Dreaming of a Blu Christmas?

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Staff Writer

It’s December, only three weeks until Christmas, and like last year Thanksgiving weekend saw huge discounts on Blu-ray players, HDTVs, and many Blu-ray movies. People making the switch to high-def may well be looking for some good holiday-themed titles to enjoy on their new HD equipment. The small selection of Christmas Blu-rays available two years ago included such popular favorites as “A Christmas Story,” “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “Elf,” and “Polar Express.”

Last year they were joined by Blu-ray versions of the three all-time classics, Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the original 1947 version of “A Miracle on 34th Street,” and the 1951 version of “A Christmas Carol.” There was also the fun but rather more anti-Christmas-movie, “Gremlins” (1984).

Added to the list in the past few months were two more versions of “A Christmas Carol” - the 1984 TV production with George C. Scott, and the new Disney film with Jim Carrey - plus a 3-disc set of classic 1960s Christmas TV specials: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.”

Another beloved timeless holiday classic came to Blu-ray this November with Paramount’s lushly restored edition of “White Christmas” (1954), and in September the low-budget Legend company released a reasonably decent Blu-ray version of the original “Babes in Toyland” (1934), also known as “March of the Wooden Soldiers.”
 
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

Those looking for a more perverse and cerebral film for the holidays, however, may find it in Criterion’s late September release of Nagisa Oshima’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (1983). Oshima’s first English-language film is set in a Japanese POW camp and stars David Bowie in an oddly compelling tale of conflict between cultures and emotions, with a seething undercurrent of erotic tension.

The Criterion Collection’s usual high standards provide a sharp HD transfer of the picture, a DTS-HD Master Audio stereo soundtrack, and a good selection of bonus features (new and old) including a booklet but alas no audio commentary.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE” on Blu-ray—Movie: A- / Video: A /  Audio: A / Extras: A-

White Christmas

“White Christmas” will probably be the best choice of the new Christmas Blu-rays for the widest number of viewers with new HDTVs. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye star with Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen in the story of two army buddies who become a popular song-and-dance team after the war and join a sister act to put on a show at a remote Vermont inn that happens to be run by their old army general.

While its sentimental story is often hackneyed and predictable, the classic Irving Berlin songs and breezy performances remain an attraction. And now it has an extremely impressive upgrade in picture quality, with vibrant colors and looking as sharp as any new movie on Blu-ray. This is due partly to the fact it was the first film made in the VistaVision widescreen process, whose larger image area gave double the picture resolution of other films of the time.

Paramount has reworked the audio into a pleasing 5.1 stereo track and also restored the original mono sound for audio purists. There is a generous selection of bonus features, including a commentary by Clooney and numerous new retrospective featurettes produced in HD.

“WHITE CHRISTMAS” on Blu-ray -
Movie:  B+ / Video: A+ / Audio: A / Extras: A

Babes in Toyland

“March of the Wooden Soldiers” is the re-release title of the Hal Roach film adaptation of the Victor Herbert operetta “Babes in Toyland,” about classic nursery-rhyme characters. Silent and early sound comedy superstars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy bring their screen personas to the roles of innocent incompetents Stanley Dum and Oliver Dee, who must help Bo Peep from the evil Barnaby and save Toyland. The pacing is often slow and the action a broad caricature, but Laurel and Hardy are fun as always, it’s got a few nice songs, and the plot is good family entertainment, especially for younger children.

The Blu-ray from Legend Films has a generally fine transfer from 35mm film, including the original MGM release title, although it’s often a bit low in contrast. Most of the film is quite sharp, but a few brief passages, mainly scenes in the cave, are much lower quality, as if edited in from some old video source. The audio is pretty good for its age.

The disc includes both the original black-and-white plus a colorized version with pastel hues reminiscent of old hand-colored lobby cards. There’s a nice selection of several Christmas-themed short bonus films, but all unfortunately in very poor-quality standard-definition transfers.

“BABES IN TOYLAND” on Blu-ray -
Movie:  C+ / Video: B+ / Audio: A- / Extras: C+

Gremlins

Joe Dante’s “Gremlins” is a gleefully dark and twisted variation on Christmas cheer, as cute furry creatures turn into rampaging mini-monsters in a stereotypical small town patterned after Bedford Falls in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

The film is also loaded with movie in-jokes for film buffs. However, its attitude and sometimes gruesome violence were controversial at the time, and helped bring about the addition of a “PG-13” rating, because even then parents never understood that “PG” actually meant “Parental Guidance.”

The picture quality on Warner’s Blu-ray is not up to many other films, largely because of the softer, grainer film stock needed for all the night shooting and because the optical special effects needed an extra generation of film duplication.

Still, it looks better overall than a DVD and far better than a VHS copy. Audio is quite good, with nice directional stereo sound effects. A pleasing selection of bonus features, includes two different audio commentaries, additional scenes, a vintage making-of featurette, an image gallery, and trailers, though all are unfortunately standard-definition.

“GREMLINS” on Blu-ray - Movie: B+ /  Video: B+ / Audio: A / Extras: A-

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