Odd Couple, The (DVD)

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Happily, in this older release director Gene Saks ("Barefoot in the Park," "Cactus Flower") keeps the pair punching out Neil Simon's one-liners at a healthy clip, and Neal Hefti's musical score is instantly recognizable, making "The Odd Couple" a delight. The hilariously disastrous scene with the Pigeon sisters from the apartment upstairs is a minor classic all by itself.

Video:
As far as I can tell, Paramount used the same transfer here they used earlier. In a side-by-side comparison, the new edition looked just a smidgeon brighter, but that may have been a condition of the upscaling abilities of the two players I used. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with the new transfer, a model of standard-definition work. The picture, projected in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio, is excellent, with colors bright, rich, and vivid, yet always natural. Moreover, you'll find hardly a flicker or shimmer in sight and only a normal, moderate film grain to provide an appropriate movie texture.

Audio:
As for the sound, it's in Dolby Digital 5.1, although it doesn't do all that much in the surround department. Actually, the front stereo is itself rather limited, but it does a fine job rendering dialogue clearly and accurately, which is its main duty. And every once in a while you can, in fact, hear a little of Hefti's music seeping into the back speakers.

Extras:
Disc one of this two-disc Centennial Collection edition contains the feature film; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages and subtitles; sixteen scene selections; and an audio commentary by Charlie Matthau and Chris Lemmon, the sons of the two stars. The sons' comments are different, to say the least, very personal, very insightful, often amusing, and sometimes touching.

Disc two contains a series of featurettes that take us behind the scenes of the filmmaking. First, we get "In the Beginning," seventeen minutes of background on the Neil Simon play that introduced the story to the world. We hear from as many people involved with the film as survive, with an introduction by Larry King. Next, there's "Inside The Odd Couple," nineteen minutes on casting the film. Then, there's "Memories from the Set," ten minutes of reminiscences; "Matthau and Lemmon," ten minutes on the stars; and "The Odd Couple: A Classic," three more minutes of praise for the movie. Things conclude with two still galleries, production and movie; and a widescreen theatrical trailer.

Paramount enclose the keep case in an elegant, charcoal-gray "Centennial Collection" slipcover (pictured upper right). The keep-case itself displays an enlarged view of the small picture used on the slipcover.

Parting Thoughts:
In the long-running television series (with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman), the roommates lived together for a number of years. In the movie they are together about three weeks before Oscar throws Felix out. I had forgotten that. Strange, how time and circumstance alter one's perceptions. Be that as it may, the original movie version of "The Odd Couple" remains a comedy classic, and this newest DVD edition breathes new life into an old favorite.

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