Review:
Interview
with David Stevens re "The Sum Of Us" (1994)
and review of the three existing DVD editions (Australia 2001, USA 2003, and
Australia 2008).
NB:
On 24th May 2016 “Olive Films” will
release a high definition widescreen (1.85:1) transfer to Blu-ray (no extras are listed): http://www.olivefilms.com/films/the-sum-of-us-blu-ray/
DVD
edition comparisons:
(2001) The
“Kaleidoscope” Australia region 4 DVD-5 (single layer) edition of The Sum Of
Us was released in November 2001
after weeks of delay. It was one of the first DVD’s to be manufactured locally
by Shock Record’s "Kaleidoscope" video branch and its technical
quality matches their very poor promotional performance as a company.
-
For starters they got the left and right audio channels reversed
– which is just careless, and the "extra feature" interview with
actor Jack Thompson had very poor audio and unnecessary film inserts. The
aspect ratio was 4:3 full-screen. The video transfer quality was terrible and
both the colour and contrast were appalling.
(2003) The MGM USA region 1 DVD (double sided, single layers) of The Sum Of Us was released
around June 2003, and there
are significant improvements over the Australian (Shock) version:
-
much better picture quality in both definition and contrast
(making you wonder if Shock hadn't just used a videotape source.
-
the audio is very much cleaner - with no sign of the slight buzz
that is on the Shock version. AND the MGM version has the left and right
channels in the correct order.
-
it's a double-sided disc with one being a 4:3 full-screen aspect
ratio and the other side is a zoomed 16:9 anamorphic widescreen version –
to perfectly suit the viewer’s choice on either 4:3 or widescreen TVs. The
original film format was a standard 35mm and so it was closer to 4:3. The
cropped widescreen version still works well, but you know you’re getting 25%
more original filmed detail in the 4:3 full-screen version.
-
the scene chapter marks are much more carefully placed.
-
the USA theatrical release trailer is included as an extra (in
24fps progressive scan)
-
So all in
all they've done very well and it was worth the wait.
(2008) The Roadshow Australia region 4 DVD-5 (single layer) edition of “The Sum Of
Us” was released in May 2008. Even though this DVD’s packaging states that it
is widescreen, it is in fact 4:3 fullscreen, and it
is obviously a new transfer from a very good quality film, which lets us view a
few percent more of the original image and has much better colours
and contrast than the MGM edition. So this edition is now the best I reckon –
even though there are no extras (aside from a very clever menu design). With the rapid take up of widescreen high
definition TVs, and DVD/Blu-ray players which can “upscale” to take full
advantage of that definition, we can easily accept that the best way to view
any film is in its original aspect ratio, and that will mean that the image
will be either “pillarboxed” to accurately use the
full height of the screen, or letterboxed to accurately use the full width.
Interview with playwright/screenwriter
David Stevens 11th July 1994 in Brisbane, Australia for community
radio station 4ZZZ’s “Queer Radio” program:
Hear John Frame’s 11th
July 1994 recording of the Queer Radio interview with David Stevens – playwright
and screenwriter of “The Sum Of Us”. Recorded in the Brisbane Hilton to cassette tape using the Sennheiser MKE2002 binaural stereo microphone system,
on the dummy head. This system gives
genuine surround sound when using non-enclosed headphones – you will be
sitting in a close circle, with me to your left, David left of centre, Shane right of centre and
Iain to the right. This is the first celebrity interview I was involved with, and
while I’m happy to take full credit for the recording, I only ask a couple of
minor questions - the interview was expertly prepared and conducted by Queer
Radio’s Iain Grey and by Shane McConnell.
David Stevens is an acclaimed multi-talented actor/writer/director
with a wealth of life experience. He spent many years in
The
Sum Of Us was groundbreaking in that it achieved what its writer hoped, in
being a financially successful bigger-budget film in which the audience
(whether straight or gay) decidedly "wants the boy to get the boy".
The film's look, feel, language, sound and music are all genuine Australiana. I
also found the slightly surreal moments were a pure joy on the big screen and
that there's not a wasted word or image throughout. I've enjoyed rewatching The Sum Of Us on DVD many times. It makes me
totally proud to be a gay Australian and my parents are every bit as supportive
as Jeff's Dad - but part of that process included taking my mum to see The Sum
Of Us at the cinema in '94, after which she gave me a big hug and a kiss and
told me that she is very proud of her openly gay son.
David
tells us about the background for the father character, Harry:
"I
didn't invent this character out of my mind - I mean, I'm not that clever. The
first incident was a direct personal experience: When I was a young man (I was
about seventeen at the time) I had occasion to spend the night in bed with a
young Cockney boy from the
But then when I came to
Read my review 2 imdb.com
comments here
and here
David
Stevens 11th July 1994 (27 minutes,
128kps stereo, 26mb mp3)
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