Plot: What’s it about?
If you’re like me then chances are you never cared much for history. I admit to falling asleep during several history classes in my life. Truth be told, as I’ve gotten older I have learned to appreciate it a lot more. I think a lot of my disinterest earlier in my life had to do with the fact that I HAD to learn it. School was never something I loved, and history was always a topic that bored me to tears. I simply didn’t care. If you’re also like me then there’s a chance that you’ve never heard of Memphis Belle. Obviously, now I have, but before reading the fairly recent news that it would be making its Blu-ray debut, I’d heard not a thing about this film. It features a fairly big cast, including John Lithgow, Eric Stoltz, Matthew Modine and Sean Astin, to name a few. It’s a fact-based film set during the early 1940’s. The title comes from the nickname given to a B-17 plane used during the time. This inspired not only this film, but a documentary (included on this disc) as well. I’ll avoid going into specifics of the true story to avoid spoilers, but I’m sure history buffs will be more than familiar with it.
Admittedly, there is an audience for a film like Memphis Belle, but I don’t fall into that category. The first half of the film is devoted to introducing us to the characters and the training they go through. They’re preparing for their final flight before they can return home. The cliches are piled on early and heavy. Several of the characters joke and banter with each other and shoot the breeze. There are very little surprises here, but the film isn’t without its charms. It does feature some really nice action scenes. There’s also an authenticity to the look and style of the film. It’s decidedly old fashioned filmmaking – the kind we don’t see a lot of any more. Still, it did little for me. I grew bored with a lot of the repetition, and a lot of the characters were hard to distinguish from one another – they’re essentially stock characters. For those still curious then I would advise a rental first.
Video: How’s it look?
This was my first time viewing the film so I can’t compare it to the previous DVD edition. The transfer looks nice overall, but there’s a considerable amount of grain in several scenes. Outside of that, things are nicely detailed. You can clearly see rust on some of the older objects and pain chips here and there. Colors remained nice and smooth with no issues. This transfer will please fans of the film. The image is AVC encoded with a 1.78:1 ratio.
Audio: How’s it sound?
We’re given a DTS HD track here that also works well for the film. The planes can be clearly heard across all channels and add a nice touch throughout the track. It might not be as robust as you expect, but it serves its purpose. Dialogue was always clean sounding with no major issues. The track adds a nice, natural sound to things, and this adds to the authentic overall feel of the film.
Supplements: What are the extras?
- The Memphis Belle: The story of a Flying Fortress – This is the 40 minute documentary showcasing the 25th flight of the Memphis belle. There’s a lot of good material here that fans will love to check out. The video quality is pretty bad, though.
- Theatrical Trailer
