High Anxiety (20th Century Fox) (1978)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1978
Running Time	90:12
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Mel Brooks
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Mel Brooks Madeline Kahn Cloris Leachman Harvey Korman
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	John Morris

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Dutch English for the Hearing Impaired French German for the Hearing Impaired Italian Spanish French Titling German Titling Italian Titling Spanish Titling	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    Mel Brooks is considered one of the great directors of comedy cinema, and righfully so. With a career spanning 40 plus years, Brooks has delivered some absolute classic comedies. But for every one of his greats, i.e.: Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Producers or History Of The World Part 1, he has also made some fairly inept films. Take for example Dracula: Dead And Loving It, Robin Hood Men In Tights, and to a lesser extent Silent Movie. These films have a common thread: they contain little to no humour, which is tragic for supposed comedies. High Anxiety unfortunately belongs in this latter group.

    The genre Brooks is attempting to lampoon is the Hitchcockian thriller. There are references to Vertigo, Rear Window, The Birds, Psycho, North By North West and many others, but what is lacking is the energy and irreverence he managed to bring to Blazing Saddles, which brilliantly roasted the western genre. The story revolves around Psychiatrist Dr Richard Thorndyke (Mel Brooks) who when taking up residency at the Institute For The Very Very Nervous observes some strange behaviour from the staff members. He is then framed for murder and has to clear his name before he becomes the next victim. Many non-humourous scenes follow.

    It is a shame that Brooks' gift for comedy is absent this time out, as the subject matter is begging for a send up. The cast, which includes Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman, are all top notch, especially Harvey Korman, who is probably the films saving grace. It is the material these talented comics are given that lets them down. The film was met with total indifference upon its theatrical release in 1978 and it is easy to see why. Three years later Brooks recovered from mediocrity with the fabulous History Of The World Part 1. High Anxiety isn't a terrible film, but with the comic potential the subject matter contained, a mediocre one is just as irritating.

Video

    High Anxiety is presented in the films original aspect ratio of 1:85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness of the transfer is acceptable but nothing more, and there are many scenes throughout the film that suffer from edge enhancement. Particularly annoying are any day time exterior shots; these being the most obvious. Shadow detail is adequate and there are moments of grain in the darker scenes, but nothing too distracting.

    Colours are fairly well rendered, but do appear washed out on occasion. This film has not been remastered and I suspect this is the best source material available.

    There are numerous film artefacts throughout the running time of the film, but they are mostly dark in nature and not too noticeable.

    For a twenty-five year old film the transfer is ok, but it is definitely in need of some attention.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    High Anxiety is presented with five Dolby Digital 2.0 audio tracks. They are: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. The English track is reviewed here.

    Dialogue is always clear and there doesn't appear to be any audio sync problems. The track is actually very minimalist, relying on visuals and camera tricks to increase mood.

    The music is by John Morris and suits the material well. The score emulates the great Bernard Herrmann and adds to the overall atmosphere of the picture.

    Surround channel usage is minimal, but there are occasional sound effects that jump out during the so called 'shock scenes'.

    The subwoofer supports both the score and the sound field nicely.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    Theatrical Trailer - Non Anamorphic.

    This disc is only available in Region 4.

   One of Mel Brooks's weaker entries, High Anxiety is still worth a look for fans of the director or for anyone who is curious. It is presented in a bare-bones package with acceptable video and audio transfers.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall