Breakfast at Tiffany’s

ID: PA-HD76505

Price: 20,000 yen

Discs: 1

Sound: B-Mode / Analog

Running Time: 1:53

Released: Panasonic

I won’t even bother with a synopsis, since you most likely have seen this movie. If you haven’t, go see it now.

This is an odd review to write, in that the original film print was generally pretty grainy to begin with. Many of the shots (primarily interior) are soft, and don’t best represent that “better than real life” look. That’s how it was shot, and that’s how it looks in Hi-Vision. The outdoor scenes (except the opening) are generally not very grainy, and have a nice detailed look to them.

The fact that this film was shot in Technicolor shows, as the colors are very vibrant and saturated, looking very clean and crisp, especially compared to the DVD release. The DVD version looks washed out and muted in comparison. Picture detail is much more evident in the Hi-Vision version compared to the DVD version.

Artifacts present themselves occasionally, but over all would get lost in the film grain and tend to be overlooked. Even with digital transfers and restoration, I don’t think Breakfast at Tiffany’s will look much better than viewed here.

The sound is presented in either B-Mode (reviewed) or analog (the only disc to have an analog track). It’s the original mono soundtrack, and listening to it in analog or B-Mode yielded very little differences in quality. However my processor was better able to create a stereo image of the sound using the B-Mode vs. analog. Regardless, this film is a dialog driven movie (though with memorable songs), and mono suits it just fine.

Again, about as good as this film will most likely look. Great movie, and highly recommended.