On Approval Blu-ray delivers great video and solid audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
Two wealthy Victorian ladies are courted by two impoverished British gentlemen. When the elder lady suggests that her beau go away with her for a month to see if they are compatible, the fireworks begin.
For more about On Approval and the On Approval Blu-ray release, see the On Approval Blu-ray Review published by Michael Reuben on March 12, 2013 where this Blu-ray release scored 4.0 out of 5.
When most people hear the term "British comedy", their minds turn to Benny Hill or Monty
Python (or possibly someone like their bastard stepchild, Eddie Izzard). But there is an older and
more rarefied tradition of British comedy that is typically set in great houses and country
mansions populated by egotistical blowhards, aristocrats with fancy titles and empty pockets, and
well-dressed ladies who are either too smart or too dumb for the men courting them. For several
centuries after Shakespeare's time, British dramatists polished such "drawing room" comedy to
shiny perfection, and the early days of cinema saw several notable examples translated to the
screen. One of them was On Approval.
Though in no other regard, On Approval shares one feature with Charles Laughton's Night of the
Hunter, because it was the only film ever directed by a famous and successful actor, Clive Brook.
Brook's sole directing credit happened by accident. He had acquired the rights to the play and
was co-producing the film as a star vehicle for himself, but quickly discovered that the director
he'd hired wanted to focus on the underlying melancholy of the characters. Not in my star
vehicle, said Brook, who promptly fired the director and bought out his contract. With no
additional funding in the budget to hire someone new, Brook was left with no choice but to
become his own director.
The results were fortunate. Brook proceeded to create some of the film's most original and
inspired sequences, including an entirely new opening and conclusion. His ability to
communicate effectively with the actors led to the tight ensemble work that was essential to their
precision comic timing, although Brook did have a habit of choosing the take that best flattered
his aging features. While the film was not a success in Britain (which may have had something to
do with its wartime release and also with the changing tastes that would shortly render the
drawing room comedy passé), in America the film was widely praised and remains well regarded.
Specialty publisher B2MP, Inc. (the company responsible for restoring Lady for a Day) has
created a new transfer of On Approval specially for this Blu-ray, which is being released through
Inception Media Group.
Brook invented an entire prologue narrated by the then-familiar voice of newsreel reader E.V.H.
Emmett, explaining why the story had to be set in the quieter, more formal Victorian era. In fact,
the entire explanation was a put-on; the original play by Frederick Lonsdale had been set in the
1920s, but Brook wanted to distance the story's frivolous events even further from the grim
reality of the contemporary war with Nazi Germany. He also wanted to establish the
appropriately mocking tone, which the opening does brilliantly.
On Approval is a quartet for two men and two women. The men are George, the Tenth Duke of
Bristol (Brook), an egotistical snob who has squandered his fortune; and George's equally
impecunious friend, Richard Halton (Roland Culver). The women are Maria Wislack (Beatrice
Lillie), a widow so wealthy that she is currently leasing George's London mansion, which
George can no longer afford to keep; and her friend, Helen Hale (Googie Withers), the young
American heiress to a great pickle fortune.
In the film's first act, George and Richard attend a gala party thrown by Maria at George's
former home, where Richard attempts to persuade Maria to marry him. Maria, who is every bit as
haughty and self-absorbed as George (whom she detests), knows that Richard wants her for her
money, but she's willing to play along to the extent of a trial run. She suggests they spend a
month together at her home on a Scottish island as husband and wife—taking each other "on
approval", as it were—except that Richard has to sleep at an inn on the mainland. Helen will
accompany them as chaperone. George, who has become interested in Helen's fortune,
accompanies Richard hoping to inveigle Helen into matrimony.
With such volatile personalities driven by sheerly mercenary calculations, quarrels are bound to
erupt. The servants in Maria's Scotland home abandon their mistress and her bickering guests,
and eventually Richard and Helen decide they've had enough of their acerbic and self-centered
prospective spouses. They tell both of them to get lost, leaving George and Maria in the
unaccustomed position of being the spurned parties. Stung by rejection, the two forge a
temporary truce in a farcical effort to make their former lovers jealous.
The sight of George and Maria acting as friends (and possibly more) is so unnerving that it
inspires nightmares in Richard and Helen. The wordless scenes that Brook stages to convey their
unnerving visions rely too much on movement to be conveyed in screenshots, but they are
delightfully surreal. As to the ultimate outcome, it would be unfair to reveal. The film ends with
an epilogue that explains everything, but Brook was dissatisfied with its original form. When the
film's distribution was held up, he took the opportunity to rethink and reshoot various sections,
including the epilogue, which now links up in perfect stylistic harmony with the prologue (also
part of the reshoot). Even if you see the end coming, it still has a surprise or two.
According to information supplied by the publisher, the transfer for this 1080p, AVC-encoded
Blu-ray was newly created from a so-called "safety negative" made from a nitrate fine grain print
maintained by the British Film Institute. (A DVD released in 1999 by Image Entertainment was
taken from a lesser source.) Although occasional scratches and damage are evident, they are quite
minor and, indeed, it would appear the BFI may have performed restoration work on the source
material, because the overall condition is impressive. The image is detailed, and the blacks that
are so crucial for such scenes as the extended ball at Maria Wislack's residence, where ever
gentleman is dressed from head to toe in formal wear, are solid and deep. The shades of grey into
which cameraman Claude Friese-Greene translated the lavish decor and costumes are well-delineated, and the film's grain pattern has been left intact.
Contrast is never overstated, although
I am sure there were moments when the colorist may have been tempted to exaggerate it for
modern tastes. This is a first-rate presentation of a Forties black-and-white film. I suspect the
only way to improve upon it would require access to the original camera negative, which
apparently no longer exists.
The film's original mono soundtrack is presented as lossless PCM 2.0, and I can't imagine it
sounding any better. The actors' delivery of the clipped, precise dialogue is always clear, and the
occasional underscoring by William Alwyn has sufficient dynamic range to create the necessary
impact. Essential effects, whether source music at Maria's ball, or the sound of the boat crossing
from the Scottish mainland, are distinct. There is a minimum of hiss and an absence of clicks or
pops. The track may show the limits of its era, but there's nothing wrong with its presentation.
Commentary with Jeffrey Vance: A former archivist for MGM/UA and the heirs of
Charlie Chaplin, Vance has written volumes on Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Buster
Keaton and Harold Lloyd. He has contributed commentaries to the Mary Pickford film
Sparrows
and the multi-star classic, Grand Hotel.
Vance provides an informative, scene-specific comparison between the film and the play
on which it was based, woven together with vast information on the film's production, its
reception, its cast and their biographies and careers. An accomplished scholar capable of
organizing a wealth of detail, Vance never forgets that a commentary should also function
as entertainment, and his presentations are always lively and enthusiastic. Small wonder
he's in such demand.
Interview: Googie Withers Remembers On Approval (1080p; 1.33:1; 16:56): Withers,
whose real name was "Georgette", was the youngest of On Approval's principal cast and
the longest-surviving. (She was 94 when she died in July 2011.) The date of this
previously unreleased interview is not provided, but the copyright date is 2012. With
clarity apparently undimmed by the passage of time, Withers recalls the experience of
shooting the film and speaks frankly about her co-stars and crew.
Still Gallery: From the British Institute Film Collection (1080p): A series of stills
from the film, including shots from a deleted scene and from the film's original epilogue,
which is discussed in both Vance's commentary and Withers' interview.
Insert: The Blu-ray case contains an insert with an essay on the film by critic Scott
Eyman.
Don't watch On Approval when you're tired, because it requires close attention to every word.
Like all good drawing room comedy, the film derives much its humor from nuances of language.
It's aimed at viewers who enjoy the mean streak in a remark like George's after Maria has left the
room in a huff: "She's not crying because I said she was forty-one. She's crying because she is
forty-one." The Brits excel at this sort of thing, and few films have ever captured it with such
precision as On Approval. The new Blu-ray from B2MP and Inception Media provides an
impressive presentation with informative extras. Highly recommended.
Inception Media Group has officially announced that it will release on Blu-ray Clive Brook's classic British comedy On Approval (1944), starring Clive Brook, Roland Culver, Beatrice Lillie, and Googie Withers. Street date is March 19th.
