Moonstruck (DVD)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

"Moonstruck" may be the most perfect romantic comedy ever made. To confirm my impression I asked a best friend, Film Professor Logan Bickford, a man who loves the film as much as I do, to what he attributed the movie's success. He suggested it wasn't just because "Moonstruck" tells a compelling story about two engaging people, which it does, but because the picture has so many sympathetic peripheral characters and appealing subplots. I think it's just the great music by Puccini, but I'm biased.

And, of course, it's the acting. Cher won an Oscar for her brilliant and humorous portrayal of an independent-minded Italian woman who falls in love with a one-handed, opera-loving baker, played by Nicholas Cage. Affairs are complicated, however, because Cage is the younger brother of Cher's fiancee, played by Danny Aiello. Sticky situation. Also portrayed with consummate skill are Cher's parents, played by Vincent Gardenia and Olympia Dukakis. Their stories, and their own romantic interests, are almost as appealing as Cher's. As matters proceed, there is not a false note anywhere to be found. Like "Casablanca," "Moonstruck" is a film that simply can't be imagined in any other form. Nothing can be added, and nothing can be taken away. Director Norman Jewison and screenwriter John Patrick Shanley have made a film that is perfectly beautiful, thoughtful, poignant, funny, and fun. Like the full moon, it is enchanting to look at time and again.

Video:
As for picture quality, it is fine, with a few instances of jittery pixels and some minor image blur. But, more important, I am sure a good many potential buyers will be surprised and possibly annoyed that MGM chose to release the film in a 1.33:1 standard-screen version only, usually the death knell for a DVD. Since this had not been MGM's usual practice, I called the studio to ask them about it. The answer from their spokesperson was the one I expected. They said that offering two versions of the same film on one disc, both standard and widescreen, was costly, so they were going to offer just one version for the foreseeable future. Now, they needed to hear from the marketplace to determine just which format to provide. They agreed that only about three persons in ten prefer DVD films in standard screen, but they said they were trying to please as many people as possible. For the moment their plans are to continue to do standard-screen releases of their more "family-oriented material."

Of greater consequence, however, I asked MGM if they had trimmed "Moonstruck" via pan-and-scan, the process whereby only a portion of a widescreen image is used to fill up a TV screen, often leaving out as much as twenty-five to fifty per cent of the sides of each frame. They said, no, this was not a pan-and-scan print. The consumer was not getting less for his money with "Moonstruck," but more. They explained that like many films made with an eye toward future release on TV, "Moonstruck" was originally shot in a 1.33:l ratio and later matted at the top and bottom to accommodate a wider, 1.85:1 movie-house screen. In other words, according to them the theater version had portions of the top and bottom masked, and on the DVD (and presumably on their almost-identical VHS tape) we are able to see the entire picture, just as it was filmed. But there are a couple of problems with this scenario. Most directors and cameramen who shoot in 1.33:1 know that their film will later be matted for theatrical release and compensate for this when they plan a shot. They may not want, probably don't want, everything they film to show up later. The other concern is that if the film was shot in a ratio of 1.33:1 and a TV screen is 1.33:1, why do MGM declare in print that it was "modified to fit your screen"? Modified from what, and in what way?