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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.
Sharpe's Company (Blu-ray) (1994)

Sharpe's Company (Blu-ray) (1994)

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Released 19-Aug-2020

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Action Trivia-Sharpe Facts
Gallery
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1994
Running Time 102:04
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Tom Clegg
Studio
Distributor
ViaVision Starring Sean Bean
Daragh O'Malley
Hugh Fraser
Michael Byrne
Pete Postlethwaite
Assumpta Serna
Clive Francis
Nicholas Jones
Michael Mears
John Tams
Case Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI ? Music Dominic Muldowney
John Tams


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

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

Plot Synopsis

     1812, Spain. The English army fighting the French commanded by Lord Wellington (Hugh Fraser taking over the role from David Troughton), as Sir Arthur Wellesley has become after his victory at Talavera, will be required to capture two great fortresses, those at Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, to secure their supply lines. As Sharpe’s Company starts the fortress at Ciudad Rodrigo is taken by assault with great losses, the fort looted and many of the Spanish civilians killed or raped. As the army moves to besiege Badajoz replacements arrive for the South Essex, including a new commander Colonel Windham (Clive Francis). Windham is a decent enough man, but he has brought with him additional officers for the South Essex; Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean) loses his temporary promotion to captain, being reduced to lieutenant, and he also loses command of his riflemen.

     That, however, is not Sharpe’s only problem. Along with the replacements for the South Essex has come Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill (Pete Postlewaite), an old enemy of Sharpe’s from his service in India, an evil, murderous, treacherous, dishonest, lying snake of a man who is more than marginally crazy and will do anything to hurt Sharpe and those he cares for. In addition, Sharpe’s lover Teresa (Assumpta Serna) has given birth to his daughter; both are now trapped inside Badajoz, with Teresa sending information to Wellington’s new spymaster Major Nain (Michael Byrne), who is equally as devious as Wellington’s previous spymaster Major Hogan. Sharpe knows that the only way to regain his captaincy and to protect Teresa when Badajoz is taken is to persuade Wellington to give him the command of the “Forlorn Hope”, the soldiers with little chance of survival who will be the first to storm the breach in the fortress walls. That is, if he can survive Hakeswill’s attempts to kill and / or discredit him and his riflemen.

     Sharpe’s Company featuring the characters created by Bernard Cornwell is again directed by Tom Clegg. This one starts with a bang, and ends with an impressive night-time assault on the walls of Badajoz amid smoke, explosions, screams, musket and cannon fire and death. Because the assault is staged against only a part of the fortress wall the limited numbers of soldiers is not as big an issue as it was for the Battle of Talavera in Sharpe’s Eagle. The rest of the film is dominated by the slimy, treacherous and odious Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill, showing that not all villains and threats to Sharpe come from the officer class! This is a standout performance by Pete Postlewaite who is simply superb. One’s skin crawls just watching him abuse his power while toadying to officers; you cannot wait to see him get what is coming to him. Sharpe’s riflemen don’t have a lot of screen time, the exception being Sergeant Harper (Daragh O’Malley) who is flogged for something he didn’t do (which Hakeswill, of course, engineered).

     Sharpe’s Company features the most impressive action sequence in the series so far and a wonderful, obnoxious, Pete Postlewaite. Sean Bean has more to work with, and does it well, becoming a much more rounded character in this excellent episode on Richard Sharpe’s journey.

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Transfer Quality

Video

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

     Sharpe’s Company was released here on DVD about a decade ago and was reviewed on this site here. DanielB thought this release was better than the earlier two in the series but still decidedly average. 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 although even then some scenes look soft and hazy even when the haze cannot be attributed to drifting cannon or musket smoke. Other mid and long scenes are fine, with strong detail while close ups of mud, blood or power marks on faces of the soldiers are also strong. Colours are natural and a vast improvement over the DVD; check out the bright red coats of the English infantry. In dark interiors detail can be lacking, there is noise, minor crush and a browny tinge. Exteriors, such as the night-time assault by the Forlorn Hope on the Badajoz breach, amid smoke, movement and explosions, come up very well. Skin tones can also vary, as does contrast in some sequences. Grain is for the most part controlled, marks were absent.

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

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

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 mostly utilised for music, horses’ hooves and tramping feet. In contrast, the assault on Badajoz is predictably a riot of shots, explosions, screams, orders and calls, the most impressive in the series so far. The subwoofer added depth to the explosions and cannon fire. The music by Dominic Muldowney and John Tams used some period tunes and period instruments and was effective.

     There are no lip synchronisation issues.

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

Extras

Sharpe Facts

     Two silent text screens with facts about the intelligence networks both the English and French operated in Europe, inside each other’s country and military.

Gallery (1:34)

     Colour photos with music and text, partly a summary of the episode, partly some on-set pictures including constructing part of the walls of Badajoz.

R4 vs R1

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

     There are Blu-ray releases of Sharpe’s Company in various regions, some are single discs, some sharing a Blu-ray with Sharpe’s Enemy, some in collections, including in Sharpe: The Classic Collection which is similar to our release. Some of the other collections and individual films list 1080p video and lossless 2.0 audio.

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

Summary

     Sharpe’s Company is the strongest of the Sharpe series so far. There are varied challenges for Sharpe to overcome including the odious and conniving Sergeant Hakeswill, his family to save and a battle to survive.

     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.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Monday, August 31, 2020
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 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 DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE