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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Class (1983)

Class (1983)

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Released 15-Sep-2004

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1983
Running Time 94:13
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Lewis John Carlino
Studio
Distributor

MGM
Starring Jacqueline Bisset
Rob Lowe
Andrew McCarthy
Cliff Robertson
Stuart Margolin
John Cusack
Alan Ruck
Rodney Pearson
Remak Ramsay
Virginia Madsen
Deborah Thalberg
Fern Persons
Casey Siemaszko
Case ?
RPI $19.95 Music Elmer Bernstein
Tom Scott


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
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
German for the Hearing Impaired
French
Italian
Spanish
Dutch
Portuguese
Greek
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Back in the early 1980s there was a spate of less than serious American films dealing with the subject of a relationship between an older woman and a younger man, such My Tutor, Private Lessons and Class. The genre had been explored in more serious fashion in films like The Graduate and Summer of '42, and it seems as though this was the time that the theme was ripe for exploitation.

    In Class, Jonathan (Andrew McCarthy) is a new student at Vernon Academy, a prestigious prep school in Illinois for the offspring of wealthy Americans. He is at first the subject of practical jokes by his roommate Skip (Rob Lowe), but soon the two are firm friends. After Jonathan manages to get himself banned for life from the nearby boarding school for girls, Skip sends him to a pick-up joint in nearby Chicago. Instead of picking up girls, Jonathan is picked up himself, by Ellen (Jacqueline Bisset), an older woman. Of course, complications ensue.

    Well, this is a pretty dismal piece of work. Neither of the two young lead actors is convincing. What Ellen sees in Jonathan is beyond me, while Skip comes over as just annoying and unlikeable. It doesn't help that Rob Lowe seems to be wearing rouge and lipstick (though maybe that is a result of the video transfer). The characters are cardboard cut-outs and the plot obvious. Bisset comes off best, trying hard to make her character realistic but eventually defeated by the script. There's a brief and revealing appearance by Virginia Madsen in her first feature film. This was also the first film for McCarthy, John Cusack (who actually looks the right age to be a prep school student), and Lolita Davidovitch, who has a tiny role. Joan Cusack also appears briefly.

    I find it amusing that the school is called the Vernon Academy. What was really needed was for the late John Vernon to reprise his Animal House role as Dean Wormer and sort these twerps out. Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is reasonably sharp. There is a good level of detail, though in most cases focus is not very deep, so background objects tend to be slightly blurry anyway. The transfer is nice and bright without being perfect, and while shadow detail is lacking in some scenes, this is not consistent throughout the film.

    In terms of colour, the transfer has a distinct reddish hue. Flesh tones look a little too pink, and red objects are far too saturated for my liking. Blues and greens come across well, and black levels are quite solid and clean.

    The major problem I have with the transfer is the instability of the frame. There is noticeable telecine wobble throughout, not just horizontally but vertically as well. There is an example of the latter at 13:25.

    Film artefacts are abundant, mostly dirt and dust, noticeable throughout the running time. Grain is visible as well but not to excess.

    Optional subtitles in English are available. These are well timed and seem to match the dialogue. There is also some hard of hearing information, such as song titles.

    The disc is single-layered, so there is no layer change.

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

Audio

    The default audio track is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.

    Generally audio is satisfactory. While there is some hiss at times and some of the songs sound a little harsh, this is not unusual with mono source material. Dialogue is clear throughout.

    The music score is credited to the late Elmer Bernstein. Apart from a couple of soaring, lush and inappropriate bits of orchestral music, the bulk of the soundtrack is taken up with popular songs of the day. Any film that has Holiday in Cambodia on the soundtrack can't be all bad.

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

Extras

Theatrical Trailer (2:24)

    Well, this trailer gives away the whole plot. If I was feeling less than charitable, I would suggest just watching this and skipping the feature. It is 16x9 enhanced and in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The US Region 1 and UK Region 2 releases appear to be identical to the Region 4.

Summary

    A low-grade coming-of-age opus.

    The video quality is average.

    The audio quality is average.

    The sole extra is a trailer.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Philip Sawyer (Bio available.)
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-S733A, using Component output
DisplaySony 86CM Trinitron Wega KVHR36M31. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player, Dolby Digital, dts and DVD-Audio. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationSony TA-DA9000ES
SpeakersMain: Tannoy Revolution R3; Centre: Tannoy Sensys DCC; Rear: Richter Harlequin; Subwoofer: JBL SUB175

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