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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Albert Finney is the scandalous "Tom Jones," a squire of young ladies with nothing on their mind but sex. This is the bawdy, gaudy tale of Tom's romantic prowess and how he became the chambermaid's delight. It's told in a rather tongue-in-cheek fashion and celebrated with a lustfully playful score and winning cameo performances throughout. Susannah York crops up as the playful Sophie Western, one of Tom's many conquests, much to the chagrin of her stoic and stalwart father (Hugh Griffith).
MGM's DVD is one of the worst looking efforts of digital mastering on the market. Where to begin? Colors are muted, dated, unbalanced and bleed throughout. Contrast levels are so low that night scenes look as though they were shot using only the light coming off a flashlight with dying batteries. Flesh tones are excessively orange. Fidelity in general is a mess. Edge enhancement, pixelization, aliasing and shimmering of fine details are excessive and present throughout the film. Digital and film grain are excessively high. There's really no instance where one can simply sit back and enjoy the film.
The audio is a disappointing mono. Considering that the previously issued DVD (exhibiting the same disappointing picture quality) was remastered in surround sound, the lack of surround on this disc seems odd. There are no extras. |
