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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"The Lady Eve" is one of
director Preston Sturges' sinful, guilty
pleasures. The plot involves Jean Harrington, a
man-eater played to perfection by Barbara
Stanwyck, who sets her sights on dim-witted
millionaire Charles Pike (Henry Fonda). After
nearly wooing him into signing over his fortune,
Charles discovers the truth about Jean and
retreats to his country home to convalesce. But
Jean's scheming doesn't end there. Together with
her unscrupulous gambling father (Charles Coburn)
Jean plots to win Charles' heart back -- all the
while losing hers to him in the process.
Criterion has redefined what is meant by their tag
line of "sparkling new digital transfer." There is
nothing new or sparkling about the print used in
the mastering of this DVD. It is faded, worn and
exhibits nearly every ravage of time, including
tears, chips, scratches and water damage worthy of
a complete restoration effort. Worse, the DVD
mastering is shoddy, with an excessive amount of
edge enhancement, aliasing and fine detail
shimmering that completely distracts one from
enjoying the performances. Film and digital grain
is excessive and distracting. Tiling in the
background information is also glaringly obvious
and present throughout. The grayscale of this disc
reads more like a muddy haze of undistinguished
tonality in which all details get buried under and
lost.
The audio is mono and strident, scratchy and worn.
Extras include a Lux Radio Broadcast of the movie
for those who want to turn off their television
and just listen to the movie in its audio form
(boring!) and an audio commentary that, while
informative, doesn't offer any revelations.
Unfortunately, Criterion's penny pinching on
quality is not reflected in their asking price.
Like Charles in "The Lady Eve" one feels a genuine
sense of being suckered. |
