Brimstone & Treacle (1982)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	1982
Running Time	83:20 (Case: 87)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Richard Loncraine
Studio Distributor	Namara Films Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Denholm Elliot Joan Plowright Sting Suzanna Hamilton
Case	Alpha
RPI	$19.95	Music	Michael Nyman Sting Go-Go's

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In this adaptation of Dennis Potter's play, Sting takes the lead role as Martin Taylor, an unemployed con-artist out to scam anyone for a quick buck and a warm meal. We are led to believe that after numerous failures, Martin stumbles upon Tom Bates (Denholm Elliott), a cynical old man that starts to believe the stories and lies being spun by Martin. Through the art of conversation, Martin is able to ascertain that Tom's daughter Patty was in an accident that left her unable to look after herself. He also lays the groundwork of his story by masquerading as Patty's former boyfriend. However, at the last minute, Tom decides to head home in utter disbelief.

    Martin, not one to give up easily, follows Tom home and makes quite an impression on Tom's wife Norma (Joan Plowright) who invites him in to the house. Martin lays on the charm thick and fast and starts using Norma's position as a lonely housewife to his advantage. Martin edges ever-closer into their lives whilst all the while Tom wants to kick him out and Norma wants him to stay. You see, Norma has not left the house for years since her daughter's accident. Having Martin around, she can now pop down to the hairdresser's, collect the groceries and just get out and about rather than sitting in a stuffy house. Naturally, she will do anything to keep this new-found freedom of hers alive.

    All the while you can see that Martin is starting to take an all-too-keen interest in Patty as she lies there still in her bed. Can Mr & Mrs Bates see the error of their ways in time?

Video

    Well, for a movie made in 1982, I must say that I expected better quality film stock to be available to master the DVD from.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is rather dull which is due partially to being filmed primarily within the confines of a poorly-lit house. Shadow detail is acceptable with an acceptable amount of detail revealed in the murky lighting of this production. There is intermittent sections of low level noise, with the largest section being at 74:49.

    The colours were deliberately muted and drab. There were no irregularities with the colour rendition of this transfer - just don't expect any splashes of bright, primary colours, since there aren't any.

    There were MPEG artefacts noticed in several areas but the largest section was from 54:26 to 54:48. Aliasing is common but did not distract too much from the presentation. Film artefacts are everywhere and run for the entire length of the feature. They were mostly small specks and the occasional hair with the largest at 11:18 and 17:55.

    There are no subtitles on this disc.

    This disc is single sided and single layered, and therefore there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The only audio track to choose from is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track. As this movie is heavily dialogue-based, any additional soundtracks would probably be of minimal benefit anyway.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times. There was no hiss apparent at any point. Audio sync was not a problem at all with this transfer, and was completely spot on.

    The music was very reminiscent of an old Black & White Horror movie. When the opening credits were playing, I felt the music was out of place for this style of movie but after I started to get into the story, I changed my opinion. The music was from the Go-Go's, Sting did a version of "Spread A Little Happiness" and additional music was composed by Michael Nyman. The volume levels did not drown out the dialogue at any point during the movie.

    Being a 2.0 track, the surrounds were not called upon by the movie. When played again with Pro-Logic II decoding enabled, there was some nice subtle surround use caused by vehicle traffic from 5:21 to 5:45.

    The subwoofer was quiescent for this presentation and due to the dialogue-driven nature of this soundtrack, there were no real scenes that would have benefited from its inclusion.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    I have only been able to find a Region 2 review of this title.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Nothing

• Nothing

    If you are interested in this sort of movie then by all means give it a go, but I would suggest hiring it first to see if it is to your taste or not. It is, however, the best acting that I have seen Sting be able to come up with.

    The video quality was dull but still watchable and more a process of the original than any problems with the transfer to DVD.

    The audio, whilst only Dolby Digital 2.0, did not really need anything using more channels.

    The extras don't exist.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall