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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"Kiss Me Kate" is Cole Porter's charming update of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew." It stars Kathryn Grayson as Lily Vanessi, a hyper-sensitive diva of the stage who is forced to star opposite her ex-husband (Howard Keel) and his new lover (Ann Miller) in a new stage production. On their way to a hit show, these three temperaments repeatedly bump heads and egos but ultimately finding true love in the end. As a couple of bumbling Mafia hit men (James Whitmore and Keenan Wynn) nearly steal the show. Porter's score is perhaps his finest, with such standards as "From This Moment On," "Wunderbar" and the title track creating a rich musical tapestry on which the actors excel. "Kiss Me Kate" is a genuine show stopper.
Unfortunately the same can't be said for Warner's dull looking transfer. Colors are muted, at time appearing bleached or, at the very least, weak. The same is true of the picture's contrast and black levels. There is a haze that plagues the picture quality throughout and adds to its overly soft characteristic. Now, about that softness -- the entire image appears to have been mis-framed, resulting in a slightly out of focus visual characteristic that is further hampered -most likely -- as the result of over use of noise reduction equipment used to master this DVD. On a 32 inch television screen the picture will merely appear generally soft. On a 65 inch monitor it looks down right blurry and at times incredibly out of focus. I am really at a loss to explain why this movie looks this bad. Owning the laserdisc and, doing a side by side comparison, I can report that the laserdisc actually surpasses this DVD in all of the above mentioned aspects. Of course, no laserdisc can hold a candle to DVD's resolution and this DVD is no exception. There is no edge enhancement, aliasing or fine detail shimmering to speak of. The soundtrack has been remixed to 5.1 surround. It's generally good, only suggesting a strident characteristic during brief interludes of dialogue or effects. The musical score is well represented.
Another all too short featurette on Cole Porter and the making of this movie -- this one hosted by Ann Miller, but also featuring snippets from Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Tommy Rall and James Whitmore -- is the major extra feature. A theatrical trailer and isolated music track are also worthy of mention.
In light of Warner's usually pristine efforts this transfer is a big disappointment and not recommended. |
