Peter Sellers' Many Pink Panthers, Part 2 (DVD/ Blu-ray Comparison)

...Continuing from Part 1, we come to the the sequels, all of which are making their HD debuts in Shout's set.  The first of these, is 1964's A Shot In the Dark.  I already told the story of how A Shot was never originally intended to be a Pink Panther film; but never the less, this is where it really all clicks into place.  Clouseau is now the protagonist and he speaks in more than just the generic French accent of the original, but the unique, eccentric manner he's famous for.  And while he did briefly wear a similar rain coat and hat in the first film; he spent the majority of his time lounging around in sweaters; where here he's truly become the signature Clouseau character.  This is also the film where we meet series regulars Inspector Dreyfus, Cato and Andre Maranne's Sgt. Francis.  Really, the only missing element is the panther diamond and its name in the title.

Many call this the best of the Panthers, and it's hard to argue against that.  Lots of great gags, contrasted against an elegant and classical mystery.  There's a touch of restraint.  George Sanders lends the film some dramatic credibility to play the humor against, Graham Stark proves a fun, contrarian assistant and Elke Sommers... well, at least they didn't have to dub over her entire performance.  Fun fact, by the way, this one was co-written by The Exorcist's William Peter Blatty.

So, of course I've got the same 2004 DVD set and 2017 Shout Factory sets as in Part 1.  And once again, I've got a single disc release.  But instead of the more modern 2006 disc, this time I've got the original 1999 DVD.  That should be fun for these comparisons, because it has distinctly different transfers.  That's "transfers," plural, because it's a flipper disc with an anamorphic (unlike the original film's  widescreen version, plus a fullscreen on the flip.  So four clearly distinct transfers comin' up!

1) 1999 US MGM DVD widescreen side 2) 1999 US MGM DVD fullscreen side
3) 2004 US MGM Collection DVD 4) 2017 US Shout blu

So first of all, wow, look at that fullscreen transfer.  No open matte there; they've actually chopped off more picture than they left in.  And interesting that the fullscreen (1.33:1) and widescreen (2.34:1) editions on the same disc also have unique color timings.  I guess they actually used two separate masters?  Curious.  You'll also notice that this 1999 widescreen disc pans surprisingly far to the left than the other widescreen editions.  Anyway, the 2004 disc already got another new master.  It's not just another adjustment to the colors, going considerably more red, the framing's been slightly adjusted, with a new AR of 2.29:1, and they've done some clean up (note the disappearing green spot in the second set of shots).  But now comes along the HD transfer, with slightly paler colors again.  Detail is definitely the strongest yet, though still a bit on the soft side (for HD; it obviously trumps the DVDs with no difficulty).  Apparently this is a 4k scan of the interpositive, and it has a very naturally filmic feel.  They've also reframed to a more accurate 2.35:1, which includes little extra slivers on the sides.

The 1999 DVD just gives us the original mono audio and an equally mono French dub, with optional English and French subtitles.  The 2004 DVD adds a 5.1 mix, a Spanish dub and Spanish subs to that.  And Shout, as you'll see they consistently do, strips away all the foreign language options, but now gives us three English tracks, throwing in an additional stereo mix to their mono and 5.1 (all in DTS-HD) and English subs.

Special feature-wise, this film's always been barebones 'till now.  The 1999 disc had the trailer and an 8-page insert, and the 2004 boxed set only added a photo gallery.  Interestingly, Shout's packaging doesn't suggest it has anything else either, only listing the trailer and a still gallery, because they've actually come up with a bunch of great new stuff.  First off, there's an audio commentary by Jason Simos of the Peter Sellers Appreciation Society.  We're going to get commentaries from them on all the sequels in this box, and Simos is quite good, with lots of information and a pleasing, conversation style.  Then there's a cool 23-minute on-camera interview with producer Walter Mirsch.  This is all new stuff Shout made for this set, and they don't list it on the back of the case, just the trailer and gallery... bizarre.  Anyway, then there's a cool vintage clip of Blake Edwards and (his wife) Julie Andrews on The Dick Cavett Show.  It's not an amazing interview, but they show deleted scenes from the film, which are the real treat.  Then there's a series of five trailers, which are worth watching for some unique animation, and three galleries.  Great stuff!

The Return Of the Pink Panther is an interesting one.  For one, like it's title says, the pink panther diamond is back.  And this time it's being pursued by Christopher Plummer, and Clouseau must travel to Moracco to solve the crime.  It almost feels like Plummer and Sellers are in two different movies, one a fisticuffs-filled thriller, and one a screwball comedy.  Sure, Plummer gets caught up in the comedy; but he laso has some long action sequences played quite straight, with Edwards' deft direction somehow bridging the gap.  1978's Return comes almost ten years after Sellers' last Panther film, so times have changed, but the team proves they can make Clouseau's antics work just as well as ever.  Anybody who says A Shot isn't their favorite entry usually picks Return instead, because everything in this one works so well, especially since nobody could be sure Edwards and Sellers could bring back the magic all these years later.  But they surely proved themselves here.

Interestingly, this one, one of the better known and beloved entries in the film series, isn't in the 2004 boxed set.  That's because this film seems to have wound up in Universal's hands, rather than MGM's.  I do have a 2006 single disc release of it, though, from their Focus Films line.  And thankfully, Shout was able to license it for their blu-ray set, giving the film its HD debut in America (Universal had already put it out on blu in the UK in 2016).  So let's have a look at those.

1) 2006 US Universal DVD 2) 2017 US Shout blu

Looks like they're still using the same master.  Framed at 2.35:1, Universal's copy looks quite good - especially for its time in 2006 - so I guess they didn't feel the need to spend on a return to the film elements.  There's a little bit of flicker and speckles of debris, but grain is surprisingly authentic for such an old master, giving it an overall very pleasing, film-like feel.  The two discs look like concurrent releases, with the step up from SD to HD being the only obvious distinction - you'd never guess one disc was eleven years older than the other.  But that's more a compliment to the DVD than a criticism of the blu.  When I read that Shout wasn't giving this a new scan, I was prepared to be let down, but I'm actually pleasantly surprised.  Contrast/ black levels could be a smidgen deeper maybe, and the colors aren't exactly overflowing, but overall this is really nice.

Universal gives us the original mono track, plus optional English, Spanish and French subtitles.  Shout gives us the mono but upgraded to lossless DTS-HD, plus optional English subs.

Universal has nothing to offer but some random bonus trailers, however once again, Shout has cooked up some terrific new stuff and completely undersells it on the packaging.  The case lists the trailer, TV spots and a still gallery.  This is of course all there, but we also get a brand new interview with Catherine Schell, who plays Plummer's scheming wife, a nearly half-hour interview with the production designer Peter Mullins, another fact-filled audio commentary by Jason Simos, and a vintage 'making of' featurette.  Plus, there's actually three trailers, three galleries and several radio spots.  Why keep them secret?  So strange.  Even if you just want to list some of your special features, to not overcrowd the back cover, what's the logic in giving that space to minor things like stills galleries and TV spots instead of the brand new interviews, audio commentaries and all the great stuff that would really compel people to buy this set?

The Pink Panther Strikes Again brings us to 1978, and where the polish starts to rub off this series.  I know there's a contingency that likes this film best, though, and I can see why.  This is the one that really gets silly.  Instead of trying to solve a manor-house murder or catch a jewel thief, Clouseau is now on the hunt for his own police inspector Dreyfus who's becomes a literal cloak-wearing super villain hiding in a secret castle with a giant ray-cannon that can evaporate entire cities.  This is just a big tonal change, which I assume is designed to appeal more to kids, who after all, are being drawn to the films by the never-ending cartoon series.  I can remember being a small child myself when I first saw a Panther film (not sure which one) and being super bummed once the animated credits ended and that was it for the cartoons; the rest of the movie followed a live action policeman.  So that may've had something to do with it; plus they're probably swinging the pendulum too far after having drifted afield in the other direction last time, doing all those non-comic Morocco drama scenes with Christopher Plummer.  This is some serious over-compensation, though.

Clouseau's disguises go from a silly mustache as an excuse to throw him into some out-of-career comedy bits into complicated special effects make-up showcases (a la Dana Carvey's infamous Master of Disguise).  They've bridged the gap between the movies and the cartoons, entirely to the movies' detriment.  And jokes are being repeated practically verbatim by this point.  For example, the scene of Clouseau swinging through the villain's lair and flying right out the window unnoticed is a perfect duplicate of him doing the same thing in the apartment building in A Shot In the Dark.  But still, this movie isn't all bad.  Let's face it, the plot has always mostly just been an excuse to string comic Peter Sellers scenes together, almost as much of a sketch show as a narrative feature; and there are still some high quality, original bits here, including some great English drawing room mystery scenes early in the film.  By now, the Cato attacks are really starting to feel like they're just being stuck in as tradition, and the amusing novelty's worn off even as they grow longer and longer; but they do come up with some clever ways to keep this one fresh.  Omar Shariff turns up for a super cool supporting role, and Henry Mancini teams up with Tom Jones for a great, Academy Award-nominated song.  And it is nice that Herbert Lom finally got to play a bigger role.  But the list of the really great Pink Panther movies had already concluded, and this one didn't make the cut-off.

It's not even the first film he's worn this suit of armor

Besides the 2004 DVD set and the 2017 blu-ray set, I've got the 2006 MGM single disc release.  At this point, it kind of goes without saying that these 2004 MGM DVDs and the 2006's are basically the same.  But I've got 'em, so I'll keep sticking them in to be thorough.

1) 2004 US MGM Collection DVD 2) 2006 US MGM DVD 3) 2017 US Shout blu

So the DVDs are virtually identical, anamorphic 2.31:1 transfers.  They look pretty good for DVD, but the blu-ray is still a very nice step up.  Another fresh 4k scan of the interpositive, this looks unsurprisingly like Shout's presentation of A Shot In the Dark.  Fixed to 2.35:1 and including a little more picture information, particularly on the left, Strikes Back receives a nice HD boost, though still feeling a bit soft in terms of fine detail and film grain.  And again, there's a bit of flickering and dirt, though those mostly just wind up serving as gentle reminders of the movie's filmic origins.  I actually like the colors and contrast even better on this one than Shot.

So the DVDs gave us the option of a 5.1 mix or the original mono, plus Spanish and French dubs, and English, French and Spanish subtitles.  Shout has once again dropped the foreign options, but in addition to bumping the English tracks to DTS-HD (and yes, it has English subs, too); they've added another stereo mix option.  However, Update 6/2/18 - see the comments: in this case, you'll probably want to play the 5.1 mix, even if you're usually a mono purist.  Why?  Because the mono and stereo mixes on the Shout disc are incorrectly pitched down.  In other words, everything sounds deeper, as if it were playing in slightly slow motion.  The disc defaults to the 5.1, so people who don't play with their audio settings probably won't even encounter it, but toggling between the audio tracks during, play, it's disappointingly noticeable.

You're probably picking up on the pattern by now, but just in case: the DVDs are barebones except for the trailer and a gallery.  And Shout's packaging suggests the same, but once again, it's got great, uncredited stuff.  There's another Jason Simos commentary, plus two substantial on-camera interviews, with Upstairs Downstairs' Lesley-Anne Down and editor Alan Jones.  Plus, there's another vintage featurette, four trailers, four TV spots, four radio ads and four galleries.  But, uh, keep that under your hat, I guess?

What's the next one?  Revenge Of the Pink Panther, the least memorable one, that's for sure.  It's the last legit Peter Sellers Pink Panther, really.  What stands out about this one?  Well, this is the one where Robert Loggia does The Godfather schtick, and where they wind up going to Tokyo.  Tokyo at least works to lend the film another exotic locale, giving Edwards something interesting to shoot and Burt Kwouk more to do.  But, man oh man, the bigger productions Sellers' costumes become, the less funny they are, like they're just trying to throw money at script problems.  Graham Stark really hams it up in a bad way here, especially compared to his much more enjoyable roles in previous films.  Edwards and his cast are still able to bring a certain charm to the proceedings, and big Clouseau fans will still say this movie's okay; but it's really just starting to feel like we're panning for tiny laughs in a long, dry movie at this point.

So I've got the 2004 set, the 2006 single disc, and the 2017 set.  Let's go.

1) 2004 US MGM Collection DVD 2) 2006 US MGM DVD 3) 2017 US Shout blu

Shout's blu-ray is not a fresh scan this time, but it's still a distinct improvement on the DVDs.  The 2.30:1 framing has been corrected to 2.35:1, revealing a tiny bit more on each side.  The colors are gently improved, and the HD really brings out the detail.  The jump to HD all the more satisfying because the DVDs seem a little over and unpleasantly compressed.  Nothing scandalous, but even compared to their sister Panther DVDs, they could've looked better.  And that's cheerfully cleared up on the blu-ray.  There are moments where it seems like they might've tried to sharpen or boost the image a little bit, grain looks like it's been tampered with in places - possibly because this is an older HD master, maybe just intended for DVD - but nothing egregious.  I mean, look at this.  It may not be perfect, but it's a very satisfying upgrade:

2006 US MGM DVD left, 2017 US Shout blu right.

As far as the audio, at this point, you guys can probably sing it with me.  The DVDs have a 5.1 mix and the original mono, plus Spanish and French mono dubs and English, French and Spanish subtitles.  The blu has the DTS-HD English tracks in mono, stereo and 5.1, plus English subs.

Special features-wise, the DVDs are still barebones apart from a trailer and gallery and Shout is once again unlisting their best extras.  But there is less stuff this time around.  The audio commentary is now by Patrick Maynard of the Peter Sellers Appreciation Society, as opposed to Jason Simos.  And I'll say that when he's talking, Maynard is fine and every bit as good as Simos.  Unfortunately, those moments are rare, and the vast majority of the commentary is silent dead air.  It's really hard to listen to, because the stretches of silence go on longer than the actual bits of commentary.  When he has information to share, it's welcome; but he seems to have a real misunderstanding of how audio commentaries work or something, because it's mostly just death.  Making this one of the worst audio commentaries I've ever heard, second only to Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare City and maybe the one David Cronenberg did for that Japanese edition of Naked Lunch that subsequent companies scrapped and replaced.  And apart from that, there's just trailers, TV spots, radio spots and galleries.

Look familiar?

Finally, we arrive at Trail Of the Pink Panther, which I can't believe was even released as an actual movie.  It feels like a TV special.  Peter Sellers had died at this point, but they still wanted to make more Panther movies.  So the first third of this film is consists of outtakes from the previous movies intercut with new scenes and a stand-in doubling as Sellers' Clouseau.  Then the second third is a clip reel of "greatest hits" comedy moments from the older films.  Those clips, by the way, are edited in such a way that they're less funny here than they were in their original contexts.  And then the final third has Absolutely Fabulous's Joanna Lumley play a news reporter who goes around interviewing cast members from the previous films (as their characters) about their memories of Sellers.  And then it all just finishes, open-ended and baffling.

If you saw this in theaters or bought this as a single release DVD, you got conned.  I still can barely believe Blake Edwards wrote and directed this sham.  But as the last disc is a boxed set, it does work as an amusing, elaborate special feature.  We see unreleased deleted scenes from the previous films, and it's sweetly nostalgic when Lumley chats up past co-stars, from Robert Loggia to David Nivens and Capucine.  And this is a genuinely funny, all new comedy scene where Lumley interviews Clouseau's never-before-seen father, expertly played by Richard Mulligan.  It also weirdly ends on a cliff-hanger, which is picked up again in Curse Of the Pink Panther, the one starring Ted Wass.  It's a curiosity.  And it's neat that MGM and Shout included it in their sets.  But it's also an exasperating sham.  Oh boy.

1) 2004 US MGM Collection DVD 2) 2017 US Shout blu

This one's not a fresh scan by Shout either, but that's fine.  It feels like they went the extra mile bumping this non-movie up to HD in the first place.  Comparing the earlier shot of Niven, Cardinale and Sellers to the same shot in Part 1, it's immediately evident how much better that footage looked in disc 1.  This one's flatter, duller and cropped a bit more... though all of that may be how the recycled footage looked theatrically, too.  Because the footage above really does look crisp and detailed, a very strong boost from the DVD version.  Again, it corrects a 2.30:1 AR to 2.35:1, pulling in a little more picture.  Contrast is a little up and down, and there's more dirt and flecks on this one than most, but it's still a perfectly fine HD transfer.  I've seen people out this one down a little further, but I think that may partially just be because the film doesn't look as nice.  You know, I wouldn't give it an "A," but there's really nothing wrong with it, and it's a solid HD boost that substantially upgrades the DVD.

And in terms of audio and special features, it's exactly the same story as the last disc.  DVD has 5.1 and the original mono, plus Spanish and French dubs and English, French and Spanish subtitles.  Blu has DTS-HD English tracks in mono, stereo and 5.1, plus English subs.  The DVD has just the trailer and a gallery, while the blu has another blanket of dead air... er, I mean Patrick Maynard commentary, plus two trailers and three galleries.

The Academy Award winning Pink Phink

That's about it for the Shout set, but I can't leave without pointing out that the 2004 DVD set also includes the six most famous Pink Panther animated shorts.  They're exclusive to the MGM set, but A Shot In the Dark is exclusive to the Shout set, which is infinitely more critical.  It's a bit of a bummer that Shout stopped at just the Peter Sellers films, especially when Trail ends on a cliff hanger, and the resolution isn't in the same box.  Sellers are the best films, though, and probably the only ones you really need unless you're a major fan (and I'm not sure, then, if you really even need those last couple Sellers ones), so it's not too painful a loss.  And it has to be pointed out, that all the other Panther films are available on blu.  Kino has put out Inspector Clouseau, Curse Of the Pink Panther and Son Of the Pink Panther, as well as volume 1 of the animated films, with volume 2 already being released this summer, and possibly more after that.  And those Steve Martin remakes have always been available from Sony; you can probably get them used for next to nothing now.

So yeah, I do remember back a couple years ago when MGM announced a huge blu-ray boxed set that was supposed to include special editions of absolutely everything, and yes, what actually came out falls short of that.  But what's important is that now they're all available in HD; and this particular set contains all the best ones, very affordably priced in one neat little package.  It's one multi-disc amary case in an attractive slip box with a 28-page booklet, plus an insert listing all the Shout Select releases. No Clouseau fan should be without it.

Peter Sellers' Many Pink Panthers, Part 1 (DVD/ Blu-ray Comparison)

"How many Pink Panthers are there?" is a complicated question.  I think the simplest answer would be: nine, or eleven if you count the Steve Martin remakes, and I don't even know how many if you count all the animated shorts and multiple television series.  And while it might be tempted to write-off the animated stuff as kids' fare and Saturday morning marketing, it's worth noting that the first animated short, 1964's The Pink Phink, won the Academy Award, which is more than you can say for any of the other films (though Henry Mancini's impeccable music received nominations, at least, for both the 1963 original and 1978's Revenge Of the Pink Panther).  So, in the end, the cartoon panther might be more culturally important than the actual feature films.  But anyway, that's just the simple answer, because the series is way more convoluted than that, at least in part because it was never conceived as a franchise.

The first Pink Panther was meant to be a simple, light-hearted caper film.  The protagonist was to be jewel thief David Niven, with the great Inspector Clouseau character just a minor character to be played by Peter Ustinov, plus Ava Gardner as his wife.  When the pair backed out and Sellers and Capucine were cast in their stead, Edwards started seeing the appeal of the Clouseau character.  He and Sellers formed a bond over silent film comedy and started improvising scenes and adding more and more comic moments for the inspector.  It got to the point that while Nivens' character might arguably still be the protagonist of the story, the focus had shifted thoroughly to Clouseau; and Nivens wasn't even asked back for the next five films.

Then, the second film wasn't even intended to be a "Pink Panther" film.  A Shot In the Dark was originally written as an adaptation of the completely unrelated stage play.  But when Sellers was cast and grew unhappy with how the film was going, he had Blake Edwards brought on to rewrite and direct the script featuring the Clouseau character.  After that, Jacques returned as the titular role in 1968's Inspector Clouseau, but this time played by Alan Arkin and not written or directed by Edwards.  It's generally not considered canon by serious fans, but then what does "canon" even mean in a series where a major character can die dramatically in one film and be back in the next as if nothing had ever happened?

Drawing the border around Sellers is further stymied by the fact that Curse Of the Pink Panther and Son Of the Pink Panther, starring Ted Wass and Roberto Benigni respectively, have direct continuity and many recurring cast members with the previous entries; and they're still written and directed by Blake Edwards.  And if you want to really get into deep cuts, you could start talking about Romance Of the Pink Panther, the one Peter Sellers wrote that never got made.  But, in short, it's a complicated mess.  And even the two major Peter Sellers 6-disc Pink Panther collections from MGM that we'll be looking at today don't even have all the same films in them.

But there's no question about where to start: 1963's The Pink Panther.  But it's still a bit of an outlier.  Longtime Clouseau fans revisiting this first film will notice that Clouseau is definitely a rawer, still not fully developed persona compared to the later films.  He dresses differently, acts differently, even his accent French is distinctly different.  And like I said, Nivens character is still essentially the protagonist, so Clouseau is often sidelined in a way he'll never be in any of the subsequent films, being left out of long stretches of the film and many comic set pieces featuring other characters.  Instead of being a typical Panther film, it's much more of a very 60s romp, more in line with something like Casino Royale or What's New Pussycat? (also starring Sellers and Capucine), with an ensemble cast getting into all sorts of goofy hi-jinks.  As such, Panther fans tend to prefer some of the later entries, where Clouseau is really the Clouseau we all know and love.

But on the other hand, revisiting them all now, the 1963 film holds up as one of the best.  Admittedly, it's somewhat uneven.  Claudia Cardinale's accent was apparently too thick, so her entire performance was unfortunately re-dubbed.  But I can't imagine she'd be any less of a wet blanket with another audio track.  And fans looking for the faster-paced comedy of the later films will probably be frustrated or bored by the stretches of romantic banter and the extended musical performance by Fran Jeffries in the middle of the film.  If you haven seen it in a long time and don't remember, it's a bummer to realize that familiar elements of the series, like Clouseau's regular interactions with Herbert Lom's Inspector Dreyfus or Burt Kwouk's Cato are completely M.I.A. in this one.

But if you can loosen up on your expectations a little, you'll find some of Sellers' set pieces are his funniest in the entire series.  Mancini's music truly is a perfect accomplishment, one of the all0time great film scores, and aligns perfectly with Edwards' elegant filmmaking.  This film is shot beautifully with exotic locations and attractive sets and costumes.  The ensemble cast is mostly a blast, including a young Robert Wagner, a highly intelligent turn by Capucine, and of course, Nivens is perfectly charming and wonderful.  And you know what?  Jeffries' musical number is damn catchy.  Some of the comedy is a little too wacky and easy, sure, especially in last act at a costumed ball where obvious gags are formulaically played out.  But compared to the later films which get too repetitive and cartoonish for my tastes, blurring the line between running gags and repeated jokes to an unflattering degree, the original Panther is positively refreshing.

So, MGM has released The Pink Panther on DVD... an awful lot.  From their original non-anamorphic flipper disc in 1999, to including it in all kinds of sets, like their massive United Artists collections and multiple Pink Panther boxes, not to mention all the duplicates put out in other regions.  I've got four for you guys today, including the 2004 Pink Panther Film Collection Starring Peter Sellers, a 2006 single disc release, the 2009 Collector's Edition blu-ray and 2017's most recent Pink Panther Film Collection Starring Peter Sellers blu-ray set, released in conjunction with Shout Factory as entry #14 in their Shout Selection series.

1) 2004 US MGM Collection DVD 2) 2006 US MGM DVD
3) 2009 US MGM blu 4) 2017 US Shout blu

So, we're looking at four different discs, but you'll notice we're mostly dealing with two different transfers.  The DVDs have one nearly identical set of framing and color timing, and the blus have another.  The DVDs are framed at 2.29:1, and have more of a warmer tone.  Look how the walls in the first two pics are practically orange; but they're pink in the next two.  This color timing difference is consistent throughout the running time of the film.  And while SD has never been able to fully capture film grain properly, you'll notice the DVDs have a waxy look that suggests some scrubbing, almost to the point of appearing stylized.  The blu-rays, meanwhile, are much more photo realistic and framed at a more accurate ratio of 2.35:1.  The shift is subtle, but overall more pleasing when you look closely.  For example, look how the man in the red sweater in the upper left hand corner in the second set loses most of his face in the DVD framing.  He's certainly not an important character to the scene, and it's not something you'd probably even think about if you were just watching the DVD at home any given evening; but the way the blu-rays include him looks more professional and what the DP most likely intended.

Am I getting a little too artsy with my comparison shots? MGM blu left; Shout right.

So, okay, it just about goes without saying that the blu-rays surpass the DVDs (a few unfortunate examples have proven that isn't always the case).  But what about the two blus in relation to each other?  Well, as you can see, they're using the same master.  So for most people, they are for all intents and purposes identical.  But they are different encodes, so sticklers would be right to point out that they actually are different if you zoom in closely enough.  If you zoom in to, like, 300% and click back and forth between them, pixelated patterns of captured grain do flicker back and forth.  Ultimately, I guess I have to say that MGM's disc is still ever-so-slightly better (sticking with the shots I've posted, compare the tip of Fran's chin for an example of a visible distinction).  But really, in motion, it's a completely arbitrary call.  If I'm going to get drawn into a forum debate, okay, the MGM disc wins; but practically speaking, they're interchangeable.

In terms of audio options, the differences begin to broaden.  The DVDs are the same, both letting you choose between 5.1 mixes and the original mono track, plus French and Spanish dubs and English, French and Spanish subtitles.  On MGM's blu, that's basically the same except the audio is now in DTS-HD, and they've added a few more dubs (German and Portuguese) and subs (Chinese, German, Korean, Portuguese and Thai).  Shout drops all the foreign language options, as they typically do, but besides carrying over all the English options (5.1 and mono in DTS-HD and optional English subs), they've also added a third English track, a 2.0 stereo mix in DTS-HD).  Mr. Purist here just sticks with the original mono, but that's an interesting little addition.

1) 2004 US MGM Collection DVD 2) 2017 US Shout blu

So now let's talk special features.  The original 1999 DVD was barebones except for the trailer, but by the time of the 2004 disc, they'd added a Blake Edwards commentary, which is fun and full of great info fans will want to hear.   And the bonus disc of the DVD Collection also has a key extra relating to the first film: a half-hour documentary called The Pink Panther Story, featuring interviews with Edwards, editor Ralph E. Winters, Sellers biographer Ed Sikov, producer Walter Mirisch, stunt coordinator Joe Dunne, script supervisor Betty Abbott Griffin and some kind of expert on film scores named John Burlingame.  It's quite fun.  There's also a ten minute featurette about the cartoons.  And by the time we get to the initial blu-ray, we also have a ten minute interview with Robert Wagner, plus two... weirder featurettes.  One is an interview with a real, convicted jewel thief and his biographer, and another is with a bunch of professional jewelers, who talk about the (fictional, of course) pink panther diamond itself.  They're pretty throw-away as they're barely connected to the film, but amusing little watches and I'd rather have them than not, I suppose.

Happily, Shout Factory carries over all of that, even the jewelers and cat burglar.  But they still manage to add to the collection, giving us an all new on-camera interview with Claudia Cardinale (in Italian with forced subs).  Plus, they throw on a couple stills galleries.  And, as you can see, they made some effort to improve the heavily interlaced SD features from the old DVDs, too, which I definitely appreciate.  So, just looking at the first film by itself, it may not be enough to convince you to double-dip; but all things considered, this is the best release of The Pink Panther so far.  It also includes an attractive 28-page booklet by Jerry Beck and comes in a nice slip box.  Of course, the best thing about the set is that it includes the rest of the films, which unlike the original, are all making their HD debuts... So come back soon for Part 2.

Something Unexpected From 88 Film's Asia Collection: The Gifted

This one was a real pleasant surprise for me.  I was completely unfamiliar with The Gifted before they sent for me to review, and last I'd looked, I thought 88 Film's Asia Collection was all Shaw Brothers and Inframan flicks from the 70s.  But this is a contemporary (2014) Korean movie about, well, I couldn't even tell what.  Horror?  Drama?  Or some kind of thriller, according to the back of the box.  But the label's official description really doesn't tell you much at all - and even that turns out to be inaccurate - so I was really jumping in blind.  And as an old hand who's burned through a few video store selections in my time, that's become fairly rare these days.

Well, the first thing I have to report is that this movie is a slow burn. If you appreciate a good slow burn, you're in for a treat.  But if not, back out now, because this one is super slow.  For the first solid half of this movie, I was thinking, well, this is an interesting choice for 88 but they're really gonna take a bath on this title, because it's just an earnest indie drama about how hard it is to earn a living in modern South Korea.  A young man was laid off from his last position, and because he'd never been promoted before he lost that job, no new company wants to hire him.  We see him go from interview to interview, meanwhile getting increasingly stressed out when he's back at his apartment alone.  Meanwhile, his girlfriend wants to buy a small cafe, but doesn't realize they can no longer afford it.  Her little brother has resorted to stealing cell phones, and our protagonist winds up pursuing small, miserable jobs that don't pay enough to make ends meet.  That's like the first hour of this movie.

It's all well shot, the performances are grounded and convincing and he makes good use of music.  But if I have one real complaint about this movie, it's that the characters are too broadly drawn, which makes the slow pace of the first half genuinely boring.  Eventually everything's going to pay off in a grand way, but the characters are too simplistic to sustain the first portion.  The girlfriend wants to make enough money to live a comfortable life, and is concerned about her brother.  That's like all there is to her for a very long stretch.  There's a scene where the girl tells her boyfriend to return a handbag, she hasn't taken the tags off of it; and I thought, finally, one moment where she doesn't just follow the very simple, one sentence motivation her character's had all along.  She doesn't just want money; she's rejecting money.  You know, in the really good indie dramas or comedies, they can make a meal of this kind of material because there's lots of subtle and relatable layers to the people you're empathizing with on screen.  Here, you just start to feel like they're clarifying something that really didn't need any more explanation.

So by now, I guess I've warded all of you away from this movie, but hang in there.  Like I said, the first half requires some patience, but it's still well made and the drama is painfully plausible.  And when this film finally takes its turn, it all comes together and starts to pay off in spades.  I won't spoil where it goes, but I'll say that this film definitely qualifies as a horror and makes an excellent spiritual successor to American Psycho (especially compared to the dreadful sequel it actually got).  No, it isn't satirical like AP, and it doesn't go after yuppies or any similar kind of archetype.  But it's a hard story that asks the question: why not respond sociopathically to a society that callously treats you completely mercenarily?  It's a powerful, disturbingly effective story, and you'll definitely be glad you took the ride by the end.

2018 UK 88 Films blu-ray.

88's blu of The Gifted, due to be released on the 28th, I believe marks this film's English-friendly debut on disc anywhere in the world.  This is a new(ish) film, and looks to have been shot on digital, so there's not too much at risk by way of the transfer, barring 88 doing anything foolish, which happily they don't seem to have done.  Their master is presumably a one to one copy of the filmmakers' DCP, so it looks just the way it's supposed to look, short of a 4k UHD edition.  And it does look just fine.  The picture is slightly matted to 1.85:1, and if detail is ever a little light, I assume that's down to the camera they used.  We're given the option of Korean 2.0 or 5.1 mixes, both in DTS-HD, with optional/ removable English subtitles.

There are no special features except for a 1.83:1 trailer with burnt in subs.  And the case features reversible artwork with an even darker, creepier design.

I've already shown this movie to a couple people, and they were quite impressed, too.  As much as any art can be judged objectively, I'd say The Gifted is an undeniably good movie.  But I have to admit the rewatchability's probably on the low side.  I really won't be surprised if 88 wind up taking that bath on this title.  But I hope they don't, because I'd love for them to surprise us again with more off-the-radar treats like this.

It's Alive, The Whole Bloody Crib from Scream Factory

I've covered a lot of Larry Cohen releases on this site, but not the most famous, iconic horror hit of his career: It's Alive.  Why not?  Well, because until today, there wasn't much to write about.  Warner Bros released it and its two sequels on DVD back in 2004, both in the US and the UK, and that's been it.  They repacked 'em once or twice, so you could buy the films individually or all together.  But there's just been those core, staple DVDs to serve the trilogy for all these years.  Until today, finally, Scream Factory has given them all new 2k scans from the original film elements and released the entire trilogy in HD for the first time ever.

1974's It's Alive is a real horror classic that stands up alongside the likes of The Omen, Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist.  And I think it's all thanks to the combination of the natural intelligence Cohen injects into his scripts with his knack for finding root, human issues that frighten us.  What if that cop we all count on to protect us in times of danger was really the danger?  Maniac Cop.  Ambulances, Uncle Sam, the food we eat and even God have all shown us their sinister faces we've all secretly dreaded they might be concealing thanks to Mr. Cohen, and probably the most sensitive of all those phobias is the fear expectant parents have of something being wrong with their baby.  And as the classic tagline for this baby reads, "there's only one thing wrong with the Davis baby... It's Alive."

That's heavy stuff; and while it's debatable how scary they actually make the killer baby (or how much they're even trying), the subject matter is still dancing on a raw nerve.  They manage to maintain some atmosphere by keeping it mostly in shadows and unseen, like the shark in Jaws, and pouring a rich Berrnard Hermann (Citizen Kane, Psycho, and a few other minor little efforts you may've heard of) score over all the proceedings.  But this film lays into the drama of the situation at least as much as the horror.  There some touches of humor, too, of course - this is our Cohen, after all - but this is about as far as he gets from his zanier horror outings like Q or Return To Salem's Lot, basically playing it straight and letting the severity of the situation sit with the audience.  A great cast, including the relatively unsung John Ryan, genre staple Andrew Duggan and Cohen regular James Dixon, really do their part to hold this up to a higher level of credibility than Cohen typically aims for.

But you can never really tap the same vein twice in horror.  If you're lucky enough to rattle audiences once, doing the same thing next summer just won't have the same effect, and the most successful horror sequels are ones that know to aim for something different, like Aliens or Evil Dead 2.  And It's Alive 2, a.k.a. It Lives Again... sort of does that.  The cast returns and the tone is relatively the same, including Herrmann's music.  But where the first is clawing at your raw emotions, this one is reaching out to us more on an intellectual level, offering us interesting ideas on an almost sci-fi plain as opposed to primal level of the original.  If we take it as a given now, after the first film, that monster babies are an issue, how do we deal with them, and what does that say about us?  The film was advertised as "now there are three of them," but thank god Cohen is able to put more into the script than that.  The new cast members (including the great John Marley) mesh perfectly with the returning stars, and Rick Baker's first monster looks a little better this time around.  It all comes together well enough to be a good, effective movie well worth the watch, despite their being, of course, only one classic in this series.

And speaking of there only being one classic in this series, along comes It's Alive 3.  It's subtitle Island Of the Alive tells you all you need to know about this one.  Lofty ambitions are put aside with Cohen instead going for more of a self-indulgent romp this time out.  And frankly, it's probably the best choice he could've made.  It's the 80s now, John Ryan is replaced by fan favorite Michael Moriarity, and the vibe definitely gets lighter as the infamous babies are exported to a Jurassic Park-like island.  Serious issues are still sort of being dealt with, including a memorable courtroom scene where Moriarity begs for his son's life, but it's full of goofy bits where he rafts onto a California beach from Cuba with a few of Fidel Castro's men or his brief stint as a shoe salesman.  Only James Dixon hangs in there from the previous films, but Cohen regular Laurene Landon fills in, as does horror icon Karen Black.  Island is almost more of a riff on the previous films than the conclusion of a trilogy, but it's still a good time I'd hate to miss out on.

2004 US Warner Bros DVD top; 2018 US Scream Factory blu bottom.
first two part 1, second two part 2, third two part 3.

I'm gonna lump these comparisons together, because it's the same story every time.  Warner Bros' DVDs are all 1.78:1, anamorphic widescreen, and frankly a little over compressed even for their time.  Consequently, Screams 1.85:1 blus are some very satisfying upgrades.  The films typically look a little soft, probably due to Cohen using small, frequently moving handheld cameras, and there are actually one or two flat-out out of focus shots.  But that's the filmmaking, not the home video transfers.  Scream brings out about as much clarity as they possibly good with their fresh scans, and they look a lot better.  The DVDs also seem to sport a little edge enhancement or other tinkering to try to smarten up their images, which has happily been done away with on the blus.  And the colors have been corrected, almost always to their benefit (I do wonder if they swung the pendulum a little too far into the greens for It's Alive 2, but that could just be me reacting to them reducing the excessive reds of the DVDs).  These films really needed updated masters to be brought to HD, and happily we've got them.

Update 5/2/18 (see comments): The DVDs for parts 2 and 3 are also slightly vertically stretched, which is corrected on both blus.  One more little benefit to upgrading.

For audio, we get some pretty straight forward bumps to uncompressed DTS-HD.  All the DVDs and all the blus just featured the original mono tracks, except for part 3, which has stereo mixes in both cases.  The DVDs did feature extra French dubs, as well as French and Spanish subtitles, but both the DVDs and blus feature optional English subtitles, which is all that really matters.

Now one thing Warners got right with their DVDs was bringing in Larry Cohen for his consistently excellent audio commentaries for all three films.  It has to be noted that for part 3, he was recording to a cut version of the film; and while all three films were released completely uncut on both DVD and blu, this means his commentary leaves some unnatural dead air during the scenes that were excised from his tape.  And he takes some pauses himself anyway on the other ones.  That's the only complaint about these otherwise terrific commentaries.  Besides that, the Warner Bros discs also included a trailer for each film.  And it should be noted that parts 2 and 3 were released as a two-sided flipper disc, a small annoyance Scream Factory happily did not continue.

They did port over the commentaries and trailers, though, so we're all good.  In addition to that, they created an excellent little mini-documentary going over the history of the entire trilogy, interviewing tons of key personnel, from Cohen to his producers and DP to Michael Moriarity and James Dixon.  It's only about twenty minutes long, but it's terrific; and honestly, I would've bought that on disc if it was released by itself.  Otherwise, though, these aren't quite the packed Collector's Editions we get when Scream goes all-out.  The only other new stuff Scream gives us are a new Q&A with Cohen from an It's Alive screening, where he just repeats anecdotes from the commentary anyway, and a new interview with Steve Neill, the effects artist for part 3.  They do also throw in some additional radio and TV spots for the first film, and stills galleries for all three, plus the first two films have reversible artwork.  And all three cases come in a thin cardboard box.

Ultimately, this is a very satisfying set.  But you know, they haven't quite given these movies the Nightbreed treatment.  It feels like Scream Factory is cutting down a bit on the number of special features they create in general, which is a disappointing trend.  It's wonderful that they brought in Michael Moriarity, but then all they used of his interview was those quick couple soundbites?  You'd think since they had him on camera, they would've chatted with him long enough to put together a  whole separate interview on disc 3.  And I'm worried that their titles further down the road (like, say, Alien Predators) will be more barebones, not less.  The price is certainly right, but I would've happily paid $20 for even fuller editions, especially since we already had the commentaries on the DVDs, so there's not so much new material.  But that concern aside, it's hard to be anything but quite pleased with this set.  The films look great and everything included is thoroughly rewarding.  It's hard to believe we haven't had It's Alive on blu before, in any region.  But we do now, and it's pretty great.