Indiscreet (1958)

Indiscreet is one of my favorite Cary Grant movies of all time!

Ingrid Bergmand & Cary Grant are at their all time most charming selves in this light-hearted romantic comedy. Bergman, who has shown her talents in suspenseful thrillers such as Notorious, is surprisingly outstanding in comedy! Will Anne (Bergman) who plays a famous stage actress and Phillip (Grant) an international financier get together? In the course of finding out, you will be delighted with the amusing interactions & banter which so accurately characterize men & women in romantic relationships. Ingrid Bergman is stunning and stylish and her apartment is to die for. Grant is debonair and charming as always. The lines in this movie are timeless! A favorite scene includes watching Grant dance with Bergman at a ballroom type function. This is a movie you can watch again & again and love even more each time.

From the first frame of the opening credits it was clear that the transfer was from a poor quality master and that no restoration had even been attempted. The picture is morbidly dark throughout. The sound level is atrociously low I had to turn up the amp nearly to reference level to understand the dialog. The soundtrack was harsh, with strings braying like castrated trombones. The picture popped out of focus at least a half-dozen times, and on at least two occasions large black blobs sullied the picture. Republic/Artisan pat themselves on the back BOTH before and after the movie, for what I do not know. The announcement following "The End" startles, since it and it alone is recorded at the proper level.

I just A/B'ed this DVD with the "35th Annivesary" widescreen VHS and except for sharpness (which is lost in the darkness anyway) the Video wins hands down: the sound is at an appropriate level, and the vividness of the (Techni)colors is astounding.

This one's definitely going back, and I'm afraid to open the copies of Operation Petticoat and The Grass Is Greener which were released at the same time as installments in the "Cary Grant Collection". BTW, none of these are marked as anamorphic so I'm assuming they are not.

Republic/Artisan: what the heck were you thinking?

Buy Indiscreet (1958) Now

I just bought this because it is one of my favorite movies and my VHS tape was kaput after so many viewings. DO NOT BUY THIS DVD!! It is supposed to be widescreen, digitally remastered and close-captioned. It is NONE OF THESE THINGS!! The film is full of lines, snow, etc. No re-mastering here. The menu only contains scene selection and play movie. If I thought I could get my money back, I would send this one back. It is most definitely NOT as advertised.

Read Best Reviews of Indiscreet (1958) Here

'Indiscreet' from 1958 is the 2nd of four films Cary Grant made with the very talented director Stanley Donen and his 2nd film go around with Ingrid Bergman. For Cary Grant fans (of which I am one) this film is a must own. Yes, this film is a product of it's time and many younger viewers may think it is a pointless bit of fluff. Even so, it is still as good or better than most of what now passes for "entertainment"! Showcasing Cary at his debonair and comic best , 'Indiscreet' while a slightly uneven film for some, has all the elements of a classic and Cary Grant's personal favorite from all of his 77 films. It isn't mine, but Cary Grant IS my absolute all time favorite and as such this film holds an honored place on my shelf.

The five stars I award are not for the transfer, but for the overall value of the package. For many it would be worth even more after the price drops in a month or so. With that said, this review will focus mainly on the video and audio quality, plus any extras included in this Blu Ray package.

Let's cut right to the chase here. How is the picture quality of this release and is it a worthy upgrade from your VHS or DVD copy? Picture quality is "ok" with the transfer faring much better in the last half of the film. Olive Films has done an admirable job here by NOT adding any edge enhancement or DNR. ON the other hand, they have not done any color correction or noticeable restoration. (If only Robert Harris could have got his hands on the original film elements,then we would be talking about a different transfer altogether) Also it is noteworthy that Olive Films encoding of 'Indiscreet' appears top notch. No actual transfer problems that I could detect , so while not much was done to clean up and restore this title to it's former glory, it has not suffered any new abuse.

If you have seen 'Indiscreet' lately on HD cable, then you have seen this transfer. Of course it doesn't suffer from the compression artifacts of cable TV (I have Verizon Fios which is very fast but still very compressed) and you get 24 frame motion rendering. Colors go from very nice, to faded and back again. Ingrid Bergman is shot in soft focus for much of the film and things suffer somewhat as a result. There are scenes that look abysmal, and other scenes that look top notch and sometimes they go back and forth during the same scene. If you were hoping for or expecting a top notch rendering of this film on Blu Ray, it sadly is not the case.

One glaring issue I have with this transfer is we are given the first few minutes (the title cards) in the original aspect ratio and then, as with the HD cable TV transfer , the film is cropped on the top and bottom and zoomed to fill your 16:9 HDTV screen. This not only gives us the wrong aspect ratio and messes with the directors picture composition, it also cuts into some of the resolution by zooming an already substandard picture. ON my Oppo BDP-95 I am able to use "Under Scan" to slightly shrink the entire picture area and improve resolution. I also have the option to shrink the picture size IN HALF and when I do that the PQ is REALLY great but the movie is "window boxed" and annoying to watch that way. Oh well, I assume the file Olive Films released was sent to them this way and that is how they had to put it out for us.

However, this IS the best 'Indiscreet' has ever looked for the home video market or is likely to EVER look unless someone decides to invest heavily in a full restoration. I enjoyed watching it from start to finish once I accepted the limited quality of the source materials Olive Films had to work with. It could have been a LOT worse and honestly it isn't all that bad. Just don't purchase this expecting anything close to perfection. ON a scale of 1 to 5 I would give it a 3 to 3.5 for video quality although it occasionally reaches up into the 3.75 range. I own far worse transfers and since this is Cary Grant I had no choice but to purchase and force myself to overlook any shortcomings on the video front. For comparisons sake, the Blu Ray Criterion transfer of 'Charade' is much better. For now, 'North by Northwest' and 'To Catch a Thief' remain the very best Cary Grant titles on Blu Ray, at least in regards to picture quality. (honorable mention to 'An Affair to remember' but "CinemaScope Mumps" keeps that off the top of my list)

*****I want to add that the Blu Ray case is NICE and solid and NOT one of those dreadful "Eco-Cases" that are more air than plastic! Your investment will be well protected in the case provided and for that I am grateful.

How about the sound? Thankfully the included DTS-HD Master Audio MONO track is just fine. Nothing special but it is uncompressed with no annoying buzzes or ground loop hums. You can hear the dialogue and there is no need for any surround activity. (which is fine since you won't be getting any! Ha Ha )

There are NO special features on this disc.

'Indiscreet' sits firmly between such films as "To Catch a Thief' and 'North by Northwest'. I'm not quite sure WHY Mr. Grant loved this film so much, but I do enjoy his dancing and mugging and there are a few choice lines he delivers that only Cary could get away with. I have looked at various screen shots posted on the web of this release and I can tell you it looks MUCH Better in motion than any screenshot would suggest. This is a worthy upgrade to previous versions of this film and if you are a Cary Grant or Ingrid Bergman fan (or Stanley Donen for that matter) then it is a no brainer and a must purchase! Recommended for fans!

Want Indiscreet (1958) Discount?

Although this is not one of my all-time favorites, it is still a funny and charming film. In many ways, it is not as good as many of Cary Grant's earlier screwball comedies...but that can also be a matter of personal taste. The script is not as witty and frantic as the screwball comedies, but the movie is more romantic and is given a real sense of warmth by the affectionate behavior of Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.

Essentially, Indiscreet is the story of a romance between actress Anna (Ingrid Bergman) and diplomat Philip (Cary Grant). There are several surprising twists and turns, and to explain anything more would be to give too much away.

Anyhow, one reason Indiscreet is such a nice film is that the real life friendship and warmth between Cary and Ingrid comes though very well, and they are very believable together! Indiscreet also has several funny scenes, especially the one in which Cary does a hysterical tap dance at a fancy ball. The two stars seem to be having fun, and you will too while watching them. This film is good for the whole family, and is very enjoyable: highly recommended.

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