The Breaking of Bumbo (1970)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1970
Running Time	89:46
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Andrew Sinclair
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Richard Warwick John Bird Graham Bond Jeremy Child Edward Fox Joanna Lumley Donald Pickering Natasha Pyne Simon Williams
Case	?
RPI	$14.95	Music	Brian Gascoigne

    Bumbo Bailey has just joined the Fusilier Guards as an officer. The Guards are a clique of upper crust young men who are obsessed with appearances, and like nothing better than drinking and picking up women. At a party held in a wax museum, Bumbo meets Susie. Susie belongs to a revolutionary group and Bumbo falls quickly under her spell, with disastrous consequences for his career.

    The Breaking of Bumbo was directed by Andrew Sinclair, from a screenplay by Andrew Sinclair based on a novel by Andrew Sinclair. This self-indulgent rite of passage film did not receive a general release in 1970, and it is easy to see why. The story is slight and unconvincing, and filled with the trappings of the swinging sixties. The dialogue is ludicrous at times, such as when Susie says "I'm a dropout from the affluent society. You get just as hung up being rich as being poor".

    The film seems to be striving to be a critique of the upper class, but does not put forward much of a case for the opposing view.

    This was one of the first films of Joanna Lumley, who plays Susie in a large red wig. Richard Warwick is an uncharismatic Bumbo, and there are numerous familiar faces among the supporting cast, among them Edward Fox and John Bird.

    I found this film to be quite dull, and the hackneyed plot contrivances annoying. The lack of sympathetic characters and believable situations deeply hurts the film, and it is no surprise that it was held back from release. Even as a curiosity piece, a slice of the late sixties frozen in celluloid, this is pretty disappointing stuff.

Video

    The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Judging by the framing of the opening credits, the original aspect ratio was something like 1.52:1, although I suspect that this has been cropped from the more common 1.66:1. It is a pity that we keep getting pan and scan releases of films. Even a non-anamorphic widescreen transfer would be better than this.

    The video transfer is reasonably sharp, with colour typical of films of this vintage, the film stock being slightly faded. Shadow detail is poor. Although none of the scenes occurs in darkness, it is difficult to see any detail in shadows. For example, I could not see where the revolutionary's beard at 37:25 ends and his clothing begins, as the contrast and detail is insufficient.

    There is a lot of stock footage of the Guards, protests and a soccer match included in the film. This footage has a slightly different look to the rest of the film: it is grainier, but warmer in colour.

    The film has some minor grain, though this is what you would expect to see on the cinema screen. Some film artefacts were present, for example a splice mark at 62:09, and the film has not been restored or even cleaned, with dirt, black or white flecks and small spots evident throughout.

    This film is presented on a single-layered disc and has no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is a single audio track in English Dolby Digital 2.0.

    The original soundtrack appears to have been monaural, and it has been faithfully reproduced here. There are no major audio glitches, with the dialogue being clear and easy to understand, so the absence of subtitles is only an issue to the hearing impaired. The sole glitches are two audio sync problems, one during the initial interview with the company commander and the other during the speech by the drill sergeant early in the film. The audio is very slightly out of sync with the lip movements. Otherwise, this is not a problem.

    The music score is by Brian Gascoigne, and is very much of its era. The song played over the opening titles is called "Red Is London", with the lyric "better Red than dead" repeated over and over, believe it or not.

    There is no surround or subwoofer usage.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    No extras are provided on this DVD.

    This film does not appear to have been released on DVD in any other region.

    This is a tedious and pretentious film presented on a bare-bones disc with a pan and scan transfer. I could not recommend this even to devotees of Joanna Lumley.

    The video quality is average.

    The audio quality is slightly above average.

    No extras are provided.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall