Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

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General		Extras
Category	Musical	Theatrical Trailer Booklet Audio Commentary-Norman Jewison (Director)
Rating
Year Of Production	1971
Running Time	173:27 (Case: 180)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (86:31)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Norman Jewison
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Topol Norma Crane Leonard Frey Molly Picon Paul Mann
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	$34.95	Music	John Williams

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.0 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired French Spanish Dutch Swedish Norwegian Finnish Polish	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Based on a book of short fiction called Tevye and his Daughters by Russian writer Solomon Rabinowitch (aka Sholom Aleichem), Fiddler on the Roof tells the story a typical Jewish family living the simple life at the turn of the century. Tevye (Topol) and his wife Golde (Norma Crane) struggle to match their three eldest daughters with suitable husbands from their little Russian village of Anatevka. Yente (Molly Picon), the town's unofficial matchmaker, has word that the local wealthy butcher Lazar Wolf (Paul Mann) has "cast his eye" on Tevye's eldest daughter Tzeitel (Rosalind Harris). She, however, has already nailed the young tailor Motel (Leonard Frey in an Oscar-nominated role) as her husband-to-be. With ever less desirable suitors baying for the hands of his remaining nubile daughters, poor Tevye attempts to hold on to tradition while addressing his children's blind passions. This juggling act, symbolized by a fiddler sawing out a tune perched precariously on a rooftop, has Tevye turning to God for guidance and some kind of uneasy reconciliation.

    Released in 1971, the film version of Fiddler on the Roof was an even bigger success than the original stage production, which played to full houses for years after its opening in 1964. Joseph Stein wrote the screenplay from his own stageplay, and Norman Jewison, who directed the original The Thomas Crown Affair and last year's The Hurricane, was brought in to lead the production. Fiddler on the Roof eventually won technical Oscars for best sound, best score, and best cinematography. Apart from Leonard Frey's supporting actor nomination, it was nominated for a further four awards including best picture, best director, best production design, and best actor for Topol.

    Fiddler on the Roof is a warm and personal movie filled with the humanity and substance that made Solomon Rabinowitch one of Russia's most beloved writers. The trials and tribulations of Tevye, played by the instantly likeable Topol (who always looks and sounds half drunk) are brought to life by terrific performances, a commitment to authenticity by Jewison, and by rousing musical numbers that must have been marvellous to behold in a packed Broadway theatre. Yes, this is a classic, and I am lucky indeed to have caught it sight-unseen on MGM's splendid DVD. "Le 'Cheiim!!"

    Note that our DVD package lists an incorrect running time of 180 minutes, which is most likely the NTSC running time, not taking into account the 4% speed-up of PAL.

Video

    To give the film a period look, cinematographer Oswald 'Ozzy' Morris and director Norman Jewison hit upon the idea of placing a beige silk stocking in the camera to diffuse the image. This means that sharpness is not as keen as it could be, although the main point is that the DVD presents the film as it was intended. (Oswald Morris later scored an Academy Award for his beautiful work on this film.) Textures and background details are still very much evident, though, thanks to the 16x9 treatment. Faint halos around objects silhouetted against the sky indicate a small degree of edge enhancement, perhaps to inject some vibrancy into a transfer that could have looked too 'soft focus' without it. Shadow detail was pretty good and blacks were okay most of the time.

   Colour saturation was good and consistent, presenting the predominately warm palette as it was intended. The flood of red during Chava's ballet sequence in Chapter 31 is handled easily, without colour bleed or low-level noise. Skin tones were also fine.

   This transfer lost most of its points with the prevalence of film artefacts, usually in the form of black and white specks clustered around each reel change, making it obvious that this is not a fully blown restoration. I'd say that the print used for MGM's letterboxed laserdisc in 1998 is the same one employed here, albeit remastered for DVD. Thankfully there were no alignment circles, although a nasty zebra stripe blotch appeared at 171:48. While the speckles are more common here than on most DVDs, they are not too distracting. Film grain is also visible throughout. The stocking also produced faint diagonal lines in the sky at 19:53 and 148:49.

   Compression artefacts such as excessive noise, macro blocking, and other glitches were non-existent. I spotted very mild cases of aliasing during two vertical pans, but these would be overlooked by the casual observer. The layer change at 86:31 is well timed.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Dialogue is easy to discern at all times. Understandably, synchronization is frequently off during the songs, which were recorded before the live footage was shot. None of the dialogue was distorted.

    Conducted by the venerable John Williams, the original stage music fills the room as the surrounds add much needed dimension to the soundfield. In fact, the music is the only aspect of the 5.1 track to use the surrounds, apart from the ghostly wailing of Lazar Wolf's undead wife in Tevye's concocted dream yarn. Issac Stern's expert solo fiddle playing comes out sharp and free of distortion.

    As for the rest of the audio, there are just enough left-right dynamics across the front stage to create a believable ambience. Owing to the age of the track, fidelity is limited. The subwoofer channel contributed very little to the soundtrack. More warmth would have made the addictive songs even more engaging.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menus

Audio Commentary by Norman Jewison (Director) and Topol (Star)

    There are inevitable pauses here and there; Jewison had not seen the film for 10 years and, like us, was seduced by the antics of those on screen. If you love the movie, this commentary is going to be worth gold.

Theatrical Trailer (3:45)

Booklet (8 pages)

• music playing over the menu

    If the Region 1 DVD contains a cleaner transfer it would be the DVD to go for, since the music would also running at the proper 24 fps timing rather than 25 fps (a semi-tone difference, Michael tells me). Without confirmation, though, the Region 4 DVD is certainly enjoyable as it is.

    MGM's DVD looks as good as it could with the source materials on hand. The 5.1 channel overhaul is disappointing, with the increased fidelity being the main beneficiary. An excellent audio commentary awaits those of you with three hours to burn.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall