As
movies go, there is nothing awful about THE AWFUL TRUTH ($25). The
movie is one of the most delightful screwball comedies of the 1930s, and
as such, it breezy, lighthearted entertainment. THE AWFUL TRUTH
stars Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, both of whom are at the top of their
form as a married couple, heading for divorce, although very much still in
love with one another. As Lucy and Jerry Warriner, Dunne and Grant shine
as two people who allow their pigheadedness to bust up their marriage, and
then act like spoiled children when the begin fighting over custody of
their dog Mr. Smith. Only when Lucy finds herself engaged to the wealthy
Daniel Leeson (Ralph Bellamy), do both halves of this divided couple begin
to suspect that their pending divorce may be a mistake. The cast of THE
AWFUL TRUTH also includes Alexander D'Arcy, Cecil Cunningham, Molly
Lamont, Esther Dale, Joyce Compton, Robert Allen, Robert Warwick and Mary
Forbes.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment has made THE AWFUL TRUTH available on
DVD in a nice enough looking full screen transfer that frames the movie in
its proper 1.37:1 aspect ratio. Like many other Columbia Pictures
productions from the 1930s, the black and white film elements used to
create the DVD master for THE AWFUL TRUTH do have some rough edges,
which are due to the kind of care and handling the movie has received over
the last sixty-plus years. Brief segments of the black and white film
element would appear to be a few
generations removed from the original negative and display a rather "dupey"
quality. These segments appear somewhat soft, overtly grainy and have
reduced contrast.
The
majority of the transfer comes from early generation film elements that
produce an image that is reasonably crisp and nicely detailed. For the
most part, blacks appear accurate and whites are fairly clean. Contrast
tends to be fairly smooth and there is usually a nice variety in the
grayscale. However, there are a large number of small blemishes and minor
scratches on the film elements, which are moderately noticeable and could
only be removed by costly frame-by-frame digital restoration. In addition,
film grain remains fairly noticeable throughout. Digital compression
artifacts are well concealed by a short running time and smart DVD
authoring.
THE
AWFUL TRUTH comes with a Dolby Digital monaural soundtrack that
provides a decent aural experience. Most of the background hiss and
surface noise have been cleaned from the track, with very few audible
anomalies remaining. Dialogue is always intelligible, although some of the
voices can occasionally sound a bit hollow. Fidelity is limited by the
recording technology of the late 1930’s, which primarily effects the
film’s musical passages. However, the music does manage to sound fairly
good with a mild amount of amplification. While there are no other
language tracks on the DVD, subtitles are provided in English, French,
Spanish, Japanese and Portuguese. The basic interactive menus allow one
access to the standard scene selection and set up features, as well as
bonus trailers for BORN YESTERDAY, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT and
HIS GIRL FRIDAY.
THE
AWFUL TRUTH is a delightful screwball comedy that has lost none of its
charm in over more than six decades. Columbia TriStar has come up with a
respectable presentation that should keep movie buffs fairly happy. If you
are a Cary Grant or Irene Dunne fan, you’ll definitely want to check out
THE AWFUL TRUTH on DVD.
As
movies go, there is nothing awful about THE AWFUL TRUTH ($25). The
movie is one of the most delightful screwball comedies of the 1930s, and
as such, it breezy, lighthearted entertainment. THE AWFUL TRUTH
stars Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, both of whom are at the top of their
form as a married couple, heading for divorce, although very much still in
love with one another. As Lucy and Jerry Warriner, Dunne and Grant shine
as two people who allow their pigheadedness to bust up their marriage, and
then act like spoiled children when the begin fighting over custody of
their dog Mr. Smith. Only when Lucy finds herself engaged to the wealthy
Daniel Leeson (Ralph Bellamy), do both halves of this divided couple begin
to suspect that their pending divorce may be a mistake. The cast of THE
AWFUL TRUTH also includes Alexander D'Arcy, Cecil Cunningham, Molly
Lamont, Esther Dale, Joyce Compton, Robert Allen, Robert Warwick and Mary
Forbes.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment has made THE AWFUL TRUTH available on
DVD in a nice enough looking full screen transfer that frames the movie in
its proper 1.37:1 aspect ratio. Like many other Columbia Pictures
productions from the 1930s, the black and white film elements used to
create the DVD master for THE AWFUL TRUTH do have some rough edges,
which are due to the kind of care and handling the movie has received over
the last sixty-plus years. Brief segments of the black and white film
element would appear to be a few
generations removed from the original negative and display a rather "dupey"
quality. These segments appear somewhat soft, overtly grainy and have
reduced contrast.
The
majority of the transfer comes from early generation film elements that
produce an image that is reasonably crisp and nicely detailed. For the
most part, blacks appear accurate and whites are fairly clean. Contrast
tends to be fairly smooth and there is usually a nice variety in the
grayscale. However, there are a large number of small blemishes and minor
scratches on the film elements, which are moderately noticeable and could
only be removed by costly frame-by-frame digital restoration. In addition,
film grain remains fairly noticeable throughout. Digital compression
artifacts are well concealed by a short running time and smart DVD
authoring.
THE
AWFUL TRUTH comes with a Dolby Digital monaural soundtrack that
provides a decent aural experience. Most of the background hiss and
surface noise have been cleaned from the track, with very few audible
anomalies remaining. Dialogue is always intelligible, although some of the
voices can occasionally sound a bit hollow. Fidelity is limited by the
recording technology of the late 1930’s, which primarily effects the
film’s musical passages. However, the music does manage to sound fairly
good with a mild amount of amplification. While there are no other
language tracks on the DVD, subtitles are provided in English, French,
Spanish, Japanese and Portuguese. The basic interactive menus allow one
access to the standard scene selection and set up features, as well as
bonus trailers for BORN YESTERDAY, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT and
HIS GIRL FRIDAY.
THE
AWFUL TRUTH is a delightful screwball comedy that has lost none of its
charm in over more than six decades. Columbia TriStar has come up with a
respectable presentation that should keep movie buffs fairly happy. If you
are a Cary Grant or Irene Dunne fan, you’ll definitely want to check out
THE AWFUL TRUTH on DVD.