Owning Mahowny DVD Review

Picture quality is best described as adequate. A 1.85:1 anamorphic print has more grain than is necessary, and more edge enhancement than is acceptable. If you can get past these significant flaws you will find a neutrally balanced colour palette, with good skin tones and accurate primary colours. Bright scenes such as on the stairwell of the casino, do appear a little washed out, with loss of highlight detail. The exception to these unfortunate faults are the many close ups of Hoffman during the gambling scenes when suddenly the detail increases and the digital artefacts disappear. Pity this wasn't the case throughout the movie.

The movie is a slow paced tour de force of acting prowess and an engrossing drama. Not the kind of film you would necessarily expect to have a decent soundtrack. Well be prepared for a surprise then, because both the soundtrack and the score are excellent. Although all the action is onscreen, a sterling job has been done to expand the front soundstage and produce plenty of atmosphere. This is especially apparent in the casino scenes when the hubbub of background noise produces a superb width and depth to the on screen action. Dialogue is clean, clear and rich. The surround channels and occasionally even the subwoofer, gets a workout with a highly enjoyable score.

There are none.
As a disc this DVD is let down by a lacklustre video encoding, and an unnecessary lack of any extras whatsoever. However I would place it high on my one to rent list, merely for the magnificent performance by Hoffman, in an engrossing true story.