DVD Movie Guide @ dvdmg.com Awards & Recommendations at Amazon.com.
.
Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main
WARNER

MOVIE INFO

Director:
John Huston
Cast:
Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr
Writing Credits:
Anthony Veiller, John Huston

Synopsis:
An ostracized Episcopal clergyman leads a busload of middle-aged Baptist women on a tour of the Mexican coast and comes to terms with the failure haunting his life.

MPAA:
Rated NR.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA Monaural
Subtitles:
English
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 118 min.
Price: $21.99
Release Date: 10/25/2022

Bonus:
• “Huston’s Gamble” Featurette
• “On the Trail of the Iguana” Featurette
• Trailers


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
-LG OLED65C6P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV
-Marantz SR7010 9.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD AV Surround Receiver
-Panasonic DMP-BDT220P Blu-Ray Player
-Chane A2.4 Speakers
-SVS SB12-NSD 12" 400-watt Sealed Box Subwoofer


RELATED REVIEWS


The Night of the Iguana [Blu-Ray] (1964)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (November 6, 2022)

Based on a Tennessee Williams play, 1964’s The Night of the Iguana comes with a tremendous pedigree. Co-written and directed by John Huston, it boasts a cast that includes Richard Burton, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr.

After an affair with a parishioner, Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon (Burton) gets the boot from his Virginia church. He now finds himself in a remote Mexican territory where he acts as a tour guide for a low-budget company.

As his next assignment, Shannon entertains a group of middle-aged Texas women lead by Judith Fellowes (Grayson Hall), and she brings along her teenaged ward Charlotte Goodall (Sue Lyon). When young Charlotte develops a sexual interest in Shannon, complications emerge.

Tennessee Williams always felt like the most theatrical of playwrights. This means that what works on the more abstract setting of a theater stage doesn’t always translate well to the more literal domain of the movie screen.

Going into Night, I’d seen four films based on the works of Williams, and this resulted in a tie. While I liked Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Streetcar Named Desire, I didn’t care for Sweet Bird of Youth and Fugitive Kind.

That left Night to break the tie, which it did. Alas, it did so in the negative domain, as this flick gives us a rambling, borderline silly character examination.

To its credit, Night does expand its stage-bound horizons. Although it does tend to focus on a handful of settings, it doesn’t come across as a project obviously adapted from a play, so it manages to feel moderately cinematic.

At least in terms of locations, which open up the proceedings. However, the script leans toward an awful lot of dialogue without much real “action”, a factor that accentuates the movie’s roots.

As implied, Williams leaned toward overwrought “theatrical” material, and that comes to the fore with Night. The movie often feels like a collection of monologues and overdone conversations more than a real narrative.

Does this flesh out the roles? Yeah, to a decent degree, but Night never makes any of the personalities especially compelling.

The characters lean into archetypes, and despite all the talent involved, none of them manage to add much real range to their parts. I don’t blame Lyon too much, mainly because she couldn’t act beyond her sex appeal.

However, along with Burton, the main cast includes Gardner and Kerr. That triumvirate should wring the requisite appeal from the characters.

They can’t. Burton handles his role’s seedier side well, but I don’t buy him as a man of the cloth – even a degraded one – and Kerr and Gardner find themselves stuck with one-note parts.

The biggest issue here remains the never-ending monologues, as they seem too overcooked and without real depth to keep the viewer involved. Night becomes tedious melodrama.


The Disc Grades: Picture B/ Audio B-/ Bonus C-

The Night of the Iguana appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a fairly positive presentation.

Sharpness usually worked fine, as the majority of the film seemed well-defined. However, occasional instances of softness materialized, so exceptions occurred.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects popped up, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt light but natural, and the image lacked print flaws.

Blacks came across as reasonably deep and dense, while shadows demonstrated appropriate delineation. The bouts of softness made this a “B” image, but it still fared nicely for the most part.

The DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Night seemed perfectly fine for its age and scope. Speech remained reasonably natural and always came across as clear and intelligible.

Effects played a small role in the proceedings but they were perfectly clean and distinct given their background participation. Music also was a minor element and sounded good when it appeared. This was a limited mix that suited the material well.

Only minor extras appear here. In addition to two trailers we find two featurettes. Huston’s Gamble goes for nine minutes, 54 seconds and includes notes from biographer Donald Spoto, film historians Eric Lax and Lawrence Grobel,

“Gamble” looks at aspects of the production, with an emphasis on the work of director John Huston. This becomes a short but engaging overview.

A vintage piece, On the Trail of the Iguana runs 13 minutes, 40 seconds. It shows footage of the shoot while we get occasional comments from director John Huston, cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, art designer Stephen Grimes and actors Deborah Kerr, Cyril Delevanti and Richard Burton.

No one should expect a ton of insights here, but I like the glimpse of the production. Also, “Trail” looks shockingly good for a nearly 60-year-old promo piece, as these archival clips usually suffer from terrible quality.

With a strong pedigree, I hoped The Night of the Iguana would offer a lively tale. Instead, it came with so much silliness that it never engaged me. The Blu-ray brings pretty positive picture along with era-appropriate audio and a handful of bonus materials. While not a terrible movie, Night falls short of expectations.

Viewer Film Ratings: 3 Stars Number of Votes: 2
05:
14:
0 3:
12:
01:
View Averages for all rated titles.

.
Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main