The Elephant Man [Blu-ray]

 

 

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"The Elephant Man" is without a doubt one of the most beautifully realised movies ever made. Every element is spot on, from the compassionate performances to the striking black and white cinematography.

I first saw this film as a floppy-haired schoolboy in the 1980's. It knocked me sideways back then, and on each subsequent viewing it has never failed to coax the tears from my eyes.

Briefly - It is the true tale of John Merrick, an astonishingly deformed man who was admitted to the Royal London Hospital in the 1880's. To say that he faced hardships is an understatement. He was fully exposed to the ugly prejudices of Victorian society. I will not reveal too many details, but his harsh treatment is presented here unflinchingly. If you have not seen this movie, experience it now and prepare for a heart-rending two hours that can be cherished again and again.

If you HAVE seen this movie, this special edition DVD is still well worth a purchase. It features a highly insightful documentary that presents life in Victorian London; the accuracy of the movie with regards to Merrick's life, and the book upon which this movie was based. Also featured on the disc is a great interview with John Hurt (who gave the performance of his career as Merrick). Finally, and most tantalisingly, there is a conversation with the enigmatic director David Lynch. Lynch discusses the development of the film in intricate detail, and his words are invaluable. It is rare that we get to see Lynch interviewed at all, being the elusive creature that he is...which makes this extra feature all the more vital!

So...a great DVD package all said and done. An absolutely stunning movie accompanied by wonderful extras. I bought this DVD when it was previously released in a basic format, but still I had no hesitation in snapping up this special edition. Some things are just too special to miss...

I am a big David Lynch fan and decided I just had to see this film. I stuck it at the top of my rental list and a few days later it arrived in that special packaging that puts a smile on my face every time. I watched it that night and it certainly did not disappoint. It lived up to every expectation and blasted most of them right out of the park.

`The Elephant Man' follows the life of Joseph Merrick, incorrectly named John in the film, and that of Frederick Treves who was his doctor and friend. While the film is filled with its fair share of inaccuracies and errors it is no less perfect for it. A lot of the fiction is there for a reason as it serves to make the film more entertaining and helps to provide more character depth. I really do urge you to watch the film, even if you are unsure because of the made up bits, because it is a superb and phenomenally beautiful film.

The film stars Anthony Hopkins as the doctor Frederick Treves and John Hurt as Joseph Merrick, the elephant man. They are both brilliant in their roles, everyone is, but it really is John Hurt who is the star here. I think there are probably a lot of ways you could mess up the character of Joseph Merrick but John Hurt just excels. He was nominated for an Oscar and as far as I'm concerned he should have won it. His portrayal of Joseph Merrick is one of the best character performances I've ever seen and I do consider myself to be a movie buff.

Not leaving out Lynch himself, the director brings us more of his trademark direction and invites once again to view his marvelous vision of the surreal. Though, `The Elephant Man' certainly never reaches the weirdness of `Mulholland Drive' it is no less a David Lynch film and masterpiece of cinema. Throughout the film his direction, as with the script and sets, is spot on. This film is a sum of all its parts and every part in the equation was an essential ingredient equaling near perfection.

While the whole film is wonderful, there is one part, and I'm sure I'm not the only one to break down into tears during this scene, at the end of the film that was pure visual poetry. With Samuel Barbers joyously sad and emotionally overwhelming Adagio for Strings playing in the background, we are treated to an almost too simple shot of Joseph Merrick just sitting on his bed starring at the viewer and it just killed me. I can say in all honesty and without any over exaggeration that it was one of the most beautiful things I ever saw in my whole like. Perfect. Just a perfect scene.

So, basically, just buy or rent this now. If you consider yourself even remotely interested in truly good films then you have no choice but to see it.

Dubbed The Elephant Man when appearing at the local circus show, in the 19th century, the one thing John Merrick (portrayed by John Hurt, who was nominated for an Oscar and won a BAFTA for his performance) didn't have was the condition of elephantitis. However, the condition is still one that cannot be cured and those with the power won't allow his body to be released for DNA testing.

In what is based on a true story, Merrick was a young man of 21 years of age rescued from exploitative circus showman Bytes (Freddie Jones) by Doctor Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) in order to study his affliction and give him a better lease of life. As the story unfolds he is introduced to established actress Mrs Kendal (Anne Bancroft), Treves' wife (Hannah Gordon) and specialist Mr Carr-Gomm (John Gielgud), each of whom treat him with the kindness and respect he deserved, but there's less welcoming opinions from Mrs Mothershead (Wendy Hiller), the Nurse Ratched of her time who runs the hospital where Merrick is staying and the Night Porter (Michael Elphick, currently appearing in Eastenders and looking well past his prime), who tries to make some money out of the man and behaves towards him in a sick and disgusting manner.

Don't watch this film expecting to find some answers or realistic reasons why Merrick became the way he was from his birth to his death in 1890, but do watch it for the staggering and tear-jerking performances from Hurt, most notably when he breaks down in front of Hannah Gordon because he just can't accept people being nice to him after suffering brutal treatment in the circus. Hopkins is one of my favourite actors and his performances of determined characters are always his best. Classic moments also include nurse Nora (Lesley Dunlop, appearing in ITV's Where The Heart Is at the time of writing) taking Merrick some dinner but without being forewarned of his appearance and the wanton public harrassing him and chasing him into a public toilet. Note also that it's nearly an hour before we actually get to see what Merrick looks like.

Cameos are abound in this film. Nula Conwell, as Nurse Kathleen, used to play WPC Viv Martella in ITV's The Bill until her character was gunned down, Birds of a Feather's Pauline Quirke plays "2nd whore", R2D2's Kenny Baker is the Plumed Dwarf, Press Gang's Dexter Fletcher plays Bytes' boy and Patricia Hodge is the "Screaming Mum". There's also a Frederick Treves playing the part of an alderman in this film, but checking the Internet Movie Database didn't show how, if at all, he is related to the character played by Hopkins.

David Lynch shot the film in 2.35:1 Panavision and in black and white, to evoke the feel of the period, which aids it immensely. Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio, this is the first time this film has been released on Blu-ray and for the most part it looks fantastic. It's sharp and detailed and makes an excellent film look even better. Occasionally, there's a slight shimmering on the dark areas, such as with the recent Luc Besson releases, but while it doesn't affect it as often, it's still annoying when it happens and makes me wonder how this has actually come about at Optimum. Put on a very dark scene, such as when Treves first meets Merrick, and it stands out like a sore thumb. For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player. Note that a widescreen video was once released in the dim and distant past before such things became mainstream, but it wasn't labelled as such so would've been a real find at the time.

As for the sound, this was only ever filmed with a mono soundtrack. Dialogue is clear and I think if a DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1 version was created with split-stereo rear effects it would take away the closeness of the atmosphere created rather than add to it in any way.

The extras are as follows:

* "Joseph Merrick: The Real Elephant Man" featurette (19:53): Elephant Man fan Jonathan Evans, an archivist at the Royal London Hospital Museum, talks about the man, the characters in the film and how well they relate to real-life events. For example, he was apparently more in control of his own life and didn't keep getting captured and did actually sign himself up for a freak show rather than being forced into it. This is a fascinating supplemental.

* Interviews: Firstly, there's three here with David Lynch. One at the Cartier Foundation, Paris in 2007 (14:50), entited "The Air is On Fire", in which he meets for the first time with Michel Chion, who wrote the first book on Lynch's Cinema back in 1992; a Q&A-style one (24:49) on several topics within the film; and also one between Lynch and director Mike Figgis (19:50). There's also a Q&A-style interview with John Hurt (20:14).

* BD Live: Hook your Blu-ray player up online and... well, I got a 'download error. Apparently the solution is that "The server may be temporarily unavailable. Please wait a few minutes and try again later.", but why can't all this info be on the disc itself? That'd be easier, surely? I got a few other error messages when I tried later. Oh well.

The menu mixes images from the film with a short piece of the opening theme playing over and over. mixes footage from the film in black and white with some of its eerie music. There are English subtitles but the Chaptering is, again for Optimum, appalling with just 12 over the 123-minute running time.

Film: 10/10
Picture: 8/10
Sound: 6/10
Extras: 4/10

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5.0 out of 5 stars the elephant man the story based on Joseph Merrick
The elephant man film starring john hurt as Joseph (john as he Is in the film) Merrick. Anthony Hopkins as the doctor who helps john. Read more

Published 3 days ago by A. Holyoake

4.0 out of 5 stars the elephant man.
this is a very good film got it 4 my son 4 xmas. anthony hopkins plays john merrick in a true story need 2 say no more.

Published 26 days ago by john

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching film
Very well acted film - John Hurt is amazing as Joseph Merrick. The extras- interviews and documentary on Joseph Merrick were very interesting. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Aeolian Harp

5.0 out of 5 stars Glad to have a copy...
Blu-ray not available here in United States, so this is a real treat! Fast shipping, too! Thank you for a movie I've long wanted on Blu-Ray!

Published 2 months ago by Charles C. Fensch

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Film
The elephant man's me favourite film.

It's funny and sad, and you know exactly what you're going to get.

P/W: Nineoutoften.

Published 6 months ago by Nora Pilkington

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't know coz not opened it yet.
Waited quite a while for this to be delivered. Don't know the condition of the product because I bought it as a present for someone whose birthday is not till August. Read more

Published 6 months ago by felinefosterer

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
Another wonderful performance by John Hurt. He portrays the sad, touching character of John Merrick. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Akfie

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense and thought-provoking
My Thoughts: The legendary Joseph (also sometimes mistakenly called "John") Merrick is ingrained in history as the so-called "freak" that terrified people in a carnival side-show... Read more

Published 8 months ago by Dismal Angel

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Blu Ray
It's easy to forget what a one-off work of genius this movie is. Think about it - a young David Lynch fresh off Eraserhead and bubbling with talent and creativity. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Now Zoltan

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and sad film...
...which really shines in this blu-ray version,picture quality and sound are vastly superior to dvd versions,extras are informative but short,and the notebook that comes with the... Read more

Published 10 months ago by andy.b.

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