SILENT FALL (1994) - Mill Creek Blu-Ray Review
Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2020 11:23 am
Mill Creek has been opening up the Morgan Creek vaults with the premiere release of several '90s properties from the studio on Blu-Ray, all previously distributed by Warner Bros. One of them, SILENT FALL (101 mins., 1994, R), was a particularly expensive failure – one of several flops from director Bruce Beresford, who struggled in the Hollywood system after his 1989 Oscar triumph “Driving Miss Daisy.”
This thriller, an original script by Akiva Goldsman, is downright weird – severely impacted by heavy editorial meddling which rendered its second and third-billed leads (Linda Hamilton and John Lithgow) utterly useless and disjointed pacing which only intensifies the picture's glaring post-production woes.
Richard Dreyfuss stars as a psychologist, haunted by tragedy, whose latest case involves the autistic son of a slain wealthy couple. While Dreyfuss and local cop J.T. Walsh try to piece together those responsible for the crime, Dreyfuss is drawn to the boy and his older sister (Liv Tyler, excellent in her feature debut) who may or may not have something to do with their parents' murders.
“Silent Fall” was not a low-budget film – reportedly shot with a budget of $30 million, the production shows its price tag by way of attractive Maryland-area locations captured by cinematographer Peter James and a superb cast. Yet Goldsman's script, which seems like it was trying to mix “Rain Man” with a murder-mystery, is so fractured as presented on-screen that it's hard to make sense of it. The picture's opening is especially ragged, as is an ending that comes off as if it was reshot – the only portion that really works is its mid-section which establishes Dreyfuss' relationship with Tyler and her brother (Ben Faulkner, effective in his only credited screen performance). Making no sense are performances by Hamilton – clearly left on the cutting room floor for the most part – and Lithgow, whose brief contribution seems to be a character tagged as a suspect in Goldman's script and little more.
The cumulative result is an oddity, a pricey flop that occasionally shows flashes of inspiration and technical quality, but clearly was patched together in post-production. Needless to say, the end result did not work – the movie tanked after grossing just north of $3 million during the fall of '94, and “Silent Fall” has been almost entirely forgotten since.
Mill Creek's Blu-Ray debut of the feature (paired with the underrated '94 Fairuza Balk/Harvey Keitel period drama "Imaginary Crimes") offers a detailed and attractive 1080p (1.85) AVC encoded transfer with a bass-heavy 2.0 DTS MA stereo soundtrack. For a movie that hasn't been released on video since Warner's DVD, this is a surprisingly good catalog transfer, and the sound captures the original Dolby Stereo Spectral Recording nicely, especially when played back in proper 4-channel matrixed surround. Stewart Copeland's score is one of his superior efforts, and “Healing,” the pleasant soft-rock duet between Wyonna and Michael English, caps the end credits.
Hilariously overwrought narration in this trailer:
This thriller, an original script by Akiva Goldsman, is downright weird – severely impacted by heavy editorial meddling which rendered its second and third-billed leads (Linda Hamilton and John Lithgow) utterly useless and disjointed pacing which only intensifies the picture's glaring post-production woes.
Richard Dreyfuss stars as a psychologist, haunted by tragedy, whose latest case involves the autistic son of a slain wealthy couple. While Dreyfuss and local cop J.T. Walsh try to piece together those responsible for the crime, Dreyfuss is drawn to the boy and his older sister (Liv Tyler, excellent in her feature debut) who may or may not have something to do with their parents' murders.
“Silent Fall” was not a low-budget film – reportedly shot with a budget of $30 million, the production shows its price tag by way of attractive Maryland-area locations captured by cinematographer Peter James and a superb cast. Yet Goldsman's script, which seems like it was trying to mix “Rain Man” with a murder-mystery, is so fractured as presented on-screen that it's hard to make sense of it. The picture's opening is especially ragged, as is an ending that comes off as if it was reshot – the only portion that really works is its mid-section which establishes Dreyfuss' relationship with Tyler and her brother (Ben Faulkner, effective in his only credited screen performance). Making no sense are performances by Hamilton – clearly left on the cutting room floor for the most part – and Lithgow, whose brief contribution seems to be a character tagged as a suspect in Goldman's script and little more.
The cumulative result is an oddity, a pricey flop that occasionally shows flashes of inspiration and technical quality, but clearly was patched together in post-production. Needless to say, the end result did not work – the movie tanked after grossing just north of $3 million during the fall of '94, and “Silent Fall” has been almost entirely forgotten since.
Mill Creek's Blu-Ray debut of the feature (paired with the underrated '94 Fairuza Balk/Harvey Keitel period drama "Imaginary Crimes") offers a detailed and attractive 1080p (1.85) AVC encoded transfer with a bass-heavy 2.0 DTS MA stereo soundtrack. For a movie that hasn't been released on video since Warner's DVD, this is a surprisingly good catalog transfer, and the sound captures the original Dolby Stereo Spectral Recording nicely, especially when played back in proper 4-channel matrixed surround. Stewart Copeland's score is one of his superior efforts, and “Healing,” the pleasant soft-rock duet between Wyonna and Michael English, caps the end credits.
Hilariously overwrought narration in this trailer: