UNIVERSAL (UN)APPEAL
By Joe Lozowsky
If I could have
perfect releases on DVD of one film series--and only one series--it would be
the Universal monster classics of the 30s and 40s. After Universal Home Video
stalled for a couple of long years at the dawn of the DVD format, they were
forced to toss fans a few bones after the bottom fell out of their DIVX barrel.
Well, how does it feel to acquire these beloved treasures? Not so good, I'm
afraid.
The measly handful
of titles that I'm discussing here are: DRACULA
(1931), FRANKENSTEIN (1931), BRIDE
OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935), THE MUMMY (1932),
and THE WOLFMAN (1941). I hear that we will be
getting blessed with another minuscule selection of titles for the year 2000
(oh, be still my heart!). What has been quite astonishing to me is that so many
magazines have reviewed these discs and quibbles have been relatively minor!
There are a number of ways to skin a cat, but let me approach this review starting
with the "least offensive" discs in this collection and work my way
down...WAY down.
FRANKENSTEIN
was the first DVD in the Universal series to be released. I was amazed at the
breathtaking audio quality on this presentation. Background noise was eliminated,
and the overall effect was dazzling candy to the ears. The picture was acceptable,
easily the best look that the picture has ever had on home video thus far. It
was truly a promising start for these movies on DVD when we were treated to
the restoration for the very first time of Colin Clive's immortal line: "In
the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to BE God!" Oh boy, what
a job this Universal Home Video was doing! I believed that we fans were lined
up for a generous sack of gifts from this company, just like several years back
when they issued a dozen or so horror classics on VHS in one shot. Well, it
was to turn out that the video company was riding us for a fall...
THE
WOLFMAN was not too bad. Naturally, the source material is not as old,
but I've seen other early 30s genre films look good on DVD despite their age
(Roan's WHITE ZOMBIE and Criterion's THE
MOST DANGEROUS GAME, to name only two). But back to THE WOLFMAN... Though
the image is decent and crisp, there are spots and marks on the picture, which
should have been eliminated. Most annoying of all is a tiny imperfection which
nobody else has spotted yet: During the first half of the film I notice a slight
"twitching" effect just a second prior to the end of each shot and
before the next one. This defect is also noticeable when I freeze the picture
and slowly advance the image with the remote. The problem is so slight that
I didn't even catch it on my initial viewing of the disc, but it's there.
DRACULA
was a real letdown. This film warrants special attention, and the print looks
horrendous in spots, particularly at the beginning. Some critics say that the
start of this movie is the only thing it has going for it (I disagree), but
it's true that those scenes are the best, and should have been lovingly enhanced.
Don't hand me that "age" excuse, because the aforementioned Roan release
of WHITE ZOMBIE blows DRACULA
away...and that was a cheap production. In fact, we need look no further than
this DRACULA disc to see how age doesn't necessarily
mar a motion picture: the SPANISH DRACULA (also
1931) is included as a companion piece on this edition, and it looks almost
like a new movie when compared to the Bela Lugosi version presented here. This
is a good chance to squeeze a small degree of praise here...the addition of
the Spanish version on the same disc is quite a nice bonus. It is the best thing
about this edition, although some of the picture has poor quality where one
reel was not as pristine as the others. But this is perfectly acceptable with
a more obscure film. It's NOT acceptable with the basic Universal Horror classics.
Oh, and lest I forget, the sound quality on the DVD of Lugosi's DRACULA
needs an overhaul too.
THE
MUMMY is a sad disc. The soundtrack is quite noisy (is this the same
company that authored the premiere FRANKENSTEIN
disc?) and the picture quality ranges from decent in most spots to disgraceful
in others. During the moments where Boris Karloff's Ardath Bey confronts Edward
Van Sloan and David Manners in the house, it looks like somebody spilled a cup
of coffee over the negative.
What the hell
was Universal thinking with their DVD release of arguably the greatest classic
of all, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN? I've saved the worst
for last here, folks. I almost screamed louder than Una O'Connor when I saw
this dupey, grainy print on my television screen. I prayed that maybe I accidentally
put a VHS 16mm replica inside the disc player by mistake. Of course, this was
impossible because DVD decks cannot play tapes, and I never owned an inferior
16mm dupe of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN in the first
place. And as if the visual quality wasn't poor enough, I noticed that the image
was cropped a little too tightly on top of the screen.
If there were
only a handful of Universal titles worthy to get special treatment and care,
it should be this initial batch of classics. A frame-by-frame and painstaking
cleanup is required. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, perhaps
more than any other 1930s genre film aside from KING KONG,
deserves special care and restoration. I can accept a film like 1932's version
of THE OLD DARK HOUSE (available from Image, and
a great buy) to look grainy, due to its rare status and years of neglect. But
I have seen better 35mm prints of the above classics in revival houses during
the last couple of years.
Each
of these discs includes trailers, and that's a nice thing. There are also still
galleries, but I take issue with the fact that the camera pans across the photos;
I'd prefer to have them still and to jog them myself with my remote. As for
the commentary tracks that go along with these movies, I personally find them
dull and unworthy with the exception of Tom Weaver's excellent and informative
take on THE WOLFMAN. He is a writer that I have
admired, if he is a tad too rough at times (but then again, what would he call
THIS article?). There are documentaries for each disc which are good for newcomers,
but old hat for those of us that know the whole story. The most treasured artifact
appears in the DRACULA documentary: Edward Van
Sloan's original curtaincall at the end of the movie where he warns the audience
that "there are such things!" It's understandable in this case that
the film quality is rough here; we're lucky to have it at all after so many
years. However, I would have liked it tagged on at the end of the actual feature
itself.
I hope somebody at Universal will read this review and note that only love for someone or something makes a person critical. I wish the company would get their act together and put our more titles each year and work at enhancing the quality of these special movies. All I know is that THE INVISIBLE MAN is slated to be one of the next releases, and if the scratchy and speckled print on the old VHS tape is any indication...