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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Doctor Dolittle (Blu-ray) (1967)

Doctor Dolittle (Blu-ray) (1967)

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Released 18-Sep-2013

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Musical Gallery-Photo
Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 1967
Running Time 151:08
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Richard Fleischer
Hugh Lofting
Leslie Bricusse
Studio
Distributor

Shock Entertainment
Starring Rex Harrison
Samantha Egger
Anthony Newley
Richard Attenborough
Case Standard Blu-ray
RPI $14.95 Music Leslie Bricusse


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 4.0 L-C-R-S
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.20:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 2.20:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Doctor Dolittle existed long before the seemingly endless series of films which began with Eddie Murphy as Doctor Dolittle in 1998. The character started in a series of books by Hugh Lofting, an English author, in 1920 and was first made into a film in 1967. That film, starring Rex Harrison, is now being released here in Australia on Blu-ray for the first time by Shock Entertainment. Despite being a major box office flop at the time of its release it has gone on to find a place in people's hearts as good old fashioned family entertainment (possibly with a couple too many songs). The studio were attempting to replicate the success of The Sound of Music and Rex Harrison's success in My Fair Lady.

     This was a big budget musical designed to be a big hit at the time, but unfortunately did not do well at the box office. The story, which is wrapped around the approximately 15 songs, involves a Doctor in a small English village, John Dolittle (Rex Harrison) who gets sick of his human patients and decides to focus on looking after animals and studying their ways. In the succeeding years he manages to annoy the local community with his ways but does learn how to talk in the languages of the various animals. This skill is taught to him by his talking parrot, Polynesia, who understands the languages of many animals and agrees to teach him. He is assisted by his friend, Matthew Mugg (Anthony Newley) and a young boy, Tommy Stubbins (William Dix).

     Mugg runs a business providing cat meat for local cat owners. Dolittle has a great desire to search the world for the Giant Pink Sea Snail. Eventually he goes too far with assisting local animals and draws the ire of the local Magistrate, General Bellows. He must escape the village to avoid being committed to an insane asylum and sets off on an adventure on his boat, The Flounder, with Mugg, Stubbins and the niece of the magistrate, Emma Fairfax (Samantha Egger) on board.

     Doctor Dolittle is a film which has a lot going for it, being fun, joyful and perfectly suited to even the most easily offended audiences (despite some mild sexism). There are some marvellous songs such as Never Seen Anything Like It and Talk to the Animals. There are some great scenes such as the Pushme-Pullyou sequence including a wonderful cameo from Richard Attenborough, the horse with glasses and the early sequences on the boat. It also has some flaws such as the overly long running time, too many songs and a slightly bizarre love triangle between Anthony Newley, a girl in her 20s (Egger) and the nearly 60 year old Rex Harrison (which is never really resolved).

     This film was nominated for 7 Oscars and won two for special effects and Best Song, although these wins and nominations were quite contentious at the time considering the poor critical and box office response.

     Despite the running time and a couple too many songs, this is an enjoyable film for all ages. My pre-teen boys loved most of it but got sick of the songs. It leaves you with a smile on your face and humming the best of the songs. Recommended.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     The video quality is good for a film of this age but not up to the best of Blu-ray.

     The feature is presented in a 2.20:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 1080p HD encoded using the AVC codec.

     Details and clarity were somewhat variable in this transfer especially for a Blu-ray. It was never bad, however some scenes were very detailed whereas others seem to go a little soft. It seemed to be related to a variable bit rate which ranged from around 8 Mbps to about 17 (either of which is lower than many Blu-ray transfers). Having said that, for a film of this age this is a good transfer just not as good as say Lawrence of Arabia on Blu-ray which is a film of similar vintage. You can certainly see how much better the feature looks than the trailer which is included on the disc, which is soft and fuzzy. Shadow detail was good.

     The colour is very good for a film of this vintage and looks pretty good on this Blu-ray without really popping.

     In artefact terms, there was quite a bit of shimmering on clothes etc., which was never terrible but was noticeable plus a small number of white specks and flecks, some mild motion blur and some mild film grain.

     There are subtitles available in English which are clear and easy to read.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is very good.

     This disc contains an English soundtrack in DTS HD-MA 4.0 as the only audio option. This disc provides a great listening experience for a film of this age with a spacious sound field with a nice clear and full sound, certainly the best this film has ever sounded.

     Dialogue is clear and easy to understand throughout.

     The score by Leslie Bricusse is wonderful and combined with some great songs. The music sounds great on this transfer.

     The surround speakers provided ambiance and music.

     The subwoofer was not used.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    A small set of extras are included.

Menu

    The menu includes music.

Photo Gallery (6:00)

    Production stills with music.

Theatrical Trailer (1:35) 

    Fuzzy and soft.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The only other edition which seems to exist of this Blu-ray currently is a German release which has an extra German dub but little else to distinguish it from this one. Buy local.

Summary

    A fun and joyful family musical from the 1960s (with a couple too many songs).

    The video quality is good but not up to the best of Blu-ray.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The extras are minor.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Review Equipment
DVDSONY BDP-S760 Blu-ray, using HDMI output
DisplaySharp LC52LE820X Quattron 52" Full HD LED-LCD TV . Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationMarantz SR5005
SpeakersMonitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer

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