Party, Party DVD Review

Universal has provided a full screen 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture that unfortunately is showing its age. The image is overall very dark and quite grainy; this may be due to the original print process and budget rather than any digital processing. The colours too suffer at the hands of the low brightness and contrast, being both dark and thin with flesh tones tending towards the yellow in places. Once inside the 'party' there is a bold colour pallet, but it suffers from the low light and occasional bleeding in places. Thankfully it is all very clear, with nice detail. There are also no visible compression problems or edge enhancement. The whole looks rather like a cleaned up old VHS copy, none of the colour problems but all of the third generation darkness. Chances are, though, this is as best as it is ever going to look.

The disc has only one English Dolby digital mono sound track that does little to enhance the viewing experience. Though nothing is lost, there is no hiss or distortion and everything is clear and easily audible, there is little bass so everything sits in the upper mid to high range giving an artificial tinny sound. Though not overly distracting, it is certainly not a good track, a real shame that there has been no effort to widen the separation to even a stereo track. There is much to be enjoyed with the score and a decent sound track could have really raised the films impact, a lost opportunity.

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Party Party had me laughing again, even after all these years. I'm so glad it has been brought back to DVD, I hope if finds a home. Unfortunately Universal have produced an extremely poor product, a very dark picture, with adequate sound and bereft of extras. Even in the budget section this one looks out of place. It must live and die with the quality of the film, and whilst those who remember it first time round might be tempted, I am sure it will struggle with a new audience. Looks like the party might be over.