Mute Witness (1995) 4K UHD (Arrow Video)

[StingingVelvet]

Never even heard of this movie tbh.

[drush9999]

Saw it when it came out, much was made of Alec Guinness' minor part in his last theatrical film and the semi originality around the premise. Always liked the film and owned it on VHS and DVD.

[stigdu]

I think my signature which I've had for about 10 years tells you all you need to know.

[John Earls Umbrella]

A bit of trivia - Mute Witness is the title of the novel by Robert L Fish that the Peter Yates classic Bullitt was based on.

[LanceL]

Originally Posted by John Earls Umbrella

A bit of trivia - Mute Witness is the title of the novel by Robert L Fish that the Peter Yates classic Bullitt was based on.

How much did either movie leave on the cutting room floor? They are totally different movies.

Spoilers for Mute Witness...

I found it to have a really bad contrivance of having the protagonist being alone after the ordeal she went through. I would think that anyone would not want to be left alone after something like that happened, although the police think it was just a movie being made.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by LanceL

How much did either movie leave on the cutting room floor? They are totally different movies.

They just share titles, although both are about witnesses that technically cannot talk.

Blade Runner took it's title from another sci-fi novel The Bladerunner, but there's not much more than the title. I'd imagine they bought the rights for the title so their novelisation could use it, as well as just liking the sound of it. The Bladerunner when it was adapted for the screen was released as the novel "Blade Runner (a movie)"!

[stvn1974]

Never seen it but I will do a blind buy.

[amputd]

This totally went under my radar. What kind of film is it? I’m completely unfamiliar.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by amputd

This totally went under my radar. What kind of film is it? I’m completely unfamiliar.

It's like the Hitchcock film you never knew about.

It's also a clear warning about hanging around after work finishes.

[amputd]

Originally Posted by chip75

It's like the Hitchcock film you never knew about.

It's also a clear warning about hanging around after work finishes.

Thanks, thanks enough for me to bite. Appreciate your help.

[Superwonderscope]

UHD is a good surprise. Saw this in a theater and enjoyed it a lot. Own the Laserdisc and the French DVD.
But.
A bit of a letdown regarding the supplements. I’m much more interested in people involved in the making instead of “visual essay” of any kind. They can be good, but I would have been more into the words of Fay Ripley or the main protagonist Marina Sudina.
I’ll wait for the price to severely drop.

[jmorrow5]

Unless you absolutely need to own this on Day 1, wait a few weeks after release to see if Arrow still runs their 50% off sale alongside Criterion during the month of July.

[4Dblu]

Yeah, i never heard of this but seems interesting. So. it will be added to the collection...

[CSM101]

Finished watching my copy today. This movie has always been a curiosity as I remember seeing the cover at the video stores I visited frequently. It’s very suspenseful at times, which I liked. The transfer is mostly good except for the lights and bulbs in some scenes look like overblown blobs. The fluorescent lights in the corridors, the studio lights, the streetlights. They look almost radioactive at times, kind of like some of the highlights on the paramount Friday the 13th. I’m curious how the Blu-ray would compare in these scenes. Anyone else feel the same? Aside from that, I’m happy with it.

[lgans316]

Maximum Content Light Level : 1000 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light Level : 400 cd/m2

General
File size                                : 61.4 GiB
Duration                                 : 1 h 36 min
Overall bit rate                         : 91.1 Mb/s
Frame rate                               : 23.976 FPS
Movie name                               : MUTE WITNESS
Writing application                      : MakeMKV v1.17.6 win(x64-release)
Writing library                          : libmakemkv v1.17.6 (1.3.10/1.5.2) win(x64-release)

Video
ID                                       : 1
ID in the original source medium         : 4113 (0x1011)
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                           : Main 10@L5.1@High
HDR format                               : SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                                 : 1 h 36 min
Bit rate                                 : 88.1 Mb/s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.443
Stream size                              : 59.4 GiB (97%)
Writing library                          : ATEME Titan File 3.9.12 (4.9.12.4)      
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics                 : PQ
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries        : Display P3
Mastering display luminance              : min: 0.0050 cd/m2, max: 1000 cd/m2
Maximum Content Light Level              : 1000 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light Level        : 400 cd/m2
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Audio #1
ID                                       : 2
ID in the original source medium         : 4352 (0x1100)
Format                                   : PCM
Format settings                          : Little / Signed
Codec ID                                 : A_PCM/INT/LIT
Duration                                 : 1 h 36 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 2 304 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 30.000 FPS (1600 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Stream size                              : 1.55 GiB (3%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Audio #2
ID                                       : 3
ID in the original source medium         : 4353 (0x1101)
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital
Codec ID                                 : A_AC3
Duration                                 : 1 h 36 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 320 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 221 MiB (0%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : English
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray
Dialog Normalization                     : -31 dB
dialnorm_Average                         : -31 dB
dialnorm_Minimum                         : -31 dB
dialnorm_Maximum                         : -31 dB

Audio #3
ID                                       : 4
ID in the original source medium         : 4354 (0x1102)
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital
Codec ID                                 : A_AC3
Duration                                 : 1 h 36 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 320 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 221 MiB (0%)
Title                                    : Stereo
Language                                 : English
Service kind                             : Complete Main
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray
Dialog Normalization                     : -31 dB
dialnorm_Average                         : -31 dB
dialnorm_Minimum                         : -31 dB
dialnorm_Maximum                         : -31 dB

Text #1
ID                                       : 5
ID in the original source medium         : 4768 (0x12A0)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration                                 : 1 h 32 min
Bit rate                                 : 17.4 kb/s
Frame rate                               : 0.251 FPS
Count of elements                        : 1400
Stream size                              : 11.6 MiB (0%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Text #2
ID                                       : 7
ID in the original source medium         : 4769 (0x12A1)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration                                 : 46 s 651 ms
Bit rate                                 : 3 577 b/s
Frame rate                               : 0.086 FPS
Count of elements                        : 4
Stream size                              : 20.4 KiB (0%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Text #3
ID                                       : 8
ID in the original source medium         : 4769 (0x12A1)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info                            : Picture based subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Duration                                 : 46 s 651 ms
Bit rate                                 : 3 577 b/s
Frame rate                               : 0.086 FPS
Count of elements                        : 4
Stream size                              : 20.4 KiB (0%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Menu
00:00:00.000                             : en:Chapter 01
00:08:08.654                             : en:Chapter 02
00:13:48.536                             : en:Chapter 03
00:23:52.973                             : en:Chapter 04
00:32:18.770                             : en:Chapter 05
00:43:20.848                             : en:Chapter 06
00:48:16.977                             : en:Chapter 07
00:57:33.158                             : en:Chapter 08
01:07:44.894                             : en:Chapter 09
01:12:40.064                             : en:Chapter 10
01:20:07.719                             : en:Chapter 11
01:27:21.152                             : en:Chapter 12

[schwano]

Transfer is nothing special (but perfectly "fine"), and the extras on this one are pretty weak, but the movie itself is fantastic. Very well done mix of suspense and black comedy and checks off a lot of boxes for me personally. It's a great "all takes place in one night" movie for those who dig that.

[brainofj72]

I know Arrow didn't create this master themselves, but honestly I'm a little surprised they released it because it certainly isn't up to the standards I expect from them. There's no way this was sourced from an OCN - the fine detail just isn't there - and the HDR highlights can look pretty blown out and wonky. I wouldn't say it looks bad or anything, just, again, not what I expect to see from an Arrow UHD.

It's also pretty bizarre that there are no production-related special features - just modern essays and analyses. Considering the bizarre history around a big-name cameo in the movie, I would have loved to see some features addressing it.

I liked the movie, though, and I'm glad it's finally available. You can certainly see that it was a huge influence on Eli Roth.

[jmorrow5]

Dropped to $25.98 on Amazon today. If you haven't seen it, it's easily worth a blind buy at this price.

[BluIsGold]

Originally Posted by jmorrow5

Dropped to $25.98 on Amazon today. If you haven't seen it, it's easily worth a blind buy at this price.

Yep. Had already paid full price and received it, but called Amazon and they found a way to put the difference in price back on my card. I mean two days after release and they aren't supposed to price match after shipping? Makes me wonder about my other preorders now as a drop this drastic and this fast has never happened to me before. But anyway, you may want to try your luck with Amazon if you paid the $34.99.

[jcs913]

I watched my copy about a week ago. Not a great disc, but not horrible by any means. I kept waiting for the Morrissey song to be played, but not to be.