surprised Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

You'd Be Surprised features a Dolby Digital 2.0 track offering Undercrank's Ben Model on a "virtual theatre pipe organ" performing an original score. This score is just as jaunty as the one accompanying Paths to Paradise, but it also attempts to evince more of a playful "mystery" ambience courtesy of things like tremolo. There's more of an acoustic piano sound accompanying the closing credits. Longtime readers of my reviews know that I chafe at Blu-ray discs offering only lossy audio options, and so part of my score above reflects that opinion.

You'd Be Surprised Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Undercrank Productions is offering both Paths to Paradise and You'd Be Surprised on one disc, with the following supplement:

• Raymond Griffith: Silent Cinema's Silk Hatted Secret (HD; 11:17) is a fun and informative of Griffith's career as an actor, with a passing nod to his producing work as well.

You'd Be Surprised Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm a sucker for any good murder mystery, and I tend to especially like ones that are played with a bit of a wink. Now, truth be told, the mystery in this film is not all that captivating, but Griffith is a weirdly appealing presence despite a certain amount of snark, and some of the intertitles are especially funny. Technical merits are generally solid, though I'd love to see lossless audio for Model's music going forward. Recommended.