Sharpe's Eagle (Blu-ray) (1993)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Trivia-Sharpe Facts Gallery
Rating
Year Of Production	1993
Running Time	?
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Tom Clegg
Studio Distributor	ViaVision	Starring	Sean Bean Brian Cox Daragh O'Malley Assumpta Serna Michael Cochrane David Troughton Martin Jacobs Katia Caballero Michael Mears John Tams
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Dominic Muldowney John Tams

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080i
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     1809, Spain. The English army commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley (David Troughton) fighting the French in the Peninsula has advanced into Spain to Talavera to link up with their Spanish allies. Sir Arthur desperately needs some good troops but instead the Horse Guards in London send him the untried South Essex regiment commanded by a pompous, vain, cowardly Sir Henry Simmerson (Michael Cochrane) who has friends at Court and in the Horse Guards. Sir Arthur and his spymaster Major Hogan (Brian Cox) decide to send Simmerson and the South Essex on a mission behind French lines to blow up a bridge; their idea is that when Simmerson messes it up they can get rid of him back to England. But to keep an eye on the South Essex, and to make sure the bridge gets destroyed, Hogan goes along taking Lieutenant Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean) and his riflemen with him.

     Sharpe is very quickly at odds with Simmerson and two of Simmerson’s officers, Lieutenant Gibbons (Neil Dudgeon), who is Simmerson’s nephew, and Lieutenant Berry (Daniel Craig), both pompous lecherous men, with designs on the Contessa Josefina (Katia Caballero) who is travelling with the column. Another of the South Essex’s officers, Major Lennox (David Ashton), however, earns Sharpe’s respect. To complicate matters, Sharpe’s lover Teresa (Assumpta Serna) is in command of the Spanish partisans in the area around the bridge.

     At the bridge they are attacked by French infantry and cavalry; Simmerson’s incompetence sacrifices Major Lennox, the bridge is blown leaving Sharpe and the riflemen on the wrong side of the river, and the South Essex regimental colours are lost. Sharpe promises a dying Lennox that he will capture a French Eagle in compensation for the lost colours. For his actions Sharpe is promoted to captain by Sir Arthur, a promotion Simmerson had sought for Lieutenant Gibbons. In the lead-up to the Battle of Talavera, Sharpe must whip the South Essex into shape to fight the French, romance Teresa, protect Josefina, hold onto his promotion to Captain and avoid being murdered by Berry and Gibbons. And then, in the battle, work out how to capture a French Eagle without being killed.

     Sharpe’s Eagle, directed by Tom Clegg, is the second of the series of films made for ITV that feature the characters created in the books of Bernard Cornwell. As the characters of the riflemen were established in the first film in the series, Sharpe’s Rifles, Sharpe’s Eagle can dive straight into the themes that will continue throughout the series; political chicanery (especially from Major Hogan), love interests, conspiracy and secrecy, French opponents, well-staged action, the friendship with Sergeant Harper (Daragh O’Malley) and especially pompous vainglorious officers. Michael Cochrane is suitably slimy although rather a cliché as the cowardly Sir Henry Simmerson, an officer who will cross Sharpe’s path in future films, while of note are two actors who would go on to bigger things; Neil Dudgeon, who took over as DCI Barnaby in Midsomer Murders a decade ago and is still going strong, and Mr James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, whose Lieutenant Berry is nasty and vicious. Sean Bean, of course, just is Sharpe! Also good is Gavan O’Herlihy as an American officer with the South Essex.

     Sharpe’s Eagles is an exciting adventure. The budget is not as big as it was later when the series proved popular so the numbers of soldiers in the Battle of Talavera sequences are definitely light on but by concentrating on the principal characters, using closely framed shots and with lots of smoke, gunfire and explosions, it almost gets away with it, but not quite. There is also some excellent dialogue: Sharpe’s description to his untried men of what it is like to be in a battle is one of the best descriptions of a black gunpowder battle I have heard.

Video

     Sharpe’s Rifles is presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio, in 1080i using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Sharpe’s Rifles was released here on DVD about 10 years ago and was reviewed on this site here. DanielB was unimpressed with the quality of the video calling it dull and lifeless and no better than VHS. The series was shot originally on 16 mm film and a note on the cover of this collection advises that “in mastering Sharpe to HD the original film negatives have been used to ensure the ultimate HD viewing experience. On rare occasions within the series, the original negatives were either not available or in too poor a condition to use--in these instances standard definition content has been up scaled to complete the narrative. This up scaling effects less than 5% of the content.”

     The result is a much improved presentation although by no means pristine. Exteriors in daylight fare the best; the marching columns of Redcoats, the battle at Talavera show good detail and wide shots such as the camp are pretty good with only marginal haziness. Close-ups are good, showing all the whiskers, dirt and lines on Bean’s face as well as the power marks on the faces of the soldiers. Grain is present but controlled, marks were absent. Colours are natural and a vast improvement over the DVD; check out the red coats of the English infantry. In dark interiors detail is lacking, with noise and minor crush. The interior near the beginning where Sir Arthur and Hogan talk is also very smoky. Skin tones can vary, as does contrast in some sequences.

     English subtitles for the hearing impaired are available. Subtitles also translate the sections of Spanish dialogue.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

     Audio choices are English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 640 Kbps and Dolby Digital 2.0 at 256 Kbps, so no lossless audio.

     Dialogue is clear. The surrounds were utilised for music, horses’ hooves and the shots and beating of drums during battle although there was nothing especially enveloping. The subwoofer added depth to the bridge explosion and cannon fire. The music by Dominic Muldowney andJohn Tams used some period tunes and period instruments and was effective.

     There are no lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
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Sharpe Facts

     Four silent text screens with facts about the English army of 1809, including their pay and equipment, as well as trivia about shooting the film in the Ukraine.

Gallery (2:43)

     Photos with music and text; half are essentially a summary of the episode, the rest on set pictures.

     There have been Blu-ray releases of Sharpe’s Eagle in various regions, in some single discs, some sharing a Blu-ray with Sharpe’s Rifles, some in collections, including in Sharpe: The Classic Collection which is similar to our release. Some other collections and individual films do have 1080p video and lossless 2.0 audio listed however.

     Our release, Sharpe: The Classic Collection, includes 14 movie length adventures on seven Blu-rays. Sharpe’s Eagle shares a Blu-ray with Sharpe’s Rifles.

     Sharpe’s Eagle is an excellent addition to the Sharpe series. There is set piece battle, a bridge explosion, vainglorious, lecherous and pompous officers (who are not gentlemen), political chicanery, a woman to protect, a love interest and the comradeship between Sharpe and his squad of riflemen, especially Daniel Harper.

     The video, although 1080i, is a vast improvement over that of the DVD, the audio is still lossy Dolby Digital. Nevertheless, fans of the Sharpe series should be happy with this improved presentation.

     Sharpe: The Classic Collection was supplied for review by ViaVision Entertainment. Check out their Facebook page for the latest releases, giveaways, deals and more.

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