TC Entertainment will bring Daryl Duke's The Silent Partner (1978), starring Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer and Susannah York, to Blu-ray in Japan on March 4th, 2015.
This Canadian film is not all that well known but is a low budget gem starring Elliott Gould and Christopher Plummer (a standout as a sociopathic villain) doing some of their best work, a lovely Susannah York plus John Candy in a small early role.
I only found out a few years ago that the story had been filmed once before as Think of a Number ( Tænk på et tal)(1969):http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065137/
I'd wait for reviews, TC Entertainment were the company behind The Changeling which turned out to be a horrible upscaled mess.
Oh yeah, more than just that. Their Day of Anger release is an awful 1080i upscale fest, as well as La belle noiseuse (which already had a good looking HD master to boot).
Hoping it's a totally different story here though.
This disc is region-free. Also, there are no optical censorship issues.
TC Entertainment have provided a small booklet inside the black BD case, which contains what appears to be a reproduction of the original Japanese press kit for the film, including images in black and white and color, and Japanese text. The sole video extra is a UK radio spot for the film, with optional Japanese subtitles.
BDInfo scan:
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00002.MPLS AVC 1:45:39 24,493,971,456 24,938,925,540 30.91 26.00 LPCM 2.0 1536Kbps (48kHz/16-bit)
I know some are curious, so I decided to post my impressions of the quality of the film, as well. Please bear in mind that, prior to this viewing, I had never seen The Silent Partner.
Overall, I think with the proper expectations, this is an excellent release.
Now, the picture quality in the first 15-20 minutes, is quite grainy, with an appearance bordering on noise. Indeed, it almost seems as if the film were underexposed here, but after the first 20 minutes or so, this settles down, and the grain exhibits a more stable appearance throughout the rest of the film. I was very pleased to see that TC Entertainment resisted applying digital tools like DNR to soften the grain or smooth it out, and because they have not, the film looks as it should, like film.
I have heard cries of "upscale" with other TC Entertainment releases, and that clearly is not the case here, as this is definitely true HD, and is probably the master prepared for the 2007 R1 DVD from Lionsgate.
The audio is mono, and quite serviceable, but there were a few instances where dialogue was very low, and a word here and there would become inaudible. This isn't something that dampens enjoyment of the film, though.
I tend to think these problems are more to do with the fact that the film has been largely forgotten, and as such, carries certain issues that, on a better-known film, would have been corrected years ago.
Unless this film is a favorite of someone at Criterion, BFI or Arrow, I would be very surprised to see a better BD release come along, at least in terms of the presentation of the film.
The film is really a hidden gem (Christopher Plummer, in particular, is fantastic), and I am really glad that I made the purchase.
I would not hesitate to add the disc to your collections, especially if you enjoy films that look like film.
haven't used cdjapan in years but last time i did they weren't customs-friendly.probably best paying a couple of quid extra from yesasia,who are customs-safe.
Mine arrived from Amazon Japan today (ordered on Friday...what service!) and completely agree with McCrutchy's comments. The first 15-20 minutes is very grainy; I'd imagine this is due to the limitation of the materials used for the transfer. The remainder of the film looks very nice in motion, colourful, and good definition. Highly recommended, doubt there will another release imminent from another company.
All countries
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The Silent Partner (Daryl Duke)
Also, there are no optical censorship issues.
Linear Mode
