Don's Party: 2-Disc Collectors Edition (1976) |
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Don's Party: 2-Disc Collectors Edition (1976) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Drama |
Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Summerfield, Picnic At Hanging Rock, Malcolm Trailer-The Great Macarthy Featurette-Crashing The Party Documentary Featurette-Tall Tales But True - David Williamson Audio-Only Track-John Hargreaves "Don" Recollections Music Video-You Am I's 'Don's Party' Inspired Video Gallery-Stills And Poster Gallery Trailer-Bruce Beresford Trailer Collection (9) |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1976 | ||
| Running Time | 86:35 (Case: 90) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper |
No/No Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | Bruce Beresford |
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Studio
Distributor |
Australian Film Comm Umbrella Entertainment |
Starring |
Ray Barrett Clare Binney Pat Bishop Graeme Blundell Jeanie Drynan John Hargreaves Harold Hopkins Graham Kennedy Veronica Lang Candy Raymond Kit Taylor John Grey Gorton |
| Case | Gatefold | ||
| RPI | $34.95 | Music | Leos Janácek |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) | |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.70:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Written by David Williamson and directed by Bruce Beresford, Don's Party is a towering piece of writing, providing a searching spotlight into Australian patio culture, marriage, mateship, Australian maleness, and desperate housewives.
Originally written as a play, Don's Party first appeared on stage in Australia in 1972. The great appeal of the play, for critics and audiences alike, was the its startlingly accurate social observation of Australian life, right down to the beer tinny holders and bowls of Twisties. The play's characters are representatives of upper-middle class Australian society. These are Australia's educated Ockers - pretentious, but only a small step away from their convict roots. As an English journalist once famously observed, "The trouble with Australians is that you can't tell from their behaviour or language how educated they are". Is that Australian egalitarianism, or Australian vulgarism?
Don's Party is set on Federal election night, 1969. A Labor supporter, schoolteacher, and failed novelist, Don (John Hargreaves) throws a party to celebrate what he imagines will be a long-awaited Labor victory. The party starts off quietly, as most do, but as the various characters arrive, the alcohol flows, and the chances of a Labor win dwindle, the drunken atmosphere becomes more volatile.
Most of the men grow more crude and lecherous with every drink, and they see the party as an opportunity for some boozing and adultery. Apart from Don, there's the likeable larrikin lawyer, Cooley (Harold Hopkins), the recently separated, Mack (Graham Kennedy), blustering former-academic, and management consultant, Mal (Ray Barrett), the timid, humourless, pipe-smoking, accountant and Liberal supporter, Simon (Graeme Blundell), and the arrogant and angry dentist, with the renovating habit, Evan (Kit Taylor).
There are also an interesting group of female characters, such as Don's long-suffering wife, Kath (Jeanie Drynan), Mal’s social-climbing wife, Jenny (Pat Bishop), the giggly and naive, Jody (Veronica Lang), and the self-obsessed artist, Kerry (Candy Raymond).
The drunken evening will force them all to face their failed marriages and crumbling aspirations.
Considering the source material is almost 30 years old, I was quite pleased with the quality of the transfer.
The widescreen transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.70:1, 16x9 enhanced.
The sharpness is generally good, as is the black level. Unfortunately the shadow detail is very poor, such as the exterior night shots at 54:53 or 82:10.
The colour appears a little dated, but otherwise is fine.
There are no problems with MPEG artefacts. Film-To-Video artefacts appeared in the form of telecine wobble over the closing credits. Film artefacts appear throughout, and while most are small, some are quite large.
There are no subtitles present on this single-sided, single-layered disc.
| Sharpness |  |
| Shadow Detail |  |
| Colour |  |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
There is only one audio track on this DVD: English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s). For a dialogue-based drama, largely set in a house, this is fine.
The dialogue quality and audio sync are mostly fine, with just the odd slip here and there.
The musical score is provided by a lot of the film's source music - the party tunes, which feature Johnny O'Keefe, which suits the film well.
The stereo track is not surround-encoded, and as such there is no surround presence or LFE activity.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use |  |
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| Overall | |
This two-disc set has plenty of genuine extras.
Animated with audio.
Disc One
Theatrical Trailer - Don's Party
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.
Aussie Theatrical Trailers
Disc Two
Featurette - Crashing The Party Documentary (139:52)
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio, this is a recently produced documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew. In particular, writer David Williamson, producer Phillip Adams, director Bruce Beresford and actor Graeme Blundell are outstanding, and provide an entertaining and information-packed account of the play, the film, and 1970s Aussie culture. With an in-depth look at the play and the characters, this is without doubt one of the best featurettes or extras to be included on a DVD.
Featurette - Tall Tales But True - David Williamson (57:49)
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital stereo audio, this is another genuine documentary. The focus here is on one of Australia's most successful playwrights, David Williamson.
John Hargreaves "Don" Recollections
An Audio-Only Track of a 1995 interview, set to a static screen.
Music Video - You Am I's 'Don's Party'
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.
Gallery-Stills And Poster Gallery
A series of stills.
Trailers - Bruce Beresford Trailer Collection
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
So far, it appears this two-disc edition hasn't been released on DVD in Region 1.
Energetic, fun, crude, honest, and wonderfully Australian, Don's Party is highly recommended.
The video quality is great for its age.
The audio quality is good.
The extras are genuine and excellent.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using S-Video output |
| Display | Grundig Elegance 82-2101 (82cm, 16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Sony STR DE-545 |
| Speakers | Sony SS-V315 x5; Sony SA-WMS315 subwoofer |