Mixed blessing for Sophia Myles fans

I know that many people (myself included) will purchase this DVD just to see Sophia Myles. So how fulfilling is it for her fans?

Enjoyable, but not quite un-missable.

There's no question that her performance is exceptional. It's easily the finest performance of any of the cast members, and may even be one of her own personal best. And that means a lot for fans of her (considerable) acting talent.

But for fans of her beauty, on the other hand . . . well, one thing that works against the film is the heavy digital grading, or colour filtering. I assume the "aged" pale yellowish look of the London scenes was intended to give the film a sense of distance. Perhaps it was necessary. But it detracts from the exquisite beauty of Sophia's fair complexion, altering her snow-white colouring to a more yellowish hue. Her golden hair also ends up looking darker and mousy.

Also, the film is extraordinarily accurate in terms of her wardrobe and hairstyle--regrettably so. The trouble is, women's fashions in the 1940s weren't particularly attractive, and neither were the hairstyles. Not until the very end of the film, when Sophia is allowed to wear a softer, more romantic hairstyle, is her beauty seen to best advantage. Prior to that, she wears the rigid, tightly-wavy style that was common in the 1940s, but just isn't very pretty.

And as for the costumes, well, the military uniforms are obviously not very appealing, and even when Sophia is allowed to wear dresses, the dresses are somewhat frumpy--as dresses tended to be in the 1940s.

There is a lovemaking scene, but it's in low light, and little or nothing of Sophia's gorgeously curvy figure is shown.

Actually, the most beautiful footage of Sophia in the DVD is in her on-set interview, found in the DVD's "extras" section. There, she is filmed in natural white light, so her dazzling white skin (with delicate rosy tints) is shown to best advantage, and her golden tresses shine in the sunlight. She looks so breathtakingly beautiful there, that one wishes that the whole film had been shot in this kind of natural light, without the yellow colour alteration. Then, fans could have seen Sophia's beauty in its full, feminine, delicate glory -- and that would have made the viewing experience far more enjoyable.