Broadway Danny Rose (1984)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1984
Running Time	80:58
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Woody Allen
Studio Distributor	MGM	Starring	Woody Allen Mia Farrow Nick Apollo Forte Sandy Baron Corbett Monica Jackie Gayle Morty Gunty Will Jordan Howard Storm Jack Rollins Milton Berle Craig Vandenburgh Herb Reynolds
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Nick Apollo Forte

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French 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	English for the Hearing Impaired French Italian Spanish Dutch Swedish Norwegian Danish	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

"May I interject just one statement at this point of time"

    I have recently reviewed the Woody Allen Collection which contained all seven films which Allen directed and starred in in the 1970s and also Take the Money and Run. As I admitted in those reviews, I am a fan of Woody Allen's work and enjoy most of his films. Accordingly, I wanted to review this film and was pleased to be able to.

    Broadway Danny Rose is quite a different film to those early ones in some ways, but very similar in others. This is an amusing and well written film which contains some great jokes including some very broad ones (cue the helium scene), just like the earlier films, however this one is also touching and has better characters who are more well rounded than those in the earlier films.

    The plot involves a spectacularly unsuccessful talent agent called Danny Rose (Woody Allen) who represents the worst collection of acts known to Broadway. They include a one armed juggler, balloon twisters, a one legged tap dancer and a blind xylophone player. Danny tries very hard to make these guys successful, including begging people to give his acts a chance. His only vaguely worthwhile act is a singer called Lou Canova (Nick Apollo Forte, who actually does the singing) who was a minor star in the 1950s but is now a drunk with an attitude problem. Lou is married but also has a mistress on the side called Tina Vitale (Mia Farrow). Lou's big concert is coming up and he wants his mistress to attend as well as his wife. Accordingly he asks Danny to take her along as his date. He reluctantly agrees and goes to pick her up but by a series of misunderstandings, her mob contacts decide he needs to be eliminated.

    The story is actually told as an anecdote amongst a group of Broadway hacks, eating in a diner, as the best story ever about Danny Rose. The film is entirely in black and white even though it was made in 1984. There are a couple of funny running jokes through the film, one involving the statement I opened the review with and variation of it. There are also cameos by Milton Berle, Howard Cosell & Underdog! It was nominated for two Academy awards in 1985 including Best Director and Best Screenplay, both for Woody Allen.

    Generally, this is a diverting and amusing film with a heart which would be enjoyed by any fan of Woody Allen.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise and showed good contrast between the black, white and shades of grey.

    Artefacts were quite minor with only some occasional white specks and some minor aliasing such as on blinds at 22:10, a building at 24:39 and Woody's trousers at 76:23.

    There are subtitles in 8 languages including English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear, easy to read but a little summarised from the spoken word. Strangely, they were white but enclosed in black boxes which partially obscured the screen. This was slightly annoying.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is good but mono.

    This DVD contains five audio options, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s and the same in German, French, Spanish & Italian.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The music in this film was supervised by Dick Hyman and includes popular songs from the 1950s as would have been performed by vocalists of that era. Some of the songs were actually written and sung by the actor who plays Lou, Nick Apollo Forte.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer are not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu was very simple, allowing for scene selection. It contained no music or motion.

Theatrical Trailer (1:05)

    A short, funny trailer which would attract you to see the film.

    This film has been released in Region 1 and Region 2  in a similar package with only minor differences in subtitle options and languages. Let's call it a draw.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good.

    The disc has only a theatrical trailer as an extra.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall