Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Audio Commentary-John Madden (Director) Music Video-Ricordo Ancor (Pelagria's Song)-Russell Watson Production Notes Biographies-Cast & Crew
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	123:31
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (79:05)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	John Madden
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Nicolas Cage Penelope Cruz John Hurt Christian Bale
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$36.95	Music	Stephen Warbeck

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Captain Corelli's Mandolin is another title that has come out of its rental window and hit the shelves of your local DVD retailer. You can read the original review of the rental disc if you like.

    Based on the 1994 novel by Louis de Berniéres, Captain Corelli's Mandolin is an 'against the odds' style love story set during World War II. The exquisitely beautiful Greek island of Cephallonia (spelt as Kefallonia in my atlas) is home to a small village doctor, Iannis (John Hurt). His daughter Pelagia (Penélope Cruz) has fallen in love with the handsome fisherman Mandras (Christian Bale) and a marriage is looming. Unfortunately, the year is 1940 and the war in Europe is in full fury. Italian forces are on the march, and Mandras heads off to Albania to fight against the Italians, leaving Pelagia at home on the island.

    The Italian forces are intent on occupying the islands in the Ionian Sea and invade Cephallonia, meeting little resistance with all the young men off fighting on the mainland. With German support, they quickly control the island, much to the disgust of the local population. The Italian officers are billeted out to the various homes in the village, with the Doctor and his now-lonely daughter Pelagia playing host to Captain Antonio Corelli (Nicolas Cage) and his mandolin. Pelagia is writing letters by the day to her love, Mandras, but has had no word of his well-being since he left for battle. The presence of the charming Corelli further adds to her frustration and longing for her man.

    Time passes and Pelagia finds herself drawn to Correlli's charm and intrigue. They appear to be falling in love despite a relationship like this being just about the worst thing that could happen at the time. Tragedy must surely be the only outcome, especially when the long-lost Mandras returns to join the Greek resistance. With the German forces placing little faith in their Italian counterparts, violence is looking likely.

    A love story wrapped around a war theme is designed to appeal to both the male half of the audience (who like the bullets, bangs, and bombs), and the female half of the audience (who like the romance, the lust, and the angst of forbidden love). This film actually manages to achieve that aim, whilst also providing a glimpse of the scarred history that the Greek island of Cephallonia has endured. While somewhat slow-moving in the early stages, it will reward those with patience, who will find themselves engrossed in the tale.

Video

    This is a rather nice transfer, although I am unable to determine if it is the same one that was used for the rental disc.

    Presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, this transfer is also 16x9 enhanced. Featuring the cinematography of the renowned John Toll (Braveheart), there are plenty of superbly shot scenes, with rich colours and vistas that would put any travel show to shame.

    The transfer is very sharp and detailed throughout, with virtually no evidence of any edge enhancement. Shadow detail is handled very well and grain is virtually non-existent. There is no low level noise. Colours are certainly a highlight. The rich greens and blues of the beautiful Greek island are conveyed superbly. There are no problems with bleeding, oversaturation, or chroma noise.

    I saw no MPEG artefacts. The main negative is that there is considerable aliasing present throughout, although to be fair it is quite minor in appearance. Some of the worst examples occur at 6:16 and 14:16. Being a relatively youthful film, I hoped there would be few, if any film artefacts. I was not disappointed as this is a very clean and near-pristine transfer in that regard.

    There are only two subtitle options, these being English and English for the Hearing Impaired. They are mostly accurate and well positioned on screen. I watched the film completely with them on during the director's commentary and found them to be adequate for the job.

    This is a dual layered disc with RSDL formatting. The layer change is at 79:05. It is quite noticeable but it occurs at a quiet moment so the disruption is minimal.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are two audio soundtracks on this disc. The first is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at the lower bitrate of 384 Kb/s. The other is an English commentary track and is a Dolby Digital 2.0 effort. I listened to both tracks in full. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is dynamic and rich in range with plenty of directional effects across the front speakers. There are numerous instances of surround use and the subwoofer is also called upon for many scenes involving various explosions and aircraft and the like. I noticed in the review of the rental disc, that some concern was raised over the inconsistent level of the bass at times. I didn't really have too much of an issue with this. I did notice a slight pop at 30:27 that did not appear to be part of the source. Marks are deducted for this.

    Dialogue is clear and well balanced in the overall soundtrack, despite the sometimes silly accents. There are no problems with audio sync.

    Some very interesting music makes up the score. According to the director's commentary, the score was recorded well before filming took place. It's interesting to see how it fits into various scenes. Plenty of string instruments, especially the mandolin (obviously) feature throughout.

    As mentioned above, there are quite a few instances of surround activity. The various planes flying around and the main battle scene sees the most action. The subwoofer is called upon several times, in particular during the scenes of the cannon firing, the mine detonation, and the various aircraft flying around. All the scenes see plenty of low range effects that will give the sub a decent test.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Audio Commentary - Director John Madden

    A mostly interesting commentary track from British director John Madden. He details some of the comparisons between the history of the island, the novel, and the liberties taken and difficulties that they had in bringing these to the screen. He talks for pretty much the entire film, though there are several pauses of a minute or two scattered throughout.

Music Video - Ricordo Ancor (Pelagia's Song)- Russell Watson

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, this non 16x9 enhanced music video also features a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Performed by "The Voice", Russell Watson, this is quite a stirring song. Unfortunately, the video quality is somewhat lacking, making this look not much better than VHS tape quality.

Production Notes

    Several pages of production notes that detail some of the island's history and the challenges faced by the production crew.

Biographies-Cast & Crew

    The standard biographical and selected filmographies for the principal cast and the director.

    The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on:

• English dts 5.1 Soundtrack

• Theatrical Trailer

    The Region 1 version of this DVD misses out on:

• Nothing

    The lack of the theatrical trailer on the Region 4 disc is somewhat bemusing, and the omission of the dts soundtrack follows an all-too-common trend. Having said that, I still prefer PAL formatting and from the Region 1 reviews I can find there is little, if any, difference between the Dolby Digital and dts soundtracks. What you consider important will be the factor in deciding which copy to go for. I favour the local disc for price and PAL over dts, but that's a personal preference.

    While quite slow-moving at times, Captain Corelli's Mandolin will reward those with the patience to get wrapped up in this engrossing romance. The little bit of the history of the Greek island of Cephallonia that we glimpse is both enchanting and thought-provoking. The only downside for the production is the out-of-place Italian accent that Nicolas Cage attempts (at times it is quite comical).

    The video is not without flaws, but is mostly pleasing with some beautiful colours on display.

    The audio is above average, with only a couple of tiny flaws.

    The extras are pretty thin. The commentary track is the highlight, but the omission of a theatrical trailer is a little baffling.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall