Truffaut's love affair with motion pictures is evident in every scene.
Video:
The movie is presented in its original exhibition aspect ratio, measuring approximately 1.74:1 across a normal television and enhanced for widescreen TVs. Colors are deep, and in broad daylight shots the screen images are sharp and vibrant. But in more dimly lit scenes, the screen is not always so natural, a bit too dark and on occasion slightly muddled. The darker areas do not convey as much inner detail as they could, and while definition is good, it is not exceptional. All the same, the screen is entirely free of grain and virtually without wavering lines or other unwanted transfer artifacts.
Audio:
The film's monaural soundtrack has been reproduced in Dolby Digital, cleaning it up considerably, I would imagine, and resulting in a clear and quiet listening experience. The sound is very ordinary in all respects, but it does convey dialogue nicely, which is all it's called upon to do. The frequency response and dynamics are limited, but the all-important midrange is remarkably lucid. There is an unaccountable background noise that intrudes for a moment during a party scene, but it is nothing of consequence.
Extras:
The list of bonus materials for the film is appropriately extensive, but I must admit I found much of it saying the same things. The list begins with a typical set of cast and crew film highlights. Then, there follows a series of newly made featurettes that help explain what the director was up to in his film. The first is called "Day for Night: A Conversation with Jacqueline Bisset," wherein the actress tells us for about nine minutes her remembrance of the filmmaking. The next is the longest, a seventeen-minute featurette titled "Day for Night: An Appreciation." Here we get a look at the director and the film from Annette Insdorf, a Columbia University cinema professor and author of the book "Francois Truffaut." After that is an eight-minute featurette, "Day for Night: Truffaut in America," which Professor Insdorf narrates and which contains interviews with director Brian De Palma, actor Bob Balaban, and film critic and historian Todd McCarthy.
Following the "Truffaut in America" is set of four featurettes labeled "La Nuit Americaine: The French Connection." They are newly filmed reminiscences by some of the actors and crew who worked on the production: Nathalie Baye (Joelle), Bernard Menez (Bernard, the prop man), Dani (Liliane), and Yann Dedet, the film's editor. These featurettes last between three and eleven minutes each. The bonus items continue with a promo and two interviews with Truffaut made just after the film's release: "Truffaut: A View from the Inside," six minutes; a 1973 Cannes Film Festival interview, two minutes; and a 1973 National Society of Film Critics Award interview, two minutes. Concluding the extras are an awards list, thirty-four scene selections, and a widescreen theatrical trailer. The film is presented with its original French language track, but an English dub is also available. I strongly advise your listening to the French track, with English, French, or Spanish subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
The tagline for the film is "A movie for people who love movies." I'd add, it's also a movie made by people who love movies, and in particular by one person whose entire life was devoted to a love of movies, Francois Truffaut. Perhaps the most telling scene in the film is a recurring dream the director, Ferrand, keeps having. He's a little boy again and sneaking down a long, dark street. What possible mischief is he up to? He's stealing a wonderful set of prizes, movie stills from a local showing of "Citizen Kane"!
Truffaut's love affair with motion pictures is evident in every scene of "Day for Night," and watching the film is a joy for anybody who has ever been entranced by the magic of cinema.
The movie is presented in its original exhibition aspect ratio, measuring approximately 1.74:1 across a normal television and enhanced for widescreen TVs. Colors are deep, and in broad daylight shots the screen images are sharp and vibrant. But in more dimly lit scenes, the screen is not always so natural, a bit too dark and on occasion slightly muddled. The darker areas do not convey as much inner detail as they could, and while definition is good, it is not exceptional. All the same, the screen is entirely free of grain and virtually without wavering lines or other unwanted transfer artifacts.
Audio:
The film's monaural soundtrack has been reproduced in Dolby Digital, cleaning it up considerably, I would imagine, and resulting in a clear and quiet listening experience. The sound is very ordinary in all respects, but it does convey dialogue nicely, which is all it's called upon to do. The frequency response and dynamics are limited, but the all-important midrange is remarkably lucid. There is an unaccountable background noise that intrudes for a moment during a party scene, but it is nothing of consequence.
Extras:
The list of bonus materials for the film is appropriately extensive, but I must admit I found much of it saying the same things. The list begins with a typical set of cast and crew film highlights. Then, there follows a series of newly made featurettes that help explain what the director was up to in his film. The first is called "Day for Night: A Conversation with Jacqueline Bisset," wherein the actress tells us for about nine minutes her remembrance of the filmmaking. The next is the longest, a seventeen-minute featurette titled "Day for Night: An Appreciation." Here we get a look at the director and the film from Annette Insdorf, a Columbia University cinema professor and author of the book "Francois Truffaut." After that is an eight-minute featurette, "Day for Night: Truffaut in America," which Professor Insdorf narrates and which contains interviews with director Brian De Palma, actor Bob Balaban, and film critic and historian Todd McCarthy.
Following the "Truffaut in America" is set of four featurettes labeled "La Nuit Americaine: The French Connection." They are newly filmed reminiscences by some of the actors and crew who worked on the production: Nathalie Baye (Joelle), Bernard Menez (Bernard, the prop man), Dani (Liliane), and Yann Dedet, the film's editor. These featurettes last between three and eleven minutes each. The bonus items continue with a promo and two interviews with Truffaut made just after the film's release: "Truffaut: A View from the Inside," six minutes; a 1973 Cannes Film Festival interview, two minutes; and a 1973 National Society of Film Critics Award interview, two minutes. Concluding the extras are an awards list, thirty-four scene selections, and a widescreen theatrical trailer. The film is presented with its original French language track, but an English dub is also available. I strongly advise your listening to the French track, with English, French, or Spanish subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
The tagline for the film is "A movie for people who love movies." I'd add, it's also a movie made by people who love movies, and in particular by one person whose entire life was devoted to a love of movies, Francois Truffaut. Perhaps the most telling scene in the film is a recurring dream the director, Ferrand, keeps having. He's a little boy again and sneaking down a long, dark street. What possible mischief is he up to? He's stealing a wonderful set of prizes, movie stills from a local showing of "Citizen Kane"!
Truffaut's love affair with motion pictures is evident in every scene of "Day for Night," and watching the film is a joy for anybody who has ever been entranced by the magic of cinema.
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Average user rating (1-5):
[release]10780[/release]