Showgirls

 

ID:                   PILH-7003       

Price:                25,000 yen

Discs:               2

Sound:              B-Mode

Running Time:   2:11

Released:          Pioneer




(from IMDb)

 

Nomi Malone sets out for Las Vegas to become a showgirl. After working as a stripper, she gets her big break at a

chorus line audition for the Stardust Casino production, 'Goddess.' She soon finds out that 'showbiz' is a

rough-and-tumble world--is she tough enough to claw her way to the top? And if so, is it really worth it? 

 

Okay, this is one of the worst movies ever made both in acting and story telling.  But you know what?  I have fun watching this movie, and I like the drama/90210-ish setting. 




Let me get one of the things you’re probably thinking out of the way:  HDTV naked women. 

 

Problem is while there are plenty of breasts showing and bouncing around, and genital nudity is blocked out by a white circle over the offending area.  That’s just how the Japanese censorship system works, and you’ll have to live with it.  Gratuitous violence is okay, but any form of nudity in the pubic region is blocked out.  In comparison to the Japanese Region 2 DVD release, this has a bit more “blockage” if you will.

 

The picture in this transfer is very lively with lots of contrasting and bright colors.  Image detail is very good, even in low light scenes.  Flesh tones while better than many other Hi-Vision discs, do suffer a greenish tinge to them in scenes that aren’t brightly lit.  In fact, during those scenes is when you’ll notice more compression artifacts in the facial areas of characters on screen.  Compression while good is not the best I’ve seen (so far nothing touches River Runs Through It), and manifests itself more as mosquito noise rather than grainy analog noise.  Regardless, this disc is much more detailed and better looking than the non-anamorphic DVD release.

 

Overall the picture quality is rather good, but not jaw-dropping awesome. 



Sound is very clean in this film, and is using the 48KHz B-Mode, with a very active sound stage.  Surround channels are used very aggressively in the club and dance sequences, and low frequency effects are used often in the same scenarios.  Overall a clean soundtrack, though voices tend to sound a bit strained in the high frequency information.




If you like this film (or don’t but have seen it before) I recommend this one to anyone’s MUSE Hi-Vision laserdisc collection.  The picture and sound combined are very good, and overall make a nice presentation.  Only the Japanese Region 2 DVD is 16:9 (and sourced from an original 16:9 composite transfer for laserdisc), and the North American DVD release is non-anamorphic, so I do recommend this version first.

Additionally, this was the last MUSE Hi-Vision laserdisc based on a movie to be released.