Castle, The: Re-mastered and Re-Plastered (1997) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Comedy |
Menu Animation & Audio Alternate Music/Sound Score |
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Rating | ? | ||
Year Of Production | 1997 | ||
Running Time | 81:49 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Rob Sitch |
Studio
Distributor |
Working Dog Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Michael Caton Anne Tenney Stephen Curry Anthony Simcoe Sophie Lee Wayne Hope Tiriel Mora Eric Bana Charles 'Bud' Tingwell |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | ? | Music | Craig Harnath |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Alternate Audio Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Personally, I had not seen this film for a few years before I sat down to watch this new release as I refused to purchase the original release. It confirmed in my mind that this is one of the best Australian films ever made despite being low budget. There is a warmth to this film which makes the comedy even more amusing and poignant. The casting is marvellous and extends to minor characters such as Farouk the neighbour. It is also interesting to note Eric Bana and Wayne Hope in smaller roles when they were less well known. This combined with the excellent dialogue makes for a great comedy. The themes are very Australian and the film speaks to some core Australian values such as our sense of fairness and our desire to own and keep our own homes despite what they may be like.
I won't carry on too much about the film itself as most of our readers would know it well, however, check out Darren's review linked above if you need a refresh. Otherwise the big interest here is in the information below.
The video quality is good but still restricted by its low budget origins.
The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original theatrical aspect ratio or close to it. It is 16x9 enhanced.For those, like me, who refused to buy the previous edition due to it being 4x3 can rest assured that this problem has been resolved here. You can see in the pictures below that the framing is somewhat different to the Region 1 widescreen version. This is especially noticeable in the scene where National Nine News logo shows on the screen.
The picture is on a par with the previous release in sharpness and clarity terms i.e. not overly sharp. It is interesting to note however that the picture here looks closer to the Region 1 release in terms of brightness and contrast as opposed to the slightly overbright previous Region 4 release. There is some mild grain throughout and shadow detail is only average.
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Region 4 Poolroom Edition - 18:46 | Region 1 - 19:44 | Region 4 Re-Mastered and Re-Plastered Edition - 18:46 |
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Region 4 Poolroom Edition - 75:42 | Region 1 - 76:39 | Region 4 Re-Mastered and Re-Plastered Edition - 75:42 |
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Region 4 Poolroom Edition - 52:34 | Region 1 | Region 4 Re-Mastered and Re-Plastered Edition - 52:34 |
The colour was decent but quite dull showing this film's budget roots. There was some oversaturation especially in early scenes and some minor chroma noise occasionally.
From an artefacts perspective there was some minor macro-blocking in backgrounds such as at 56:35, some small white spots such as at 15:59 and a green spot at 69:47. Reel Change markers noted on the previous release do not seem to have reappeared here.
There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired. They were clear and easy to read but somewhat summarised.
There was no layer change during the movie.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The audio quality is very good.
This DVD contains four audio options, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448Kb/s, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448Kb/s which features extra orchestral score, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s and an English Audio Descriptive Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s. I would guess that the first 5.1 track is the same 5.1 remix which featured on the 'Poolroom Edition'. The second one includes more incidental music but is is fairly unobtrusive. Both feature the Aussie dialogue as opposed to the changed version made for the US market.
Dialogue was clear and easy to understand which is obviously a key factor for this film.
The surround speakers are used occasionally but certainly add to the atmosphere of the film especially the planes going overhead.
The sub is used sparingly mostly for planes.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
No extras are included once again and I can only guess that the explanation offered by Rob Sitch in the previous review still holds true. Of course, recording a commentary track now would not be too hard to organise, you wouldn't think...
The menu including scenes and audio from the film but was otherwise unremarkable.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This is now the version of choice to my mind as it has the original dialogue and the original aspect ratio.
The video quality is good.
The audio quality is very good.
The disc has no extras.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output |
Display | Sony FD Trinitron Wega KV-AR34M36 80cm. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC). |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Pioneer VSX-511 |
Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer |