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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.59:1
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital Stereo
  Subtitles
  • None
  Extras
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Cast/crew biographies - Peter Sellers Profile

Trial & Error

Umbrella Entertainment/AV Channel . R4 . COLOR . 78 mins . G . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Comedies don’t always have to be far-out and gross to be devilishly funny, as has recently been seen with the box office smash-hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding. This film had a simple story, a great cast of characters and a common yet unique style on screen, and it made the audiences laugh - again, and again, and again. After 16 weeks in national release, the film was still drawing in crowds and making them laugh for the fourth, fifth and even sixth times! Trial and Error fits into this same category. And no, not the excuse-for-a-film starring Seinfeld’s Kramer, but a 1962 film starring comic legend Peter Sellers (The Party) and the Academy Award-winning actor Sir Richard Attenborough (Jurassic Park, The Great Escape).

With a simple story, a unique style and some truly funny situations, this film is a winner, and with its short duration it is a fine way to kill just over an hour, lightening the mood of any audience as it goes. You'd really have to be a sad sack of sour sobs to not crack a giggle at this film! Now this is clear for a few reasons. Number One: the classic wedding photo – so innocent, yet so funny (no more can be said - it will spoil it!). Number Two: the fake trial sequence where the two leads are placed among the court room playing several parts at once, and Number Three: Sir Richard Attenborough’s prosthetic nose. Well hey, if Nicole Kidman can do it in The Hours, then Attenborough could do it back then too! It makes you just want to run up and squeeze it!

Sellers stars as Wilfred Morgenhall, a barrister in a British court who has waited nearly 40 years to get his chance to defend someone. And then along comes Herbert Fowle, played by Sir Richard Attenborough. Normally, the accused chooses a barrister. Well, Fowle closed his eyes and pointed. It was just Morgenhall’s luck that he got picked. Some luck though. Fowle is accused of murdering his wife (played by the annoyingly irritating Beryl Reid), and can’t stop insisting that he is guilty. But Morgenhall won’t flounder with his guilty client, and makes him plead "not guilty" to the court, to give him a chance to fulfil his dreams of becoming a successful barrister, as well as giving the sad and lonely Fowle a chance at a happy life. This is the ultimate story of two losers, who sadly (yet humorously for us) need each other to find themselves.

  Video
Contract

The video is presented in a widescreen aspect, and is not 16:9 enhanced. The aspect is… um 1.something:1. The packaging states a 4:3 pan and scan transfer, yet this odd widescreen-cum-full-frame transfer just falls in between the two. It appears as though this has been altered from an original widescreen aspect as parts of the MGM tag and opening credits have been lost to the left of the image, and the framing for many of the shots seems slightly off. The picture is fairly sharp, but is lacking in the detail department. The lack of clarity and slightly soft appearance at times contributes to this.

This black and white film has a reasonably good transfer, given the age of the film and the quality of the film stocks. Encoded by Australia’s own Madman Entertainment on behalf of Umbrella Entertainment, the transfer is of a superb standard, with only print-related problems holding it back. The image is riddled with various sorts of film artefacts such as severe scratches and dust marks, but these come in dribs and drabs, with the majority of the film being an absolute delight to watch. Even the reel cue marks (known as ‘cigarette burns’ in Fight Club) are still on the print, with only half of the solid circle being on screen, another hint at the pan and scanning of the transfer. Blacks are solid, with no sign of low-level noise, whilst whites are stark and stunning, with excellent definition of the shades between. Some signs of editing can be seen during the fades between scenes where a shift in colour (so to speak) occurs. Shadow detail is reasonably clear for the most part, yet can appear a little murky at times. The single-sided, single-layered disc does not have a layer change nor any subtitles.

  Audio
Contract

One Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track has been included, and is in the film’s native language, English. The dialogue is precise and clear throughout the film, with a hint of synch problems earlier in the film, but it may have just been a brief mental lapse... It is a surprisingly clean-sounding transfer, with only the occasional click and pop shooting through into the left and right speakers.

  Extras
Contract

A small contingency of features has been arranged for this disc, including a nine-page profile of Peter Sellers, and some Umbrella Propaganda in the form of DVD covers for three films, plus a trailer for Death of a Salesman which even has a lovely ugly time-code timer stuck on the bottom of the image. The menus are the slickest part of the extras package, with a sharp and aesthetically beautiful appearance. A portion of the score loops over on the main menu.

  Overall  
Contract

A wickedly comic and well-timed film, offering a good nostalgic night’s entertainment. The transfer is superb given the source materials, but the extras are fairly pointless and uninteresting, yet given the age of the film this is to be expected. Definitely one for your Sellers collection if you’re a fan, and one for a hire for a night of nostalgic dry comedy for anybody else.


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      And I quote...
    "...you really have to be a sad sack of sour sobs to not crack a giggle at this film..."
    - Martin Friedel
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Philips DVD 736K
    • TV:
          TEAC EU68-ST
    • Speakers:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Centre Speaker:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Surrounds:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
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