HORROR’S FIXER-UPPERS
Although necessitated, alas,
by our local newsstand’s drop- ping your periodical from its shelves, my subscription to VIDEO WATCHDOG has brought me much pleasure this past year. It’s been particularly gratifying to read your report on the UNI- VERSAL CLASSIC MONSTERS Blu-ray box [VW 171], secure in the knowledge that you’re pro- viding the most meticulous analysis imaginable of this highly significant release. Merely one among many fas- cinating details was your section on the downside of the attempt to correct a pre-existing problem in THE BRIDE OF FRANKEN- STEIN and how it led to a fresh problem of its own. (I’m re- minded of the time George S. Kaufman, after witnessing the performance of one of his long- running Broadway hits, posted a notice backstage announcing, “There will be a rehearsal tomor- row morning at 9:00 sharp for the purpose of removing all the im- provements.”) When you speak of “authenticity” in these video reproductions, you touch on a very valid and interesting topic. Some years ago, when Robert Gitt, F.X. Feeney, Terry Sanders and I sat down to record our commentary track for THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, we noted with surprise that the heli- copter shots in the first reel were, for the first time, smoothed out and completely free of the jerky jumps which had always been present. It was fascinating to see what modern technology had made possible, but we all agreed that the film should re- main as it always was, warts and all, for better or worse. (Note: This misguided version was one executed by MGM/UA, not the
80
UCLA restoration, supervised by Bob Gitt, which is the source for the recent Criterion DVD/Blu- ray which, if memory serves, preserves the original aerial photography intact.) When you rightly sang the praises of Otterson, Gausman and Valentine for their contribu- tions to THE WOLF MAN, it’s too bad you didn’t also happen to include mention of the other art director, Robert Boyle, whose first big break this was. It was he who saw all those abandoned trees in a vacant lot and had the brainstorm of salvaging them for the Welsh forest. Hitchcock was so impressed with Boyle’s ability to achieve superior images with limited means that he hired the young man for SABOTEUR, the beginning of a fruitful partnership between director and artist which would shape many Hitchcock classics to come.
Anyhow, that’s my two cents on your splendid two-part essay. Keep up the great work! Preston Neal Jones Hollywood CA
NOT AGAINST THE GRAIN
Read Eric Somer’s coverage
of JAWS [VW 171]; he’s abso- lutely right about the Blu, it’s re- ally great looking, by far the best it’s ever looked on home video. One thing I’d like to add: I saw a print of it projected a couple of years back on a double feature with PIRANHA here at the Egyp- tian (Joe Dante was there for an introduction). What struck me immediately was how grainy and colorful it was. There was a specialness about the texture of the film print that is missing in all video versions, including the BD (though the color is intact and vibrant). With the grain scrubbed away and the detail heightened,
the Blu is a strong viewing expe- rience on its own, but not the atmospheric experience of see- ing a print of it in the theater. With the print, there is a visceral feel to it, and you can smell the ocean and feel the season. It’s a very different viewing experience to the Blu. With me, a movie’s tex- ture is as important as anything else, and I think the digital age has a lot of catching up to do with conveying as comparable a texture as film does, even with video transfers—though some come very close, admittedly. Bob Badway Los Angeles CA
THE OLD SWITCHEROO
I enjoyed Allan MacInnis’ in- terview with Bertrand Tavernier in VW 173. But it’s worth noting that Tavernier’s comments about the elimination of a plot twist from the North American version of DEATH WATCH—the revelation that Katherine was not dying, and that her symptoms were actually being caused by the medicine she had been given— are at variance with what he has said previously. In the VW interview, Tavernier claims that the US distributors “were afraid the twist would not be accepted, that it would make the TV people seem too nasty... but that was the idea!” But in an interview with Robin Wood, published in CINEACTION 7 (Winter 1986/1987), Tavernier insisted “As for the twist at the end, I feel ashamed about it, that she was not dying. I could have done the film absolutely without that and it would have been better.” A footnote to the CINEACTION interview mentions that “Tavernier was able to cut this ‘plot twist’ for the North American release.”
Brad Stevens Luton, Bedfordshire UK .
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