Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blu-ray) (1961) |
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Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blu-ray) (1961) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Romantic Comedy |
Audio Commentary-Producer Richard Shepherd Featurette-A Golightly Gathering Featurette-Henry Mancini: More than Music Featurette-Mr Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective Featurette-Making Of-Breakfast at Tiffany's: The Making of a Classic Featurette-It's So Audrey! A Style Icon Featurette-Behind the Gates: The Tour Featurette-Brilliance in a Blue Box Featurette-Audrey's Letter to Tiffany Gallery-Photo-x 3 Theatrical Trailer |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1961 | ||
| Running Time | 115:05 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Blake Edwards |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Paramount Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Audrey Hepburn George Peppard Patricia Neal Buddy Ebsen Martin Balsam José Luis de Villalonga John McGiver Alan Reed Dorothy Whitney Beverly Powers Stanley Adams Claude Stroud Elvia Allman |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | Box | Music | Henry Mancini |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono German Dolby Digital 2.0 mono Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 mono |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 1080p | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English English for the Hearing Impaired Danish Dutch German Finnish French Spanish Swedish Norwegian Italian |
Smoking | Yes, constantly |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is an escort in New York with a fascination for Tiffany’s jewellery store. Paul Varjak (George Peppard) is a struggling writer with one published book and a writer’s block; he is also the kept man of the wealthy married woman 2-E (Patricia Neal) who sets him up in an apartment in the same building as Holly. Paul and Holly meet and become close friends but Holly is determined to marry a rich man so does not allow the friendship to go any further. Complications ensue, until an evening in the rain.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is based upon a novella by Truman Capote, who didn’t think Hepburn was suitable for his more earthy character of Holly; Hepburn was not convinced she was right for the part either, but wanted to do it. Marilyn Monroe was in the frame for Holly and the screenwriter for Breakfast at Tiffany’s was George Axelrod, who had worked on Monroe films before such as The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Bus Stop (1956), so they may have created a rather harder character. George Peppard was also not the original choice for the role of Paul, but Steve McQueen was unavailable because of shooting Wanted: Dead or Alive. The director Blake Edwards, who is known for the Pink Panther series of films with Peter Sellers, was also not the first choice to direct the film; that was John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Seven Days in May (1964)): there is not much doubt Breakfast at Tiffany’s would have been a different film with Monroe and McQueen in the leads and Frankenheimer directing!
Yet, what we get is impressive. Breakfast at Tiffany’s captivates, right from the opening scenes in New York to the climax in the rain. For all the doubts about Hepburn it must be said that she looks gorgeous in a black dress and she is lovely, mischievous and funny; when she is on screen she is delightful to watch and Holly has become one of her signature roles. Peppard is also good fun and fit, showing of his chest to good effect; his scenes with Hepburn are sweet and the two remained friends for years. The other major plus is the Oscar winning score by Henry Mancini that includes the Oscar winning song Moon River by Mancini and Johnny Mercer. Orchestral variations of the Moon River theme occur throughout the film to great effect, and it is impossible to imagine Breakfast at Tiffany’s without it.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is not perfect. Some of the aspects of the original story that remain that feel at odds with the rest of the light hearted, sentimental tone of the film, such as Paul being a kept man or Holly’s previous marriage (to the character played by Buddy Ebsen, who on the strength of his performance was offered the role in the long running The Beverly Hillbillies). Breakfast at Tiffany’s also feels slow in the middle section and the cocktail party scene, other than introducing a couple of characters such as agent O.J. (Martin Balsam) and Jose (Vilallonga), feels very dates, is not very interesting and goes on far too long. The other misstep, admitted by Edwards in the featurette included as an extra on this disc, is the stereotype Japanese man played by Mickey Rooney that is intended to be broad comedy but is anything but. However, the climax of Breakfast at Tiffany’s means all is forgiven: it is simple, beautiful and very romantic with the Mancini music, the rain and the bedraggled cat! No-one with any soul could repress a smile!
Breakfast at Tiffany’s remains a wonderful, entertaining film fifty years after release, mostly because of an unforgettable iconic performance by a lovely and captivating Hepburn and the wonderful Oscar winning music. Of course, the cat (or cats) in the film are delightful actors too.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the original ratio being 1.85:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code. The print went through restoration in 2011.
The Technicolor print is sharp and nicely detailed, with close-ups of Hepburn’s exquisite facial features wonderful. The colours are natural and rich, with good depth and separation. Skin tones are beautiful, blacks and shadow detail great, brightness and contrast consistent.
There are no marks or scratches; the film grain is pleasing. There is some obvious blur with motion against vertical lines, such as the vertical blinds in Paul’s room; see 21:39 for an example, but there are lots of other examples as scenes in Paul’s room are frequent.
Subtitles are available in English, English for the hearing impaired and a wide range of other European languages.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s has beautiful colours in a nicely detailed print, not looking its age at all.
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Audio choices are English DTS HD MA 5.1, a restored English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, plus German, Spanish, French and Italian, all Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. There is also a commentary track.
It is good to have the original mono audio available although the default audio on the Blu-ray is the DTS mix. It is thankfully not overdone, and the surrounds are mostly used for the wonderful Oscar winning score by Henry Mancini and the rain at the end, although there are occasional panning effects, such as the train. Dialogue is always clear and easy to understand. I cannot say that I noticed any subwoofer use, but nor did the film need it. The restored mono audio, not surprisingly, has less depth but works fine.
Lip synchronisation was good.
The audio track is perfectly adequate.
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Richard Shepherd was one of the two producers of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. He mentions locations, casting, differences between the novella and the film and discusses scenes he believes were important. He maintains that Hepburn was his original choice for Holly and explains his reasons; he is a fan of Hepburn and she can do no wrong. This is a low key commentary, with lots of short statements and long silences but as the film’s audio plays in his silences it is not too bad.
A reunion cocktail party for some of the actors who appeared in the cocktail party scene in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, plus a few others. They talk about the style and clothes in the film and provide anecdotes about the shooting of that party scene. Light weight but fun.
A moving tribute to the man, his music and his life by his wife Ginny and his two children, Chris and Monica, using black and white photographs and home videos. Includes some anecdotes about Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the Oscar winning song Moon River. Well worth watching.
In Breakfast at Tiffany’s Mickey Rooney played the comic Japanese character Mr Yunioshi. This role is used as a starting point by various people, including actress Marilyn Tokuda and members of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, to discuss racial stereotyping in American films and how the portrayal of Asians has, thankfully, changed. This stereotyping is also placed in a wider cultural context, such as the internment of American citizens of Japanese origin during WW2 – it seems if you were 1/16th Japanese you could not be trusted. This is a very interesting featurette. It is worth noting that in the “making of” featurette, also included in extras, director Blake Edwards states that he regrets that casting.
Director Blake Edwards, producer Richard Shepherd, casting director Marvin Paige, actress Patricia Neal, various extras in the party scene and the son and companion of Hepburn discuss the Capote novella upon which Breakfast at Tiffany’s was based, the changes made when Hepburn agreed to play Holly, the other casting, the party scene and the Oscar winning song. Interesting and informative.
Various people, including a designer, producer, magazine editor and Hepburn’s son discuss the look Hepburn brought to the screen and her choice of clothing including working with Paris designer Givenchy. Includes scenes from Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Paris When it Sizzles.
A publicity tour of the Paramount Studio lot; no connection with Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Extended publicity for Tiffany’s jewellery store in New York, which started in 1837 and moved to its current location in 1940.
Hepburn wrote a preface for a book, published in 1987, written to commemorate 150 years of Tiffany’s.
Divided into three sections of black and white and colour stills. No music, and the remote is used to advance to the next still. The sections are:
Unrestored theatrical trailer; interesting to compare with how the restored film footage looks!
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Blu-ray stand-alone releases of Breakfast at Tiffany’s are basically identical across all regions except for some subtitle options. All include the extras previously available on the DVD release.
I can find no listing of a similar Blu-ray set to the Audrey Timeless Collection elsewhere. A local bargain.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s contains a timeless, iconic performance by Audrey Hepburn and the Oscar winning score by Henry Mancini. The film looks great in HD and is still captivating fifty years on.
The video is very good, the audio perfectly fine. The extras are extensive, interesting and generally worthwhile.
A stand-alone Blu-ray of Breakfast at Tiffany’s has previously been available in Australia. The same Blu-ray is now released as part the three disc set Audrey Timeless Collection from Paramount that also includes Sabrina (1954) and Funny Face (1957). The set is a bargain for fans of Hepburn or classic Hollywood cinema if you do not already own the standalone Blu-rays.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony BDP-S580, using HDMI output |
| Display | LG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
| Audio Decoder | NAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
| Amplification | NAD T737 |
| Speakers | Studio Acoustics 5.1 |