Manhattan

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Synopsis

Forty-two-year-old Manhattan native Isaac Davis (Allen) has a job he hates, a seventeen-year-old girlfriend, Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), he doesn't love, and a lesbian ex-wife, Jill (Meryl Streep), who's writing a tell-all book about their marriage...and whom he'd like to strangle. But when he meets his best friend's sexy intellectual mistress, Mary (Diane Keaton), Isaac falls head over heels in lust! Leaving Tracy, bedding Mary and quitting his job are just the beginnings of Isaac's quest for romance and fulfillment in a city where sex is as intimate as a handshake - and the gateway to true love...is a revolving door.

Picture 9/10

MGM and Fox give Woody Allen’s Manhattan a complete work over, delivering a new black-and-white high-definition 1080p/24hz digital transfer that looks absolutely incredible and is one of the more striking upgrades I’ve seen over a previous DVD edition. It is presented in its original aspect ratio of about 2.35:1 on a dual-layer disc.

This is probably one of the more filmic high-definition transfers I’ve seen on Blu-ray and MGM has wisely decided to not use noise reduction, or at least used it to an acceptable level. Film grain remains intact and while it is a little heavy it’s not at all intrusive. Definition is excellent, staggering in a lot of cases, with the finer details like patterns in tweed jackets or fine hairs popping off the screen. Gray levels are clean and distinct and blacks are inky but are not overly dark allowing you to still make out some details. The print has a few minor blemishes but this is a lot cleaner in comparison to the DVD.

Overall I’m very impressed with it. MGM’s Blu-ray transfers for black-and-white films have been sort of average overall, looking as though they’re simply reusing outdated high-def transfers made for their older DVD editions that have gone through excessive digital clean-up (The Apartment still does sort of have that look.) But this one is really stunning, and up to what I pretty much expect from companies like Criterion. Kudos to everyone involved in this.

Audio 7/10

The 2-channel DTS-HD MA mono track we get is also a surprise. Though I thought voices may be mixed a little low it’s still clear and easy to hear. Gershwin’s music, which is used as the film’s score, comes alive, despite the limitations of the track, and it has excellent range and depth. Sound quality overall is strong and I didn’t detect any noise. Overall an above average mono track.

Extras 1/10

All we get is a theatrical trailer since Allen isn’t particularly fond of supplements for his films. I’d love to hear a couple of statements on the film by Allen (especially since he considers it overrated) but what’chya gonna do?

Closing

Absolutely beautiful looking release, a striking upgrade over the previous DVD edition and one of the more film-like transfers I’ve seen on Blu-ray. No, there aren’t any features, but this still comes with a very high recommendation just for its transfer. Now, after this and Annie Hall, I’m ready for MGM and Fox to start getting more of Allen’s work out on the format, especially if these two are going to represent the standard for what to expect.

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