DVD DETAILS:
Vision
The anamorphic widescreen transfer preserves what is a studied sense of composition. Indeed, Fleischer here draws much attention to the inherent selectivity in film narrative. What is important is the gradual revelation of detail, not just to further the plot but to call attention to the way in which the camera withholds and reveals information in an inherently fragmentary way. Such fragmentation is slowly allied to violence. In this way, much of the film’s tension comes from what onscreen details suggest about what may lie offscreen. Some small details (the lost bracelet) thus become ominous fatalistic signifiers. Formal set dressings and colour schemes capture the sense of oblivious privilege in contrast to the anarchic and cold urban locations. Fleischer’s camera movements are unpredictable and varied, sometimes slow and deliberate and then sudden and nervous, further destabilizing the viewer. Stagnation and a dangerous invigoration are both admirably conveyed here. There is the expected attention to a blind person’s sense of movement. The faceless killer’s behaviour towards his prized boots reveals much of his underlying psychology. The gypsy subplot works as a parallel to the film’s sense of class convention, resentment and suspicion. Although See No Evil has much to commend it, the transfer on offer here is murky and indistinct throughout, sometimes to the point of distraction.
Sound
The sound transfer is available in Dolby Digital mono only. Despite a minor hiss, it is a workable transfer which preserves a clever score. The peaceful nature of the country life is held in contrast to a chaotic and stimulated urbanity. The score is nicely jazzy at first, seguing into ambient sound and then is nicely selective for tense and emotive purposes (often cued to camera movement: rising nicely to convey the thrill of horseback riding for instance). There is a nice segue from one such moment to a bitter wind, further evidencing the inhospitability through which Farrow must work her way. Likewise, smallish bursts of score function neatly as destabilizing factors. Dialogue exchanges are kept naturalistic, almost incidental as most exposition is visual. Much is made of quieter scenes, with only diegetic sounds and minimal spoken word. With the visual details suggesting prior offscreen events about to soon make themselves known, the ambient-only sequences are effective tension builders. Small details also become ominous: for instance, as a corpse in the bathtub is revealed, the once calming sound of running tap water then carries with it a sense of impending horror. The mounting desperation is carried in Farrow’s voice and good use is made of her ability to make noise as a means of attracting help. A near-drowning sequence is a tense culmination of the film’s emphasis on selective diegetic detail. read more
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