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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.
Jungle Fever (1991)

Jungle Fever (1991)

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Released 5-Dec-2001

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Drama Main Menu Introduction
Featurette
Trailer-Jungle Fever, Do The Right Thing; Clockers
Rating ?
Year Of Production 1991
Running Time 126:28
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (71:04) Cast & Crew
Start Up Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Spike Lee
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Wesley Snipes
Annabella Sciorra
Ossie Davis
Ruby Dee
Samuel L. Jackson
John Turturro
Case ?
RPI Box Music Terence Blanchard


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
German 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
Dutch
Swedish
Danish
Norwegian
Finnish
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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

Plot Synopsis

    Jungle Fever is a movie dealing with the relationship between an African-American and an Italian-American living in New York and the impact this has on all the people that they know.

    Flipper Purify (Wesley Snipes) is an architect for a successful New York firm who is happily married with a daughter. When a new secretary, Angie (Annabella Sciorra), joins the firm, Flipper begins an affair that results in him separating from his family. Both Angie's and Flipper's families disapprove of their relationship and the couple quickly recognizes the high levels of discrimination that they will face from all areas of the community.

    This movie, like many other Spike Lee films, features performances from Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, John Turturro, Sam Jackson and Spike Lee himself. Like all of Spike Lee's films, this movie deals with race relations but it is able to examine this at a more personal than seen in many of his other films.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is acceptably sharp throughout and no low level noise was detected at any time. The shadow detail displayed during the transfer is slightly disappointing with some scenes showing little information in the dark parts of the image. This lack of detail appears to be inherent in the source material and not a problem with the transfer.

    The colours displayed during the transfer are quite natural and appear to be accurately reproduced. The palette displays a high percentage of browns and grays reflecting the harsh urban environment the film is set in.

    No MPEG artefacts were detected during the transfer at any stage.

    A single aliasing artefact may be seen during the transfer at 116:02 but this is not distracting to the viewer. Two moiré artefacts may 23:18 and 112:39 but these occur for only a brief period and are not distracting.

    Numerous small film artefacts may be seen throughout the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 9:44, 14:22, 17:17, 24:59 and 29:36. These artefacts are all quite minor.

    Subtitles are provided in German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and English for the Hearing Impaired. I extensively sampled the English subtitles and found them to be consistently accurate.

    The layer change occurs at 71:04, mid-way through Chapter 14 and its placement is slightly disruptive.

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

Audio

    Both an English and a German Dolby Digital 192 kbps 2.0 soundtrack are provided on the disc. I listened to the English track in full and briefly sampled the German track.

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times.

    There were some slight audio sync issues detected at 34:10, 42:20, 56:10 and 65:37 but each of these appear to be due to ADR work and not a fault of the transfer. No dropouts were detected during the transfer.

    The original score by Terence Blanchard is supplemented by a dozen original tracks written and performed by Stevie Wonder. These tracks can be heard throughout the film and fit the on-screen action perfectly.

    The surround channels are not utilized during this transfer. There is a significant amount of low frequency information present during the numerous musical numbers found in the soundtrack .

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

Extras

Menu

    The non animated menu is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

Featurette (7:45)

    This is a standard promotional featurette with short clips from the movie mixed with brief interview segments. Like most of these featurettes, this extra provides no real insight into the movie. It is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Jungle Fever (2:25)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Clockers (2:29)

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Trailer: Do The Right Thing (2:03))

    This trailer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

R4 vs R1

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

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

    The differences are very minimal.

Summary

    Jungle Fever is an interesting look at some of the problems that an inter-racial couple will face and the opposition they must overcome from all parts of the community.

    The video transfer for this film displays very few problems and is only marred by the regular occurrence of minor film artefacts.

    The audio transfer is quite adequate for the film and is supplemented by an excellent musical soundtrack.

    The minimal extras provide very little insight into the film and would have been supplemented by a collection of biographies or filmographies.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Anthony Kable (read my bio)
Saturday, November 10, 2001
Review Equipment
DVDToshiba 1200, using S-Video output
DisplaySony KP-E41SN11. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationFront left/right: ME75b; Center: DA50ES; rear left/right: DA50ES; subwoofer: NAD 2600 (Bridged)
SpeakersFront left/right: VAF DC-X; Center: VAF DC-6; rear left/right: VAF DC-7; subwoofer: Custom NHT-1259

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