Her Alibi

It’s every writer’s (and reviewer’s) worst nightmare. Writer’s block. And that is just what is plaguing Phillip Blackwood (Tom Selleck), mystery novel extraordinaire who is trying to write his next best-seller. So what do you do when you need inspiration? Go to a court room and gather up stories – c’mon, everyone should know that! It is in the courtroom where Phillip meets Nina (Paulina Porizkova), a Romanian immigrant on trial for murder. So, working on a dosage of hormones and lust, Phil ventures into her prison cell posing as a priest to get her off the hook – he comes up with the perfect alibi: him. But is she really capable of murder?

Tom Selleck is one of those things from the '80s that just hangs around. Others thankfully disappeared such as fluorescent happy pants. The chemistry between Phillip and Nina works... just. This downfall is because of Selleck’s appearance as a father-figure, rather than a young eligible bachelor. But still, picture Selleck without the moustache and you’ve got a more believable couple. Highly implausible, this film acts as 90 minutes of fluffy entertainment with the sex scene, the car chase and the evil villainous bad guys firmly cast, storyboarded and shot. What fluffy film can exist without them?

This transfer is presented in an anamorphically-enhanced widescreen aspect of 1.78:1 and is another in the recent line of budget Warner PAL discs. Like the recently-reviewed My Giant this transfer is quite stunning. Does this mean that for the entire NTSC pan and scan Warner range out there, there is actually a master print that is decent enough to make a nice transfer from? But anyway, this transfer is superb for a film of nearly 15 years of age, with a clean image and high definition. Film grain slinks past here and there, but generally doesn’t hinder the quality of the image. The clarity is just remarkable for such an old picture, with such a sharp and clean picture. A smidge of edge enhancement crops up here and there, and provides a temporal halo for the actors on screen.

The colour palette used is fairly dark and dry, but lets rip with vibrancy when required. Shadow detail is reasonable, but not perfect which sometimes appears murky in some of the really dark scenes. The overall contrast of the picture is nice, but generally things do look a little dark. A hint of extra brightness during the dark and gloomy sequences would have improved the overall feel a little, as the contrast between the bright scenes and the suspenseful depths of darkness is just too high.

A single Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack has been included, and it provides a solid basis for the film. Dialogue is crisp and clear, yet does tend to be a tad quiet in comparison to music and sound effects. At least the film’s original stereo soundtrack has been preserved on DVD. Effects, such as the odd explosion, have decent bass levels, with the overall sound not overly tinny. Music comes through cleanly, and the end credits feature a song by Randy Newman. Before the song credits even appear, you can hear that tell-tale voice and you know it’s the man himself.

The most basic of basic menus have been included, with Warner’s stylised imagery and 16:9 enhancement. And that's it.

Tom Selleck aside, this is actually a pretty intriguing movie as far as fluff goes. It’s got a bit of suspense, it’s got a bit of comedy, and it also has a great deal of corn. The new PAL transfers from Warner Bros. are superb to see, and the stylised menus are modern and repetitive, but still are quite nice to look at without going the whole nine yards with funky animations.