Roma

Only a year ago I watched for the first time in years Federico Fellini's Amacord. And while I still enjoyed, I felt it had dated badly.

I thought the same as I began to watch the 31-year-old Fellini's Roma. This, like Amacord, is semi-autobiographical. It contrasts images of modern Rome with Fellini's own memories of Rome in its World War II fascist days. And just like Amacord, the magic of the movie seemed to have evaporated.

But then, about 20 minutes into the movie, it imperceptibly slipped a gear and became, for the rest of its running-length of 114 minutes, a witty and affectionate tribute to the Eternal City which had lost none of its original pungency.

Here is the Vatican fashion-show, where the decadent Catholic Bishops could see the latest in silk and satin vestments dripping with gold thread. Here is a tunnel being bored underneath modern Rome, which suddenly uncovers an ancient Roman villa, with its walls still decorated in vibrant frescoes. A sudden blast of modern air rips through this subterranean villa. And as we watch, the frescoes tragically fade and disappear.

The entire movie is made up of unconnected vignettes of Rome today and yesterday, bound only by Fellini's eye for the bizarre and the absurd, and by his ever-present dry wit. It is a walk on the Italian wild-side; a great personal view of one of the world's great cities.

The non-anamorphic image is in a 1.66:1 ratio, exploiting most of a conventional-ratio television and leaving only narrow black bars at top and bottom of the screen.

The image is somewhat soft, but colour and tonal values are excellent throughout. There are no obvious artefacts to mar the film, although the overall image is definitely well below 'best practice' restoration levels.

The mono sound is adequate without scoring any marks for particular depth or brilliance. It achieves Federico Fellini's intentions, which is enough for him and for us.

If you think your television is playing up because the lip-synch is off the mark, think again - that's normal for a Fellini movie. He used international casts and never cared what language they used while filming, let alone what they actually said. Audio was dubbed later, with no regard for lip-synch accuracy. Fellini just didn't think it was important in the totality of what he was working towards.

There are no extra features.

I'd be tempted to make this a 'collectable' because it does stand as one of Fellini's finest movies.

But this edition is marred by there being no normal English subtitles - just the dreaded 'English for the Hearing-Impaired'. I don't really need to know that 'car sirens are blaring' or 'woman shouts' or any other description of sound-effects. Yes, English-HI titles are admirable - but only when offered in addition to normal subtitles, not instead of!