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    WSR Detailed DVD Review
    Devils On The Door Step
    Genre: Foreign

    Reviewed In Issue 96 (May 2005) Of Widescreen Review®

    Stars:
    Jiang Wen, Kagawa Teruyuki, Chen Qiang, Chen Shu, Sawada Kenya, Cong Zhijun, Jiang Hongbo, Yuan Ding & David Wu

    WSR Review Scores
    WSR Picture Rating: 3.5
    DD Sound Rating: 3.5
    DTS Sound Rating: NR
    Download WSR Review
    Reference Systems
    Critics' Composite Score: 3
    Internet Links


    Special Features
    Special features include an optional introduction by Steven Soderbergh and the trailer.


     DVD General Information

    (Studio/Distributor): Home Vision Entertainment
    (Catalog Number): DEV050
    (MPAA Rating): Not Rated
    (Rating Reason):
    (Retail Price): $26.95
    (DVD Type): Single Side, Dual Layer (DVD9)
    (Widescreen Edition): Yes
    (Full Screen Edition): No
    (Anamorphic Widescreen): Yes
    (Running Time In Minutes): 139
    (Color Type): Black & White
    (Chaptered/Scene Access): Yes
    (Closed Captioned): No
    (Regional Coding): 1
    (Theatrical Year): 2000
    (Theatrical Release): Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release): No
    (DVD Release Date): 04/19/05
    (THX® Digitally Mastered): No

     Credits Information

    (Director): Jiang Wen
    (Screenplay/Written By): Subscribe Now!
    (Story): Subscribe Now!
    (Music): Subscribe Now!
    (Director Of Photography): Subscribe Now!
    (Production Designer): Subscribe Now!
    (Visual Effects): Subscribe Now!
    (Costume Designer): Subscribe Now!
    (Editor): Subscribe Now!
    (Supervising Sound Editors): Subscribe Now!
    (Re-Recording Mixers): Subscribe Now!
    (Executive Producers): Subscribe Now!
    (Co-Producers): Subscribe Now!
    (Producers): Subscribe Now!
    (Academy Awards): Subscribe Now!

      DVD Picture Information

    (Principal Photography): Subscribe Now!
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio): Subscribe Now!
    (Measured DVD Anamorphic Aspect Ratio): Subscribe Now!
    (Measured DVD Letterbox Aspect Ratio): Subscribe Now!

      DVD Sound Information

    (DVD Soundtrack): Subscribe Now!
    (Theatrical Sound): Subscribe Now!
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack): Subscribe Now!
    (DTS Bit Rate): Subscribe Now!
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate): Subscribe Now!
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      WSR Narrative Review
    Story Synopsis:
    Devils On The Door Step is a genre confusion sort of film. Starting out with plenty of humor, the movie soon loses all sense of a comedy and turns into something much more dramatic. Set during World War II in a little Chinese village near the Great Wall, a captured Japanese soldier and a Chinese interpreter are left for a short while with Dasan Ma (Wen). But when no one returns for the two men, it's up to Ma to decide what to do with them. Based on the novel by You Fengwe. (Tricia Spears)

    DVD Picture:
    The black-and-white 1.82:1 DVD picture is anamorphically enhanced and exhibits pleasantly smooth, clean imagery in the darker scenes. The gray scale exhibits satisfying balance, with generally deep blacks (that occasionally appear a bit milky) and bright whites. A satisfying gradation of visual information is available between the two extremes. While the picture can appear somewhat soft, details are often nicely rendered. There are some minor source element scratches and occasional artifacts. Rarely are edge halos noticed, nor is there distracting pixelization. (Suzanne Hodges)

    Soundtrack:
    The Mandarin and Japanese Dolby

    Reason #114 Why Readers Love Widescreen Review:

    I appreciate the technical nature of your DVD reviews; that is, the way you rate the sound and picture quality of newly released DVDs. The reviews in most other magazines are concerned not with how good the DVD is, but with just the film itself: quality of the script, actors' performances, etc., all of which are subject to the critic's personal tastes, which may be wildly different from my own.

    Paul Mulik
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