Topic: Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music

[Mr. Hankey]

Finally arriving on DVD on June 5, 2007:

A Little Night Music (1978)

SRP: $24.95

I'll buy this for Sondheim's music - I'll even bear with Elizabeth Taylor's murdering of Send in the Clowns. 

[chinoh151]

YES...I've been waiting for this. hehe 

 

[Mr. Hankey]

My ordered copy arrived last week, but was "accidentally" given to another buyer. 

Oh well... it's not as if I have nothing else to watch, anyway... 

[techdude]

It's now listed in Amazon as 'ship in 1-3 weeks'.  Looks like you will have to wait awhile for your replacement copy to arrive.   

___________

I don't know how accurate this reader's review on Amazon is, but it made me pause about ordering this title:

"This DVD is a major disappointment. Like so many other Sondheim fans, I'd been looking forward to this release because the 1978 film is--for better or worse--a rare record of one of my favorite Broadway shows. But, the film itself aside, this DVD is a problem. It is not professionally done. It's supposed to be a new, widescreen print in Dolby stereo, but it isn't. It's a terrible, scratchy old print, and the "widescreen" is apparently stretched out from a fullscreen TV print. The framing is so bad that the opening titles are all cut off, like on an old TV print. And the soundtrack is mono--not even very clear mono. There are more glitches and scratches and sudden jumps (indicating reel changes on old movie theater equipment) than you can count.

I swear, this looks and sounds like it was taken from a TV broadcast with second-rate equipment. Try pausing the picture, and you'll see the horizontal lines that indicate a broadcast on an obsolete TV. And there's a vertical slash down the entire center of the picture for much of the running time, projector damage from long ago. They didn't use the laser disc or VHF recordings, both of which are in much better shape, to make this DVD. Is this legal? Who is "Hen's Tooth Video," anyway?

I don't know what we can do about this, but you really want to think twice before ordering this title. I'm furious, and you will be, too. What a rip-off!"

[Mr. Hankey]

Now I'm hoping my dealer has difficulty finding this title.

I went through youtube, and I actually saw excerpts from another version of A Little Night Music. From what I remember of the movie, this is a huge improvement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZutBlUXUDI

Too bad it's one of those Lincoln Center PBS productions. Those are never released on DVD/home video. 

[Mr. Hankey]

I got my copy this week.

The Amazon reviews were a bit harsh. I've seen better, but I've also seen worse. Much, much worse, like The Bell Jar.

The DVD actually is widescreen, but it's widescreen NON-anamorphic, and the movie was apparently only shot at a 1:1.66 aspect ratio. I'm guessing the reviewer above was watching the image stretched on a 16x9 monitor, hence his comment.

Sound is mono (and I'd imagine it was filmed that way back in 1977), and the picture, although with dust and debris, is significantly clearer than the old VHS release, as evidenced by the two captures below (borrowed from DVD Talk):

VHS:



DVD:



As a film adaptation of a Sondheim musical, though... it still pretty much sucks. 

[techdude]

It's now listed as ship in '4-6 weeks.'