A Scandal in Paris [DVD] [1946]

2002-2003 may be remembered as the second golden age in the output of Douglas Sirk -- not only did Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven show up to remind a wider public of the worth of Sirk's movies, but Sirk's own Imitation Of Life was issued on DVD, and then Kino International released this, Sirk's charmingly wry and decadent 1946 costume drama. The movie has been transferred well, from a very clean source in an edition that brings out a huge amount of detail even in the backgrounds, and captures all of the subtleties in Guy Roe's and Eugen Shuftan's photography. Additionally, the lush costuming and backgrounds are all well realized visually here in their sumptuous richness -- there is some speckling here and there in the image, and traces of frame damage at 12 and a half minutes in, but nothing seriously distracting. The results are generally on a par with the workmanship that one would expect to see from a major studio, with several beautiful scenes that come to life extraordinarily well, such as the dance sequence behind the screen at 14 minutes in. The audio is set at a high volume level but is very clean and gives good resolution not only to the witty dialogue but also to Hanns Eisler's rich post-Romantic score. The 100 minute movie has a more-than-adequate 15 chapters, all well labeled. The disc opens automatically to a simple two-selection menu that iseasy to manuever around, and there are no extra or bonus materials.