Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Comedy |
Main Menu Animation Theatrical Trailer Booklet |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1972 | ||
Running Time | 84:13 (Case: 88) | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (57:23) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Woody Allen |
Studio
Distributor |
Twentieth Century Fox |
Starring |
Woody Allen John Carradine Lou Jacobi Louise Lasser Anthony Quayle Tony Randall Lynn Redgrave Burt Reynolds Gene Wilder |
Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
RPI | $34.95 | Music | Mundell Lowe |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Auto Pan & Scan Encoded |
English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (256Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (256Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (256Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (256Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (256Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English English for the Hearing Impaired German German for the Hearing Impaired French Italian Spanish Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Portuguese Polish |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | Yes, some rabbits during credits |
I think MAD Magazine said it all when their profile of Woody Allen stated that he claims to be a typical New York citizen, which, as they say, should frighten the daylights out of other New Yorkers. I think little more can be really said for this film, because my interest in the plot itself soon dissolved to an even lower level than the interest I exhibit in a McDonald's cheeseburger.
The sharpness of this transfer is distinctly ordinary, betraying all of the twenty-eight years since this film was shown in theatres in spite of the fact that no details are lost. The shadow detail is poor, with the dark portions of any given shot being nothing more than large expanses of black that occasionally have some colour and detail swimming out of their edges. Thankfully, there didn't appear to be any low-level noise in the transfer, although film grain was frequently an issue, especially in the opening credits where the white background helped make it even more noticeable.
The colour saturation is very ordinary, also betraying the age of the film. It's not that the saturation in itself is particularly bad - it simply appears as if the photographic process simply sucked all the life and vivid detail out of the final image.
MPEG artefacts went unnoticed, which is a wonder considering that the film is in awful shape, and the abundance of grain must have played havoc upon the compression. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of some occasional mild aliasing. Reel change markings were apparent during the course of this transfer, betraying its release print source.
This disc is presented in the RSDL format, but I think I must have fallen asleep during the layer change. Attempts to locate it were unsuccessful. (Ed. It's at 57:23, in between segments, so it's very well hidden.)
Of course, the lack of life in the audio, much like the lack of life in the video, could probably be blamed fairly and squarely upon the source material rather than any specific transfer problem. Matching a video transfer that was taken from a print source is an audio transfer that has had no real restoration work done to it at all. The audio transfer is presented in a choice of five languages, all of them in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono: the original English dialogue, and dubs in German, French, Italian, and Spanish. I stuck with the original English, which was clear and easy to understand at all times in spite of the limitations of the mix. It is worth noting that during one sketch, most of the dialogue is in Italian, anyway. Audio sync didn't appear to be a problem at any point, although it was rather hard to tell for much of the main feature.
The music by Mundell Lowe reminded me of a really bad silent film, and I was thankful not to have an isolated score on this disc. It reminded me a lot of the piano playing during one part of The Muppet Movie, and didn't exactly help to set anything remotely resembling an atmosphere. Still, you cannot make a powerful score out of a satire that fails to make its audience laugh.
The surround and subwoofer presence on this disc is non-existent.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video quality is very ordinary, and looks as if it has been taken from a print element.
The audio quality is good for a mono mix, but is nothing special.
The extras are, in keeping with the rest of the package, very ordinary.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Toshiba SD-2109, using S-Video output |
Display | Samsung CS-823AMF (80cm). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL). |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. |
Amplification | Sony STR DE-835 |
Speakers | Panasonic S-J1500D Front Speakers, Philips PH931SSS Rear Speakers, Philips FB206WC Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Subwoofer |