Elaine May's 1971 directorial debut is a dark romantic comedy starring Walter Matthau as spoiled trust-fund beneficiary and blithely self-absorbed misanthrope Henry Graham, who burns through his inheritance and decides to marry into money. Matthau is superb, revealing his character's sense of privilege in hilariously dry comments dropped with practiced nonchalance—“I have no skills, no resources, no ambitions,” he confesses in justification of his desire to remain among the idle rich. And May is sweetly naïve as Henrietta Lowell, the socially inept heiress who lives for botany and gives herself over to this con man with the same trust that has made her victim to corrupt lawyer Andy McPherson (Jack Weston) and a parasitic staff who rip her off while posing as servants. Even as the predatory Henry justifies his plot to murder her for her money (“Never have I seen one woman in whom every social grace was so lacking”), he looks after her with growing (and entirely unexpected) affection, which ultimately gives him pause when she opens herself up to all sorts of potential fatal accidents on a camping trip. May's initial cut was reportedly a longer, much darker film, with more murders and no happy ending, but it was recut at the studio's insistence. Regardless, the theatrical version is still very funny, mixing screwball elements, social satire, and black comedy, with pitch-perfect direction. Recommended. [Blu-ray Review—Dec. 12, 2017—Olive, 102 min., G, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on Blu-ray, 1971's A New Leaf sports a fine transfer and mono audio. Extras include audio commentary by film scholar Maya Montanez Smukler, the behind-the-scenes featurettes “The Cutting Room Floor: Editing” (13 min.) and “Women in Hollywood: A Tragedy of Comic Proportions” (7 min.), an “Ode on a Grecian Nightgown” essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, “The Green Heart” source material for the script by Jack Ritchie, and a booklet. Bottom line: a handsome Blu-ray edition of a classic ‘70s rom-com.] (S. Axmaker)
A New Leaf
Olive, 102 min., G, DVD: $24.95, Blu-ray: $29.95 Volume 27, Issue 6
A New Leaf
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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