Fever Pitch DVD - DVDfever.co.uk

Fever Pitch tells the tale of love between two people who initially hate each other. Paul and Sarah are two teachers at a comprehensive school, and the scene is set from the start as Paul is shown as being incapable of keeping a class quiet, while new teacher Sarah shows them who’s boss from day one.

The film is set during the 1988/89 football season, which also encompasses the Hillsborough tragedy on April 15th 1989, and Paul has to find the balance between loving one woman and worshipping the eleven men of his home team, Arsenal. Paul wasn’t always so besotted with the national game, and flashbacks going back over twenty years are given showing where his obsession began, and continue through the years showing how it progressed.

In the present day, each of the pair have their best friends to turn to when queries arise. Sarah has her flatmate Jo, and Paul has his Subbuteo-loving friend Steve. However, Paul soon learns that relationships, unlike football, aren’t played out in seasons and it begs the question – is he more concerned about their relationship lasting once they get it together, or Arsenal’s chances of winning the championship for the first time since 1971 ?

The film has a very good cast with some nemorable characters. Colin Firth equips himself well as the passionate fan for whom football means more to him than life itself. Of the rest of the cast, Neil Pearson and Holly Aird are two of the most well-known members, both having been seen in many television productions, and Stephen Rea pops up as a cameo as one of the interviewers when Paul is applying for the Head of Year job.

Ruth Gemmell is adequate in her teacher role, but the chemistry between the two leads doesn’t seem quite as apparent as one would have expected in a film about two people who perfectly fit the phrase opposites attract.

The picture quality of the disc is first rate bringing out the flesh tones well, and completely avoiding any colour bleeding as you might expect when a school team with bright red shirts are running about a football field. One scene of note for quality comes early on in chapter 2, in the “Royal Oak vs. Ongar” match on 26th September 1988, as the match is played late at night against a superbly-floodlit pitch. The aspect ratio of 1.85:1, not the 16:9 ratio quoted on the back, also presents the film much better than a fullscreen version would have and the fact it’s anamorphic does it great favours. The average bitrate is a superb 8.40Mb/s.

The sound quality is also excellent, bringing the music to life in the many scenes full of top quality tunes from Van Morrison, The Bible, The Smiths and Aztec Camera, as listed earlier in this review and also in the ambient scenes when music isn’t playing.

Extras :

Chapters and Trailer : The chaptering is also good, but at 21 over a 97-minute film – the same that adorned the PAL Laserdisc release, a few more wouldn’t go amiss. However, they have fixed the problem from that format, in which Chapter 8 (or Chapter 9 on the PAL Laserdisc as the film’s 21 chapters ran from 2 to 22, with the first one used for the FilmFour logo), unfortunately started in the middle of one of Firth’s monologue’s about becoming an adult. The original theatrical trailer is included.

There is a nice touch, however, in that most chapters are labelled after quotes in the film, such as She’s got her heart set on a hairdresser’s apprenticeship, when a school “parents evening” doesn’t quite go to plan for Sarah; No-One cares if Patrick Swayze read Byron, as Sarah and Jo discuss the merits of superstars over ordinary men; and one that defines itself, Not on the carpet, I can’t afford it…

Languages/Subtitles : Dialogue is available in English only and for the first time since I can remember, this is a Film Four/VCI disc that actually has English subtitles.

Photo library : A selection of 16 stills from the film, 8 of him and 8 of her, but unlike a number of other VCI DVDs, the same pics aren’t available in .JPG format for displaying on a PC. However, I haven’t had any problems viewing these on my DVD-ROM player (Creative Dxr2 Software Version 3.0) as I have with some VCI DVDs, in which they would only let me see the first picture and would then revert back to the ‘extras’ menu even if I select the option to view the next picture.

Menu : A static shot of the two leads, but the main menu has music played over it courtesy of The La’s.

Overall, this is a film well worth checking out whether you’re a football fan or not. Personally, football isn’t my bag at all, so a scene such as that near the end when the champion of the first division is revealed comes across as well as any cleverly-written drama; and with the picture and sound quality being as good as this, this disc comes thoroughly recommended, especially at this price, one of VCI’s first budget-priced DVDs.

The Fever Pitch PAL Laserdisc Review can be found HERE. FILM CONTENT : **** PICTURE QUALITY: ***** SOUND QUALITY: ***** EXTRAS: ** ——————————- OVERALL: ****

Check out VCI‘s and Film Four‘s Web site.

[Up to the top of this page]

Dom Robinson

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.

DVDfever.co.uk

Follow DVDfever.co.uk