387 State of the Union

[MichaelB]

STATE OF THE UNION
(Frank Capra, 1948)
Release date: 20 March 2023
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK premiere)

Pre-order here.

The immortal screen couple Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) take the lead in this fabulously witty political comedy drama from director Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life), filmed against the background of the 1948 Presidential election.

Wealthy aeroplane manufacturer Grant Matthews is encouraged to become a presidential candidate by his girlfriend, press baron Kay Thorndyke. Forced to publicly reunite with his estranged wife Mary in order to present the illusion of a happy marriage, he comes close to nomination. But, as Grant and Mary realise that political success will mean compromising their principles, Grant has a change of heart.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Harold Lindsay and Russel Crouse (The Sound of Music), and with supporting turns from Angela Lansbury (Gaslight) and Adolphe Menjou (The Sniper), State of the Union is a brilliant blend of political satire and romantic comedy.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• High Definition remaster
• Original mono audio
• Audio commentary with critics and writers Claire Kenny, Glenn Kenny and Farran Smith Nehme (2023)
• The John Player Lecture with Angela Lansbury (1973): archival audio recording of the celebrated star of film, stage and television in conversation with Rex Reed at London’s National Film Theatre
• Lucy Bolton on Angela Lansbury (2023): the academic discusses the life and eventful career of the much-loved performer
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay on the film, archival interviews with director Frank Capra, archival set reports, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and full film credits
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies

All extras subject to change

#PHILE387B
BBFC cert: PG
REGION B
EAN: 5060697923131

[MichaelB]

Final specs:

[rapta]

State of the Beav-ion.

[domino harvey]

This film is an entertaining mishmash of three or four different films, with a wholly unearned "righteous" finale that falls utterly flat because it takes a sincere tone in a film that has little to offer in that realm. Which is fine, because the aspects here that work are those which differentiate it from the "American cheese" called out by the film (out of one side of its mouth, I might add)-- like having characters actually joke and jibe on then-contemporary politics and express views ascribed to political parties (this is not a film where you have to infer "Republican" or "Democrat", though the movie of course has no actual politics to offend anyone). Beyond the soapboxing, there are amusing screwball comedy moments, and long scenes of people repeatedly entering and exiting doors in a single set that show the play origins. These often work. But a lot doesn't fare as well, such as the cornball excursions into pilot stunt work, presumably leftover from Capra's wartime interests, or the hoary salvation of Spencer Tracy, a cipher who advocates for a one-world government while thinking that somehow makes him the most American of all (Um, what?)

Errant thoughts:
- Van Johnson being Van Johnson in this film is why the star system existed. He steals every scene he's in and he almost saves the ending from itself by delivering a laugh out loud punchline
- The film opens with the audible roar of the MGM lion but only a black screen-- I know this is controlled by Universal now, but I found it odd to keep the audio and not just snip it all out
- Once more we are treated to sloppy subtitles. Do boutique labels truly not give a fuck anymore? There are at least two instances of what are presumably notations for the subtitler to go back and listen again because they couldn't make it out ("XXX") and they also misspelled Wendell Willkie's name. I get that this is a UK label and not an American one, but it's not like that's an obscure reference

[MichaelB]

Once more we are treated to sloppy subtitles. Do boutique labels truly not give a fuck anymore? There are at least two instances of what are presumably notations for the subtitler to go back and listen again because they couldn't make it out ("XXX") and they also misspelled Wendell Willkie's name. I get that this is a UK label and not an American one, but it's not like that's an obscure reference

When you say "once more", I hope you're not referring to another Indicator release!

As far as I can see, what seems to have happened is that the V1 subtitle file somehow ended up on the final disc, which is immensely annoying because a huge amount of work went into polishing them - I've just dug out the original spreadsheet, which goes on for miles.

But you can rest assured that everyone involved most definitely does give a fuck, and I'd particularly like to single out disc producer Anthony Nield here because he spotted the Wendell Willkie misspelling, which was corrected in the V2 version. Why it then reverted to V1, I've no idea, but to say that I'm unhappy about this is an understatement, and I very much hope that this is a one-off.

For the record, we deciphered the XXXs as:

01:03:57 - Say, is it true you're seeing Governor Stassen here?
01:04:01 - How are the men down in the editorial today to be arrested, Matthews?
01:44:45 - All right, all right, lemon pie.
01:51:06 - Esra... Razza... Well...

[domino harvey]

I’ve seen a lot of typos lately in Kino Lorber’s releases (far and away the worst offender— I strongly suspect they’re using Fiver at this point), plus my recent trek through the multiple typos of Studio Canal’s Tavernier discs, so it was fresh on my mind. But no, I don’t recall anything like this specifically from Indicator, hence my surprise. But my comments were needlessly mean, and I’m sure it must be mortifying to spot errors you already fixed get missed in the final product. A good reminder that I don’t always need to be an asshole on here— sorry about that, Michael

[MichaelB]

Turns out that the file that ended up on the disc was V2 instead of V1 (V3 should have been the final version), which means that the vast majority of the corrections had been made - so at least that's a relief.

[tenia]

I QCed subtitles a few times, and the first time I did, I set up a shared file to allow the authorer to have access to it in case he needed to do updated tests with the timing and such. The issue is that the final version got under the radar and wasn't implemented, and I'm still to this day absolutely frustrated to not have fixed subs on this release (which I actually bought since I never got a comp' copy for it).

We at least learnt from it and I'm now only sending the final file once it has been proofread "enough times".

[TMDaines]

Turns out that the file that ended up on the disc was V2 instead of V1 (V3 should have been the final version), which means that the vast majority of the corrections had been made - so at least that's a relief.

Release v3 as a srt file for us to use!

[MichaelB]

I intend to, but I need to double-check it first, and this is an insanely busy time for me.

[MichaelB]

As promised, corrected subtitles can be found here.

(It's V5 rather than V3 because I initially saved them as V4 so I'd be certain that I wouldn't get them mixed up again, and then Anthony Nield spotted a further opportunity for a minor tweak, hence V5. So they're more accurate than what would have ended up on the disc even if it had turned out as planned!)