Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

If you were a millionaire, or even a billioneaire, and had everything, what would you want on top of that? It seems Boston Tycoon Thomas Crown (Steve McQueen) wants a little more than money can buy, even if it is more money itself. It's the thrill, the feeling of doing something so daring and getting away with it that has enticed him into his latest venture.

You see, Crown has masterminded a huge bank job that is simply flawless and he doesn't have to set foot in the bank to do so. He hires the help of 5 unkowns, all willing to make $25,000 for performing simple tasks that, as a whole, combine together for criminal perfection. But even though Crown has achieved perfection in the robbery, he can't maintain perfection after the event.

This is where insurance investigator Vicky Anderson (Faye Dunaway) comes in. She uncovers the scheme and uses the same ploy to unravel the script and soon is hot on the tail of the sneaky millionaire. Only problem is, his ice cold cunning is a major attraction for her and she must decide whether to continue the affair or arrest Thomas. In a final attempt at redemption, Thomas does the unthinkable, or is that unbelievable, and shows his true genius.

Whatever problems the image has is all source based. The bit-rate meter didn't seem to drop below 8 at any stage during the movie and given the 100 minutes spread across a dual layered disc, I'd venture to say this is quality compression at work here. BUT, as I said, this doesn't save the bad source material used. I shouldn't really say bad as it's a 30 year old movie but there could have been a slightly better effort made to reduce the amount of grain in some scenes.

As a whole, the picture is outstanding at times and gives the film a needed rejuvenation. Sharpness and detail are above acceptable levels which make for some striking cinematography at times. Color saturation is decent for a film of this vintage. There are times when the image seems washed out and other times where there are hints of deep color. The film takes on a naturally flesh tone look to both actors and sets.

The main gripe outside of the source material is the black level and shadow detail. There just really isn't that much there. I think the transfer is lacking any sort of deep dynamic range in the imagery which could have been rectified with the help of todays digital imaging techiniques. A subtle saturation in color and a deeper black could have done wonders.

2 channel mono is all you're going to get on this disc, no matter which of the 5 languages you chose. Take a 30 year old movie, a mono soundtrack and lack of dynamic range and you've got a real stinker of a soundtrack. Sure, it suits the movie and it's era but it doesn't suit todays reference level listening. If your ears a prone to bleeding then stay clear of any high level listening.

At times, the audio is fine but then when something big and loud arrives on screen to warrant sound of direct proportionality, then you get utter harshness. A plane landing, a dune buggy on the beach and gunshots exhibit all the traits of an ugly soundtrack. Keep the volume low on this one.

A nice helping of extras given MGMs track record of decent special edition material.

• Audio Commentary by director Norman Jewison. It seems to have been a recent recording and Norman relives his techniques and experiences with his cast and crew. An interesting commentary for such an old movie.
• Booklet - a small booklet containing insight into the movie, feature trivia notes and production notes.
• Original Theatrical Trailer - an interestingly styled trailer indeed. No voice over, just an anxious soundtrack with the editing directly related to the rythym and small quotes from the movie itself to describe the situation at hand.

An interesting movie but nothing to keep the suspense at levels we are used to today. All in all, a well executed movie using a unique split screen style to tell 5 stories at once for each team member. Steve mcQueen puts in his usual performance with Faye Dunaway making her sultry presence felt once she's onscreen.

I have yet to see the 1999 remake to compare. If it can compare at all to this one then it should be some good entertainment.