We celebrated the life and career of Robert Duvall the other night by watching his first screen performance, as Boo Radley in the 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
Radley is a presence throughout the film – he’s spoken of often and the kids are transfixed by the spooky house down the road where he lives – but he doesn’t actually make an appearance until the end, a coda to the main story of Tom Robinson’s trial and tragedy but one that emphasises the film’s message of empathy and understanding.
We’ve spent so long wondering about Boo Radley that it would be easy for his eventual appearance to be a disappointment but Duvall, in that first reveal in the shadows behind the bedroom door, manages to show us everything we need to know. Despite his lack of social understanding and his fear of consequences for his actions, he has stayed in the house to make sure Jem Finch (Phillip Alford), who he has just rescued from a violent attack, is going to be alright.
It’s a perfectly calibrated performance and a good film becomes great because of it.
Where to watch To Kill a Mockingbird
Physical media: UHD collectors edition from ViaVision
Aotearoa: Digital rental
Australia: Streaming on Binge
Canada & USA: Digital rental
Ireland & UK: Digital rental
India: Digital rental from Amazon
Bonus
While I am on the topic of 4K black and white restorations, I thought I would mention that we watched the Imprint edition of Scorsese’s masterpiece, Raging Bull, the other night.
Is it still a masterpiece? Probably even more so. On this viewing I focused less on the technical achievement of the boxing sequences or the transformational achievement of De Niro’s physical appearance. This time around I was taken by the presence of the women in the film (especially Cathy Moriarty as Vickie and Theresa Saldana as Lenore) who are like Anna Paquin in The Irishman, witnesses and victims of the central characters’ showy toxic masculinity. We see the horror through their eyes and their performances.
Decades after I last saw the film, I finally took notice of Scorsese’s closing title card, a quote from St. John’s gospel (chapter 9, verse 24): “So, for the second time, the Pharisees summoned the man who had been blind and said: ‘Speak the truth before God, We know this fellow is a sinner.’ Whether or not he is a sinner, I do not know,’ the man replied. ‘All I know is this: once I was blind and now I can see’.” Truly, a film is not complete until the final frame has run through the projector.
Talking of frames, this edition is the closest I have ever come to believing I was watching celluloid projected on the wall of my living room. The film grain is so alive, it feels like you’re looking at bacteria under a microscope.
Where to watch Raging Bull
Physical media: UHD box from Imprint – currently out of stock at ViaVision in Aus but still in stock locally at JB Hi-Fi
Aotearoa & Australia: Streaming on MGM+ (a prime Video channel)
Canada: Streaming on MGM+ or HollywoodSuite
Ireland: Streaming on Netflix
India: Streaming on MGM+
UK: Streaming on Netflix or MGM+
USA: Streaming on Fubo, MGM+ or Roku (free with ads)
