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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
remains to be to provide you, the entertainment community with
the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
link to the most popular dvd movies. |
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“The Day
of the Locust”
|
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Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Drama |
| Video: |
Widescreen
anamorphic 1.85:1 aspect ratio |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
Surround 5.1, Dolby Digital Surround 2.0 (restored) |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Length |
144 minutes |
| Rating |
R |
| Release Date |
6/8/04 |
| Studio |
Paramount
|
| Commentary:
|
None |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
None |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
None |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Donald Sutherland,
Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, William Atherton, Geraldine Page,
Richard A. Dysart, Bo Hopkins, Pepe Serna, Billy Barty, Lelia
Goldoni |
| Written
By: |
Waldo Salt
based on the novel by Nathanael West |
| Produced
By: |
Jerome Hellman,
Ronald Shedlo |
| Directed
By: |
John Schlesinger |
| Music:
|
John Barry
|
| The
Review: |
Tod Hackett (Atherton) comes west
to make it in Hollywood as an art director in the 1930’s.
His attraction to his new neighbor Faye (Karen Black) prompts
him to help her with her career as an actress. Tod becomes
the audience’s focal point as he increasingly gets pulled
into the lurid whirlpool of tinsel town and the nasty lives
of the studio heads, creative people and those that drive
the movie business. Filled with marvelous, detailed performances
by stars Donald Sutherland (as Homer Simpson and, no, there’s
no relationship to “The Simpsons” character) and Karen Black
but the real strength of the film and its creative backbone
are supporting performances by Burgess Meredith and Billy
Barty. This corrosive, rich character study based on West’s
brilliant novel finally comes to DVD with mixed results. ---
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| Image
and Sound: |
The transfer
makes the film look as if it has been attacked by locusts. While
the print looks pretty good, there are issues with the transfer
itself. The grainy picture results from a less than skillful
transfer resulting in a lot of compression blemishes (i.e. noticeable
grain problems particularly during darker scenes). The image
is almost uniformly sharp with the bright colors that were a
highlight of the original film. While the film runs two and
a half hours, there should have been sufficient storage on the
disc to make it look as sharp as many lesser films released
during the same time frame. Paramount has done a better job
on other budget releases and I’m at a loss as to why this isn’t
one of them. --- |
| The
Extras: |
None
|
| Commentary:
|
None. |
| Final
Words: |
A mixed
blessing for this terrific unflattering look at Hollywood during
the 1930’s. While I’m happy to finally see Schlesinger and Salt’s
marvelous adaptation on DVD, I’m at a loss as to why it doesn’t
look as sharp and vivid as it could. This no frills release
disappoints not only because of the quality of the film but
also because greater care wasn’t used in preparing it for release.
Perhaps Criterion will contract with Paramount to produce the
ultimate DVD edition of this now that the “no frills” version
has appeared. |
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