The Conversation (1974)

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General		Extras
Category	Mystery	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-Close-Up On "The Conversation" Theatrical Trailer Audio Commentary-Francis Ford Coppola (Director) Audio Commentary-Walter Murch (Editor) DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	1974
Running Time	108:52
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (48:10)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Francis Ford Coppola
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Gene Hackman John Cazale Allen Garfield Frederic Forrest Cindy Williams Michael Higgins Elizabeth MacRae Teri Garr Harrison Ford
Case	?
RPI	$34.95	Music	David Shire

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is a professional eavesdropper and wire tapper and is widely acknowledged by his peers as the best in the business. His skill in being able to tape conversations under very difficult conditions is second to none. Harry is very much a loner and, not unexpectedly given his profession, is paranoid about his own security and privacy. He is also strict about remaining distanced from those he bugs in his job, and with not being concerned about his assignments beyond carrying them out to the best of his technical ability. This works fine for him until the day he tapes the conversation of a couple, Ann (Cindy William) and Paul (Michael Higgins), who appear to be lovers but whose conversation is relatively innocuous. Harry, true to form, is unconcerned with the content of their conversation and sets out to deliver the tape to his client, known only as "The Director" (Robert Duvall). When Harry refuses to hand over the tape to the Director's assistant, Martin Stett (Harrison Ford), and Stett makes a veiled threat against Harry he decides to listen to the tape again and uses his skill to further enhance and clarify the conversation he has recorded, discovering in some previously unintelligible dialogue a murder plot. Now he's very much involved whether he wants to be or not and his involvement brings about consequences that have a profound effect on Harry.

    The Conversation, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola,  received Academy Award nominations in 1975 for Best Picture, Best Sound and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. While the video quality in particular shows its age this is actually a fascinating story which explores in detail what happens when a man, who normally bugs others and is consequently strict about his own privacy, is suddenly thrust into a situation where he is subjected to intensive bugging himself. The unravelling of Harry's character in response to his situation is fascinating viewing. That said, it is also important to note that this is a very slow moving story, and while many scenes do permit character development, they also reduce the progress of the story to a crawl.

    The Conversation is well worth a look if you're the patient sort. If you're into action films then you may well be bored to death by this movie.

Video

    Whilst only slightly more than 25 years old, the picture has quite a dated appearance. On the positive side, the source material used for the transfer is in quite good condition leading to a picture not heavily affected by large film artefacts.

    This transfer utilises an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced. The original film ratio is 1.85:1.

    The sharpness of the image varies from shot to shot. Whilst it's mostly reasonably sharp there are some shots which exhibit a noticeably softer appearance. There are many dark scenes in this movie and often the shadows are very deep and consequently contain only a limited amount of detail.

    The colour exhibits a dated appearance. This is exacerbated somewhat by the use of quite a dull and bland palette which utilises a lot of muted blues, greens, greys and browns with only an occasional splash of brighter, more vivid colours.

    From 6:48 to 7:01 there is a very noticeable block of pixels, approximately 22 wide by 16 high, located in a fixed position in the lower left hand corner of the picture. This block is noticeable because it does not fit with the surrounding image. This effect appears to be the result of an MPEG encoding error. Film-to-video artefacts are limited to some very minor aliasing. There is a smattering of film artefacts throughout but for the most part these are very small and easily overlooked. There are occasionally larger marks such as two round blotches which may be the result of water damage that appear between 102:52 and 103:24. Fine film grain is also visible.

    Subtitle options on this disc are limited to English For The Hearing Impaired. A 10 minute sample of these showed them to be very close to word perfect with only minor deviations from the dialogue. They are displayed in easily read white text at the bottom of the screen and are well timed.

    This is an RSDL disc with the layer change occurring during Chapter 7 at 48:10. It is noticeable but not too disruptive to the flow of the movie.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The soundtrack which has been remastered to Dolby Digital 5.1 still sounds somewhat dated but is otherwise in good condition. Some hiss is present.

    Three audio tracks, including Dolby Digital 5.1 English and two English Dolby Digital 1.0 commentaries, are present on the disc and I listened to them all.

    In general, the dialogue and sound are always clear except for when it is deliberately distorted as part of the recorded conversation that is an integral part of the plot. I noted no problems with respect to the audio sync.

    The musical score, by David Shire, is an interesting one which combines electronic sound effects with a quiet piano score, and definitely suits the nature of the story. Harry Caul is also a jazz lover, and on several occasions when he is alone in his apartment he plays his jazz records and accompanies them on his saxophone.

    Relatively subtle use is made of the surrounds in support of the musical score as well as to provide ambient noise.

    The subwoofer came to life on a couple of occasions to provide a deep rumble under the rest of the audio.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    A very nice selection of quality extras are provided, including not one but in fact two audio commentaries.

Menu

    The main menu, which is presented in a ratio of 1.78:1 with 16x9 enhancement, features both animation as well as Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded audio.

Featurette-Close-Up On The Conversation (8:38)

    This extra provides an opportunity to see Francis Ford Coppola and Gene Hackman behind the scenes and on the set talking about making the movie and discussing how to execute various scenes. It is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with Dolby Digital 1.0 audio. English subtitles are also provided.

Theatrical Trailer (2:42)

    A standard theatrical trailer which is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. The audio is Dolby Digital 1.0.

Audio Commentary-Francis Ford Coppola (Director)

    The Director talks almost constantly and covers subjects such as script development, how the story and the movie came about and how the money was raised. He provides a great level of detailed insight into the story and the characters' motivations. A fascinating point was how the filming of the conversation referred to in the title was carried out almost identically to the way that the characters execute it in the story. An excellent commentary. The audio is Dolby Digital 1.0.

Audio Commentary-Walter Murch (Editor)

    This commentary is by Walter Murch who filled dual roles in the production as Editor and Sound Mixer. He talks about his experiences making the film and provides a number of anecdotes. This commentary, while quite good, has large gaps and repeats much information that is provided by the Director's commentary. An interesting piece of information that is presented is that the Harry Caul character was modelled on Hal Lipset, one of the consultants who investigated the 18 minute gap in the Nixon Tapes, and was also a consultant on this film. The audio is Dolby Digital 1.0.

DVD Credits

    Two pages listing those responsible for the production of this DVD.

    The Region 1 and 4 discs are identical except for the inclusion of a mono French soundtrack on the R1 version.  Making the choice of disc is therefore really dependant only on the age-old question of which is better - PAL or NTSC? Personally, I'll take the Region 4 PAL version.

    The Conversation was an interesting film which has a worthy plot and manages to generate a certain level of suspense. However, the slow-moving story may prevent you from hanging around to see the end.

    The video exhibits a very dated appearance.

    The audio quality is also dated but still manages to do the job.

    The extras are excellent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall