Slippery When Wet (1958)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Surfing	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1958
Running Time	72:18
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Bruce Brown
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Kemp Aaberg Del Cannon Henry Ford Freddy Pfhaler Dick Thomas
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$39.95	Music	Bud Shank

    This was the first "real" movie from surf film veteran Bruce Brown, who later went on to direct the classic Endless Summer. In 1958 Bruce was given a budget of five thousand dollars to produce a surf film. This budget was to cover all travel, cameras, film, living expenses and production costs.

    Surfer Del Cannon, who was to go on and feature in many of Bruce's future films, heads a group of surfers on a trip to Hawaii to surf at locations around the main island. Surf breaks featured in this film include Yokohama, Waikiki, Pupukea, Sunset, and Makaha.

   At the start of the film, Bruce Brown gives a short introduction where he displays some of the equipment associated with this film including the original financial records that show a profit of two dollars from the original run. In the middle of the film the original intermission is included and at this point Bruce Brown gives a short history outlining what happened to many of the surfers featured in the film. Both the introduction and the intermission segments were recorded for the films re-release on video in 1990.

    This is an entertaining surfing film that shows footage from surfing's golden age. If you have enjoyed other films from Bruce, Slippery When Wet will make an interesting addition to your collection and give you an insight into the history of the film maker.

Video

    The feature is presented Full Frame (1.33:1) and consequently is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The picture is rather soft, but considering the source material was shot on 16mm stock and is more than 40 years old, this is quite acceptable. Some low level noise is apparent during the introduction and intermission segments but does not occur at any other stage in the transfer. This low level noise is not distracting at any stage. Shadow detail does not pose any real problems here as nearly all shots are brightly lit in full sunlight. One short scene that shows poor shadow detail can be seen at 62:32 but as it only lasts a few seconds this is only slightly disruptive to the viewer. Quite a few of the original shots were overexposed in their initial filming and consequently show poor contrast - an example of this can be seen at 7:13.

    Colour is acceptable throughout and is consistent with film processes of the time. i.e. the colours look like a 1960s film and not the bright vibrant colours we expect from today's films.

    At no stage during the feature are MPEG artefacts visible. Aliasing also poses no problem at any stage in the film.

    There are constant film artefacts that can be seen in nearly every shot. Initially this is very distracting, but you are able to easily accept and ignore these as the feature progresses. A number of small problems can be seen during many scene changes, with the film splices showing some damage. This results in a quick flash being visible at many of the edit points during the film but these are easily overlooked and are not distracting. There is a reasonable amount of film grain evident throughout most of the transfer, as you would expect from a 16mm film over forty years old. This is also able to be easily ignored by the viewer.

    A small number of NTSC to PAL conversion artefacts can be seen during the feature with examples visible at 2:17, 9:28 and 13:46. There are a few occasions, such as 20:50 and 21:29, where telecine wobble occurs. A couple of analogue tape errors can be seen at 2:24 and 57:52 which occur for a single frame each. All of these artefacts are not distracting to the viewer.

   Three subtitle tracks - French, German and Spanish - are included. These are displayed in a white font with a black outline and are easy to read at all times. I am unable to comment as to the accuracy of these titles.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand during the film. As the film is narrated with a voice-over, dialogue sync was never a problem during the transfer. There were no audio dropouts at any stage.

    This was the first film scored by jazz legend Bud Shank and it is effectively presented here, in the original format, performed by the Bud Shank Quartet.

    The surround channels and subwoofer were not used at any stage.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall