Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

That Cold Day In The Park

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    C.D. Workman
    Senior Member

  • That Cold Day In The Park





    Released by: Eureka/Masters of Cinema
    Released on: June 20, 2016
    Directed by: Robert Altman
    Cast: Sandy Dennis, Michael Burns, Susanne Benton, John (David) Garfield, Jr., Luana Anders, Michael Murphy, Linda Sorenson
    Year: 1969

    The Movie:

    Robert Altman's career in film began as something of a fluke: In 1946, he moved to California hoping to get into the movies. His first big break came in 1948, when he sold a script he'd co-written to RKO. Buoyed by his success, he moved to New York City, but the change did little for his career, and he soon found himself back home in Kansas City, Missouri. There, he began making documentary shorts for a local industrial company; soon thereafter, he was hired to make a film about teen delinquents. Shot on a shoestring, it was sold to United Artists, who later released it. Encouraged, Altman returned to California and soon found himself co-directing a feature documentary about James Dean and working in the burgeoning television industry. Among his many roles was as director on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It was a short-lived stint but led to greater exposure and more work, and before long he was an old hand at episodic television.

    While it certainly had its limitations, working in television also had its advantages. Among them, Altman learned how to shoot quickly and efficiently with little money or resources. Itching to make the jump to the big screen, he directed the science fiction quickie Countdown in 1967. It was an attempt to cash in on the space race and hewed a fairly realistic course, capitalizing on the race to the moon. Released in 1968, it met with fairly poor reviews and even poorer box office receipts. (It probably didn't help that Altman was fired from the film during the editing process and had nothing to do with the final cut.)

    Undeterred, Altman made his next film in 1969. Unlike Countdown, he attempted something original, giving it his own voice and operating on instinct. The result was That Cold Day in the Park.

    Frances Austen (Sandy Dennis) is bored. Sure, she has a nice apartment in upper class Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. And yes, she has an older suitor even richer than she is. She shops, she watches television, she entertains, but her life seems aimless—until one evening as she hosts a dinner party, she spies out her window a handsome young man (Michael Burns) sitting on a park bench in the pouring rain. Frances invites the stranger into her home to get dry and warm. He doesn't speak and behaves strangely, which presents something of a challenge to Frances, one she determines to overcome. Believing that he has nowhere left to turn, she insists he remain with her. There's just one drawback: he isn't what he seems, and his life with Frances is a deception designed to cheat her of her wealth. Frances isn't exactly who she presents herself as either, and soon the two are caught up in a game of cat and mouse.

    Unfortunately, despite playing at Cannes, the film followed Countdown's path to failure. Critics lambasted it while audiences ignored it. To some degree, this is understandable. The film is fairly slow to start and doesn't really find its voice until about two-thirds of the way through. Altman takes an almost theatrical approach to the material, with long passages in which the leads walk in and out of the same few rooms. Dialogue is heavy but one-sided, and the action is fairly staid. But once the twists are exhausted and the psychosexual neuroses of the primary characters established, it steps into entirely new terrain, charting a course that is both unexpected and aesthetically pleasing. And when it ends, it ends on a high note.

    There can be no doubt that the film's true star is Sandy Dennis. Dennis had begun her career in the mid-1950s, while still a teenager, on the daytime soap The Guiding Light. Before long, she had roles in primetime television shows before jumping ship for Broadway, where she found almost instant success. She won back-to-back Tony Awards in succeeding years, making such a name for herself that noted director Mike Nichols' cast her in the film adaptation of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). The performance won Dennis an Oscar.

    The script for That Cold Day in the Park must have seemed a godsend to Dennis. It posited a female as the lead and gave her the majority of the dialogue. It also featured a characterization that was atypical for a woman at the time. Too bad the film's box office did nothing to further her career. Though she was praised for her work in The Out of Towners (1970), acting roles became fewer and further between. Not that any of that matters to her work on That Cold Day in the Park. While Michael Burns acquitted himself as The Boy, he's justly forgotten in comparison to Dennis.

    Though it may have stunted Dennis's career, the film did nothing to hurt Altman's. The very next year he followed it up with MASH, and the rest, as they say, is history.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    That Cold Day in the Park comes to Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Eureka's Masters of Cinema line in a Dual Format Edition. Eureka has utilized an MPEG-4 AVC encode in 1080p high definition, with the film framed at 1.85:1 per its original theatrical release. Placed on a BD50, the Blu-ray has clearly been struck from an older transfer (apparently the same used for Olive's stateside BD release), but, while far from perfect, it isn't terrible either. Much of the image suffers from a general malaise; it tends toward soft, with weak black levels. There's some fluctuation in the picture quality, much of which can be attributed to the source materials and/or the way Altman shot the film. Grain is a little strong in places, particularly when the image goes dark (though this only really occurs during indoor sequences). Sharpness and clarity are, for the most part, lacking, but—and this is an interesting turn one doesn't usually see on Blu—nighttime scenes shot outdoors look terrific. Colors are far sharper, and there's a great deal more detail in these sequences than during the day-lit exteriors and brightly lit interiors. Usually it's facial and floral close-ups that benefit the most from the process, but here, the bustling city at night becomes the true sight to behold.

    Eureka has opted for an LPCM 1.0 audio track. The sound was never intended to blow one away, so the limiting range of mono isn't really an issue. What's important is that dialogue be clear and discernible, and it is. No hiss, no pop, no fluctuations in sound levels. Subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired are included. There is no commentary or secondary sound-effects tracks.

    Unfortunately, extras are sparse. Many of the participants (including Altman and Dennis) are long gone, and no trailer is provided. There is, however, an approximately 30-minute interview with film historian David Thompson, who discusses the original source material, the director, and the cast, among other things. It was recorded by Eureka exclusively for this release and is well worth a viewing for fans of Altman.

    The disc is locked to Region B.

    The Final Word:

    That Cold Day in the Park is a difficult film to pigeonhole. A melodrama-turned-crime drama-turned-psychosexual thriller, it may seem difficult to absorb, but audiences are encouraged to stick with it. It does get better and ends on an unusually high note. The transfer is moderately attractive, with nighttime exteriors faring better than brightly lit interiors. There are few extras, but the sound is more than serviceable. Altman or Dennis fans won't want to miss it; others may find it interesting but should approach with some caution. This isn't a commercial film by any means, and one must be in the right frame of mind to “get it.”

    *Neither the booklet nor the DVD were provided to Rock! Shock! Pop! for review.

    Christopher Workman is a freelance writer, film critic, and co-author (with Troy Howarth) of the Tome of Terror horror film review series. Horror Films of the 1930s is currently available, with Horror Films of the Silent Era: Book One (1895-1915) and Book Two (1916-1929) due out later this year.

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!



















      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X