Skip to content
Don’t Look Now is a film I hadn’t seen prior to its debut on Blu-ray, but with Nicolas Roeg at the helm, it’s got to have some dodgy shenanigans in it and I don’t just mean from the ’70s perm and tache sported by Donald Sutherland, as John Baxter, whose job involves restoring churches.
After their daughter dies early on, and without explanation other than simply falling under the surface of the water in their lake, they go to work in Venice while their son stays back in England in a boarding school. and go to a restaurant where John’s wife Laura (Julie Christie) helps another patron to the bathroom to help get something out of her eye. Her sister is blind and suddenly comes out with bizarre phrases such as, “I can see you’re sad” and “I’ve seen your little girl sitting between you and your husband… and she was laughing.”
Laura collapses and is taken to hospital where she tells John ecstatically how “Christine is still with us!”, which leads him to think she’s completely lost her marbles. In addition to this, with the blind woman seemingly following them around, a discussion about venturing into the world of contacting the dead and seeing a girl running around Venice in a red coat… maybe they’re both losing the plot? Then again, this comes from the hand of Nicolas Roeg who proves there is many a visual touch which can only come from him.
Overall, however, this is not a film I can recommend. File it under one of Roeg’s “what the hell?” films which throw in everything including the kitchen sink and end up just being weird for the sake of weird. It also rambles on far too long and could easily be cut down to 90 minutes.
And I know it’s a cult classic, but no-one here is particularly pushing the boat out in the acting stakes, even Christie and Sutherland.
Presented in the original 1.85:1 theatrical ratio and in 1080p high definition, the picture is very soft, and this is clearly due to the way it was filmed, but it does make me wonder why they bothered to release it as a Blu-ray disc because it can’t benefit from the format. Add to this the frequent haziness that applies to so many of Optimum’s Blu-ray releases (which has been happening since they first began but don’t appear to be doing a thing about it) and while things do improve a bit as it goes on, I can’t see what you’d have to gain over a conventional DVD. For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 37″ Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
Audio-wise, the film was only ever made with a mono soundtrack so there’s nothing to shout about here, other than the fact that sometimes it’s clear, sometimes it’s muffled… it’s like someone’s playing about with the treble and bass, a problem that I understand was evident with the DVD and that the disc released in the US addressed this issue. Why we’ve still got it for the Blu-ray is anyone’s guess.
The extras are as follows:
- Play feature with introduction by Alan Jones (7:12): I have to confess I don’t know who Alan Jones is, but he spells out some of the basics about this film and he spends 7 minutes either stating the obvious or talking a right load of old fanny.
- Looking Back (19:31): A featurette where Roeg, cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond and editor Graeme Clifford… look back. It goes into detail about the film, so anyone who’s a fan will get a lot out of this.
- Interviews: Five of them here: Composer Pino Donaggio (17:36), director (of other films) Danny Boyle (15:10), screenwriter/producer Allan Scott (14:31), cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond, or Tony Richmond as he’s called here (23:48), and Donald Sutherland (23:14).
- Compressed version made by Danny Boyle for BAFTA tribute (4:31): Ah, that’s better… seriously, however, it’s short on dialogue so doesn’t serve as a replacement.
- Nothing is as it seems (15:37): More pontificating, this time from psychiatrist Dr Colin Murray Parkes.
- Trailer (2:32)
- Audio commentary: with director Nic Roeg.
The menu features a Venice backdrop with a red-cloaked figure running about… all with an audio piece of a church bell tolling playing to it. There are subtitles in English only and the total number of chapters is a mere 16. It needs around a third more given the length of the running time.
Don’t Look Now Special Edition is released on July 4th on Blu-ray and DVD.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
4 5 4 6 |
| OVERALL | 5 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 111 minutes
Year: 1973
Cat no: OPTD2006
Released: June 2011
Chapters: 16
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: Mono
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 1.85:1
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Producer: Peter Katz
Screenplay: Alan Scott and Chris Bryant
Music: Pino Donaggio
Cast:
Laura Baxter: Julie Christie
John Baxter: Donald Sutherland
Heather: Hilary Mason
Wendy: Clelia Matania
Bishop Barbarrigo: Massimo Serato
Inspector Longhi: Renato Scarpa
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.