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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"The Quiet Man" is a tender
story of a returning native to his Irish village.
It stars John Wayne as Sean "Trooper" Thornton, an
American boxing sensation come home to the Emerald
Isle. Sean's eagerness to assimilate is somewhat
put on hold when he falls for the rapturous and
fiery Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara).
Like "How Green Was My Valley," "The Quiet Man"
was a deeply personal film for its director, John
Ford. Though a curmudgeon by all accounts on the
surface, there's no mistaking Ford's tender hand
and affection for the blarney stone in this
sumptuous Technicolor classic. As the town
matchmaker Michaleen Flynn (Barry Fitzgerald) gets
the outstanding laugh of the picture when he walks
in on Mary and Sean the night after their wedding
to discover that they've broken the bed. His look
says it all.
Aside: I first saw this movie on late night
television, some fifteen years ago. It looked then
as though it had been fed through a meat grinder.
I next had the opportunity to view, what was then
billed as a restored version during the early
1990s at a special screening. While there was a
marked improvement in the quality of the print
shown over my previous television experience,
there remained in evidence the fact that much more
work was still required to get this movie looking
right. So when Artisan Home Entertainment
announced a completely remastered collector's
edition, my heart leapt. I was, after all,
expecting a print that would really knock my socks
off.
What I got instead was a DVD that looks more like
my memory of the original television broadcast.
"The Quiet Man" looks awful. There's no polite way
to critique the excessively soft, blurry and dull
image quality. Colors are poorly balanced with
inconsistent flesh tones. Black and contrast
levels are so poorly realized that I can't deduce
whether the staff at Artisan actually did some
restoration work or are just trying to bluff the
consumer into repurchasing this film on DVD.
Regardless, this is the worst looking DVD
experience I've had in a long while. The audio is
mono, strident and wholly unsatisfying. Edge
enhancement, pixelization, aliasing and shimmering
of fine details are obtrusive and an eye-sore to
behold.
I'll be honest. After sitting through such a
dismal visual experience I was so disheartened
that I didn't even get to the extra features.
Artisan advertises a documentary and audio
commentary as part of the deal. Let's just leave
it at that. Although, they did also advertise this
DVD as digitally remastered too…?!? |
