I wonder if it will have any special features.
The cast album of the original Broadway production was remastered and re-issued not so long ago, with extra tracks that were out-take musical cues from the film. If the video that matches the audio cuts was ever actually filmed, maybe they'll be included ?
For myself ... well, I'll probably give this one a miss. I wanted to enjoy this movie so much -- since I really love the score -- but I just couldn't. It was so clumsily filmed; and while Liz Taylor
looked stunning and was seemingly perfect for the role, she
sounded simply horrible. And Len Cariou -- for me, the definitive Frederick and Sweeney Todd -- looked like he didn't know what to do the whole time. It was
almost worth seeing, though, for Laurence Guittard and Diana Rigg. They stole the show, such as it was.
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justoldbill
17 years ago
The image quality has not been improved for the DVD, and the film has been remastered at a slightly accelerated speed, making all the music a half-tone higher. Most upsetting.
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puirt-a-beul
17 years ago
What a weird thing for them to do, j.o.b.
Of course, maybe you've just stumbled into the experience all those of us have who live in a land where TV uses the PAL system -- all of our DVDs run 4% faster than the film frame rate, which raises the pitch of both speaking and music by almost-but-not-quite a full tone. So it's neither one pitch nor the other.
We usually get a clearer video transfer, because of the higher image resolution that PAL affords, but if you have any sense of accurate pitch (I'm a singer, myself), it's a bit of an audio nightmare.
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Dannybob
17 years ago
I want to thank all the reviewers and their candor about the DVD edition (both here and on Amazon). You've saved me the $20 that I can use to buy something else!
My feelings about ALNM the movie are the same as others. It was a disastrous movie, but for posterity's sake it would be nice to own a film/video representation. Let's hope that future editions will clear up the flaws. I can wait.
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mp989
16 years ago
I've compared the DVD with the recording of Glamorous Life from the film on the remastered OBCR recording (it's a bonus cut) and they match up--it doesn't sound a pitched up at all to me...
I usually do notice PAL speed up with audio VERY quickly (I love The Last Unicorn score by Jimmy Webb and knwo the CD by heart so when I watch the new remastered DVD, which is sourced from a PAL remaster, I find it takesa LONG while to start to get used to the pitched up voices and music).
YEs the DVD is a disappointment but I agree with whoever said the film is charmign in spots and far better than some would have you think (Perhaps faint praise as many seem to act like it's the worse film musical ever). We will probably never see another DVD release, and while far from even a flawed masterpiece, I'm glad ot have it in my collection--I think all of the roles, even Liz Taylor are well cast and played--though Liz may be the worse of them all--and while Hal Prince often doesn't do a very good job there are moments where suddenly he's dead on (Weekend in the Country).
Maybe Hen's Tooth shoulda included the OTHER obscure Hal Prince film--again with a script by the great Hugh Wheeler, 1970's Something For Everyone with Michael York and Angela Lansbury. It's actually probably a much better film, and something of a forgotten favorite of mine and it coulda made a nice "two fer' on one disc if they weren't gonna bother with any extras.
My only gripe is that I have my doubts it's in its proper aspect ratio. Then again it was filmed VERY cheaply, not even in stereo (although neither was the original release of Cabaret...) so...
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Harold_Robbins
17 years ago
In her review, Pauline Kael took aim and fired: "This film is a cut above Song of Norway and The Blue Bird, but it's in that general sylvan-settings category....What was lyrical farce in the Bergman film has now become clodhopping operetta. This picture has been made as if the director (Harold Prince) had never seen a movie."
Ironically, on stage Hal Prince's direction such musicals as CABARAET, COMPANY, FOLLIES, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA was praised for its cinematic quality!
"I don't use a pen: I write with a goose quill dipped in venom!"---W. Lydecker
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