Don Juan DeMarco (1995)

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General		Extras
Category	Romance	Dolby Digital Trailer-Rain Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1995
Running Time	93:09 (Case: 97)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jeremy Leven
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Marlon Brando Johnny Depp Faye Dunaway Géraldine Pailhas Bob Dishy Rachel Ticotin Talisa Soto Marita Geraghty Richard C. Sarafian Tresa Hughes Stephen Singer Franc Luz Carmen Argenziano
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Bryan Adams Michael Kamen Robert John Lange

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Hopeless Romantic? Well, you've come to the right place. My wife and I first saw this film when it came out back in 1995, just after we got married. Newlyweds tend to find things more romantic than normal sane people would, and we really loved this film. The soundtrack quickly became a favourite on the CD player or in the car, and the theme song Have you Ever Really Loved a Woman by Bryan Adams became one of those special songs for us. Well, it's nearly ten years on, and to my knowledge we had not seen this film again until I was assigned this DVD for review. We still found it romantic...

    Don Juan De Marco follows the story of a young man (Johnny Depp) who professes to be the legendary lover Don Juan. At the beginning of the story he decides to end his life because he feels he cannot go on without the one true love of his life. He climbs out onto the ledge of a tall building, dressed as a Spanish nobleman, including cape and sword. When the police try to talk him down he says he wants them to send the best swordsman to fight him so that he may die with honour. Instead they send him a psychiatrist, Jack Mickler (Marlon Brando), who is nearing retirement. By introducing himself as Don Octavio De Flores, Mickler talks the young man into accompanying him to a mental institution where he is committed for 10 days observation. If, after that time, a judge decides that he is not a danger to himself or mentally incompetent he will be released. Mickler takes on his case and as he spends time with him, the young man's romantic stories leads Mickler to believe that he may be telling the truth rather than being delusional. Mickler's relationship with the young man causes him to reassess his relationship with his wife of many years, Marilyn (Faye Dunaway).

    This film is suffused with a gentle romantic atmosphere rather than being a romance in the true sense of the term. It has a whimsical, almost otherworldly quality that is quite seductive. Anyway, I'm not too proud to admit it - I like this movie.

    If you are a hopeless romantic, you will love it. If you like your films full of explosions, gunfire and noise, look somewhere else for your entertainment.

Video

    The video quality is good but not spectacular.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is close to the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The box slightly incorrectly lists the ratio as 1.85:1.

    The picture was generally clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise, although the sharpness was affected by some softness from time to time and some very light grain. The shadow detail was reasonable but some scenes at night were a little murky, although scenes at night are pretty few and far between in this film.

    The colour was generally very good and there are no specific issues to report.

    Artefacts are minimal but I did notice a few specks of white here and there, some lines at 45:05 and some aliasing Venetians at 77:20.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read. Helpfully, subtitles appeared on the same side of the screen as the person speaking.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is very good.

    This DVD contains one audio option, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s. Despite what the box says there is no Dolby Digital 2.0 track.

    Dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync. Brando's tendency to mumble did not assist with understanding his dialogue and the subtitles came in handy from time to time.

    The score of this film by Michael Kamen is excellent and really sets the tone for this romantic film. It received many award nominations including an Academy Award nomination for Best Song.

    The surround speakers did add some atmosphere, especially for the music and for an occasional surround effect such as the birds at 33:10.

     The subwoofer was used, but mostly just for the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu is very simple and allows for chapter selection.

Theatrical Trailer (2:24)

    This is a good introduction to the film, but does include some minor spoilers.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Music Video
• Separate Film Score Audio 
• Biographies/Filmographies
• Star Highlights including clips from other films

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• 16x9 enhancement (although the transfer in Region 1 has been very well reviewed regardless)

   Based upon the above I am going to go for Region 4 as I don't believe the extras add up to much and the local release is 16x9 enhanced.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The disc has only a theatrical trailer in the extras department.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall