Hoffman — Hoffman(Blu Ray)
From the early 1970s, Hoffman is a lightly unbalancing drama-come-lulling thriller, featuring Peter Sellers as a bachelor businessman who blackmails his secretary to spend a week with him. It’s certainly a slow-burning and largely pared-back affair,but along its length, we get an effective air of both sly unease and gently simmering suspense- with jarring moments of creepiness and dark humour. Here from the folks at Powerhouse, both in the UK & US, is blu ray release of the film- bringing together a 4K scan of the picture, and a good selection of interesting extras.
Hoffman appeared in the year 1970 and is a British production directed by Canadian Alvin Rakoff. It was based on the ABC TV play (also helmed by Rakoff) from 1967 Call Me Daddy, which found Donald Pleasence playing the Sellers role. Both TV play and film had a screenplay by Irish Czech writer Ernest Gebler, which in 1969 he turned into the novel Shall I Eat You Now. The film is largely set in the interior of the lead characters large top floor London flat- with brief jaunts outside to the capitals parkland, a restaurant, and even Harrods food hall. So, it often has a fairly play like feel, though Rakoff does manage to add in cinematic touches, as well observed shifting tone & atmosphere within the confines of the flat.
The film begins with Miss Smith (Sinéad Cusack) getting on a train- saying goodbye to her intended Tom (Jeremy Bulloch), she is meant to be going to see her poorly grandmother in the northern seaside town of Scarborough, but as Tom departs, she sneaks off the train. And just as dusk is setting in over London she nervously makes her way to Mr Hoffman’s (Sellers )top floor flat. He is polite but very creepy- and she is a nervous wreck- keeping initial tightly warped in her raincoat.
As you can imagine with this type of film one can’t give away too much about its unfold, and even though it’s a very slow burn it remains compelling and engaging over its nearing two hours run time. Sellers is wonderfully believable as the quietly polite, but decidedly creepy at points downright sinister well to do bachelor, who also has moments of humour and humanity in his make-up. Cusack is a good counterbalance, and once again comes across as a real & believable person. The small surrounding/ briefly seen supporting cast is well selected, and nicely adds and builds to some of the plot twists. All making Hoffman a distinctive and effective drama come light thriller.
Moving onto this region A/ B Blu Ray- and the 4k print looks very good, enhancing both the atmosphere of the flat and good balanced skin tones. On the extras side we get a nice selection- first off there is twenty-five minutes’ worth of selected commentary tracked scenes from the film's director Alvin Rakoff- in all, there are about five or six scenes covered, and we get a lot of interesting background/ behind the scenes stories. For example, he was initially unsure about the films music choice but it has grown on him over the years. Early on it features one of the longest takes in film history. Cusack was twenty-one when she appeared in the film and went on to have an affair with Sellers while filming which was started by him taking her to lunch in Paris via a chopper from the UK studios. Apparently, both Sellers & Ernest Gebler were original unkeen as Rakoff as the film's director, though the director & Sellers later became firm friends. As well as a few other interesting points/ titbits of information.
Next, we get a selection of new stand-alone onscreen interviews- there’s one with Rakoff (21 mins), one with the films focus puller Eddie Collins( 27 mins), and one with draughtsman Terry Ackland-Snow(5 mins). With an archive selection of extras taking in Larry Karaszewski trailer commentary (4 mins), Image galleries: promotional materials and behind-the-scenes photography and script Gallery: complete shooting screenplay. The finished release comes presented with a 36-page booklet which features a new essay by John Rain, archival interviews with Sellers and Cusack, a look at author Ernest Gébler’s multiple iterations of the Hoffman story, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and full credits. So, a nice selection of content.
Shamefully I’m only really aware of Sellers for his more comic character-based roles, and Hoffman really shows him as a splendidly nuanced and highly accomplished actor. If you enjoy unease and often awkward drama, with chilling undercurrents and lulling thriller touches, this really is something you’ll be wanting to check out. And well done to Powerhouse for getting this lesser-known Sellers film back out there, with their normal great presentation/selection of extras.