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With
the recent death of Stanley Kubrick A Clockwork Orange has finally had a PAL version
released.
After
seeing this film several times in my life and being brought up with its powerful
soundtrack; I still seem to be in two minds about it. There is one side to the film, which
has been described as a masterful political statement, and relevant announcement to
society. Then there is the violent and quite repulsing side to the film, which has more of
an impact on me. I've never been one for a violent or bloodthirsty film and this often
distracts from any deeper message that the film is portraying.
Alexander
de Large (Malcolm McDowell) and his 3 cronies are a group of psychologically unbalanced
young men who take to the streets regularly beating the less fortunate. Their night time
activities of breaking into peoples houses and raping and beating the women to death are
equally disturbing. Until the arrest of Alexander who was left for the police after one
particularly violent rampage.
Alex is
sent to a typical prison where he learns of a new method in rehabilitating hardened
violent criminals. He sees this as a quick ticket out of prison. He is accepted to trial
the new Ludovico's technique and quickly learns that it is not such an easy ride after
all. Subjected to numerous trials and injections, the cure is that any form of violence
will make him physically ill and therefore not wanting to participate in such activities.
Seen to
be cured of his reputable talents he is let free back into society where he is then an
easy target for those who wish to subject violence and revenge. Making the film's
statement that revenge was easier than justice, a statement, which is still quite relevant
today, almost 40 years after the first release of the novel.
If you
can focus on the underlying political and social statements made by this film and can see
past the graphic and sexual violence than it would be quite an addition to any film
collection.
So how does this transfer hold up?
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VIDEO
The 1.66:1
transfer is not Anamorphic Widescreen but doesn't seem to suffer greatly because
of this. The transfer is really quite good for source material of its age. Generally the
images are sharp and clear throughout and only lapsing into a soft transfer on some short
occasions. Shadow detail is less than great. While the contrast gives the deepest of
blacks and the brightest of whites there is some detail lacking in the shadowed areas of
the images. Contrast levels are generally quite high throughout the film but this is an
intended quality in the original lighting techniques used.
The
colour palette is adequate but very "seventies" bright, contrasty and making an
impact on the visual mood of the film at all times. Be it a bright and patterned room of
illusion effects or a dim and dull prison cellblock.
There
are no MPEG artefacts and only some minor telecine wobble and very minor ailiasing which
mar the transfer. Film artefacts were at a minimum and hard to find in such a clean
transfer.
The
layer change at 71:39 is well placed and doesn't interrupt the film much at all.
AUDIO
This release features not only a Dolby 5.1 channel audio track
but also a Dolby 1.0 audio track. For the most part of the film I
listened to the 5.1 track but flicked between them at times. It wasn't surprising that
there wasn't a lot of difference.
Dialogue
was generally clear and easy to understand aside from a couple of lines from a prison warden around 59.20 which were basically
unintelligable.
The
surrounds were only put to use on some minor occassions and the .1 channel was also very
scare for most of the film kicking in on the odd occasion to beef up effects or music.
The
score from Wendy Carlos is a collage of some famous classical pieces including the william
tell overture and pomp and circumstance and of course some other odd synthesizer mixes and
songs. One which I will never forget because it is so grating was the title " I want
to marry a lighthouse keeper". I have listened to this soundtrack countless time
during my life and really have to give it some credit for a good collection but there are
one or two tracks which really should have been left out.
EXTRAS
Theatrical Trailer
Notes -
Awards, a list of noteable achievements and awards won by this film.
OVERALL
Whilst
this will always be one of the most controversial films of all time, it really is a matter
of personal opinion. I can see reasons why this film would have a deep impact on some
viewers and yet repulse others. I was much more affected by the sexuality and violence
then the underlying intentions of the movie.
Hire
it... if you like it then buy it.
| PICTURE
QUALITY |
8.5/10
very nice |
| SOUND Quality |
9/10 great |
| EXTRAS |
4/10 very average |
| OVERALL |
8/10 a great flick! |
Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Pioneer DV737 (via S-Video)
Receiver: Yamaha DTS RX-V595a (Sweeeeet)
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfdale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf
Subby: M&K V75
- Reviewed 9th March 2001
* A Clockwork Orange jpeg files
for internet promotion use only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by
Warner Home Video |
