The Boston Strangler (1968)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1968
Running Time	110:57
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (68:00)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Richard Fleischer
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Tony Curtis Henry Fonda George Kennedy Mike Kellin Hurd Hatfield Murray Hamilton Jeff Corey Sally Kellerman William Marshall George Voskovec Leora Dana Carolyn Conwell Jeanne Cooper
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Lionel Newman

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	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Danish Dutch English Finnish French German Greek Italian Norwegian Spanish Swedish French Titling German Titling Italian Titling Spanish Titling	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    I was not aware of this film before it appeared on the release schedule but I was fascinated to see and review it.

    The Boston Strangler chronicles the true story of the man who is widely believed to be the man responsible for the deaths of 13 single women in Boston between 1962 and 1964. It would seem that he talked his way into woman's apartments, posing as a tradesman, and then proceeded to murder them, leaving their bodies in strange positions, shocking those who found the bodies. The man captured for the crimes was Albert DeSalvo, a family man living in Boston. He was never actually charged with the murders despite confessing to them in intimate detail. It would seem that the police felt they had the ability to keep him behind bars on other charges without having to prove he was the strangler in court. This proved to be correct and he was in prison up until he was stabbed in the heart in 1973.

    There is still an ongoing controversy as to whether he actually committed all of the murders he was credited with. The US CourtTV program has recently reinvestigated the murders using DNA evidence, without coming to any final conclusion, although they suggest that DeSalvo was not responsible for the sexual assault in at least one of the cases. The family of one of the victims, Mary Sullivan, believe that her murderer is still at large. If you are interested in further detail, www.crimelibrary.com has a large amount of material about this case and the ongoing controversy.

    The film itself is really split into two halves. The first shows the build up of fear and tension in Boston during the period in which the murders were occurring and the investigations which were undertaken by the police and Attorney General's department. The second half shows DeSalvo's capture and subsequent interrogation and confession. We do not actually see the murderer's face until nearly one hour into the film, which is very effective as we only know as much about him as the public would have at the time.

    The film makes excellent use of the multiple split screen technique, which would have been quite innovative when the film was made in 1968. One very effective use is when you see people returning home, with them in the hall on one section of the screen and inside their apartment in another. Also, the first half of the film uses very little in the way of close-ups, contrasting with the second half which highlights the killer in a number of close-ups. In addition to these visual techniques, the film also uses interesting camera angles. Overall, I found this film fascinating from a purely visual perspective, let alone the subject matter.

    Another interesting thing about this film is that it does not shy away from the sexual violence in the story and is still quite confronting despite being over 35 years old. Despite this, it is not gratuitous in any way with little nudity and very little gore. Some of the shocking violence committed against the women, however, is made quite clear by using clever camera angles which allow the viewer to see enough to know what has occurred without seeing every gory detail. I am sure that if this film was made today all the gore would be included and the film would be a lot less powerful accordingly.

    The cast is excellent including Tony Curtis as Albert DeSalvo, Henry Fonda as John C. Bottomley, the man appointed by the Attorney General to run the investigation, George Kennedy as Phil Di Natale, one of the leading detectives involved, and a young Sally Kellerman as his only surviving victim. Tony Curtis is especially deserving of praise as he plays against type, giving an excellent portrayal of a man who commits murders but doesn't seem initially to remember them and then begins to show that he may be a psychopath. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer who was also responsible for other well regarded films such as Soylent Green, the original Narrow Margin, Fantastic Voyage and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The fact that the film remains compelling, 35 years later, for its entire 110 minute running time is testament to the quality of his direction.

    Overall, I found this film a fascinating insight into the mind of a serial killer, an intriguing story and very visually interesting. Highly Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is good considering the age of the film but is not without issues.

    The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio. This is the only way this film would work. I cannot see how this film could be pan and scanned successfully due to the multiple window split screen effects used throughout the presentation.

    The picture was reasonably clear and sharp but certainly not crisp, with no evidence of low level noise. There were some scenes which seemed soft and others which were slightly out of focus, especially towards the end of the film. The shadow detail was reasonable with some details being visible. There was also noticeable but light grain throughout. One short scene at 19:14 looked quite murky.

    The colour was quite washed out, due no doubt to the age of the film, however, it was still not too bad. There was some minor colour bleeding especially noticeable at 10:50 where faces were seen on a dark background.

    On the artefacts front, there were a number to be seen but none of them particularly affected the viewing experience. There were occasional spots and specks, some very minor aliasing and some posterization especially around faces.

    There are subtitles available in 11 European languages including English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear, easy to read and quite close to the spoken word.

    The layer change occurs at approximately 68:00 within the second half of Chapter 15, however, despite repeated viewings I could not pick up exactly where it was.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is good but very front and centre focused. It is fine for this film but a little quiet compared to most soundtracks.

    This DVD contains five audio options, a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack in English encoded at 192 Kb/s, and the same in French, German, Italian & Spanish. There is some minor front separation with dialogue coming from one or other of the front speakers but mostly the soundtrack comes from the centre speaker.

    The score of this film by Lionel Newman does not play a major role in the film, with many scenes including dialogue only.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu included one photo, the ability to choose scenes individually and setup choices for languages, but nothing else.

    This movie will be released in Region 1 on September 7 in what seems to be a very similar format. It is available in Region 2 in the same format. Accordingly, the Region 4 release gets the nod due to availability and PAL formatting.

    The video quality is good considering the age of the film.

    The audio quality is good but virtually mono.

    The disc has no extras, which is a shame for a film of this calibre.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall