Product Description

Oscar® nominee Robert Downey Jr. gives the performance of his career in this acclaimed, all-star movie that weaves sly comedy, suspenseful film noir and spirited musical numbers into one of the most original productions in years. When it comes to murder, seduction and betrayal, pulp-fiction author Dan Dark (Downey) wrote the book. But now, he s living it. Languishing in a hospital room with an immobilizing condition, Dark has lost himself in the fictional world of his alter ego, a hardboiled detective and dance-band singer living in the 1950s Los Angeles. As Dark s grasp on reality continues to slip, he s placed under the care of an enigmatic psychiatrist (Oscar® winner Mel Gibson). Together, they plunge into the mystery of Dark s psyche, where everyone is suspect and danger waits at every turn. Co-starring Robin Wright Penn, Jeremy Northam, Katie Holmes, Carla Gugino and Oscar® winner Adrien Brody, The Singing Detective hits all the right notes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19682 in DVD
• Brand: LEGEND FILMS
• Released on: 2008-09-23
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 108 minutes

Features

• When it comes to murder, seduction and betrayal, pulp-fiction author Dan Dark (Downey) wrote the book. But now, he s living it. Languishing in a hospital room with an immobilizing condition, Dark has lost himself in the fictional world of his alter ego, a hardboiled detective and dance-band singer living in the 1950s Los Angeles. As Dark s grasp on reality continues to slip, he s placed under the

Amazon.com
If you can pull The Singing Detective out from under the long shadow cast by the acclaimed 1986 British miniseries, Keith Gordon's 109-minute film version achieves its own distinction. It was a daring (and some might say foolhardy) assignment to film Dennis Potter's screenplay, written out of Potter's desire to see his semi-autobiographical drama in feature-length form, but Gordon rose to the occasion with a superlative cast led by Robert Downey, intense as ever as Potter's on-screen alter ego. Bedridden with an excruciating case of skin-rotting psoriasis, pulp novelist Dan Dark (Downey) escapes into his vivid imagination, where gunmen and gumshoes pursue their pulpy agenda, casting himself as the titular "warbler" whose pain and anger is focused like a laser on his cheating wife (Robin Wright Penn) and anyone else who's made his real and imaginary worlds unbearable. Coproducer Mel Gibson appears under heavy makeup as Dark's condescending psychiatrist, and supporting roles are played with stylish flair by Adrien Brody, Katie Holmes, Jeremy Northam, Carla Gugino, and others. While many critics called this a noble failure, The Singing Detective captures the essence of Potter's story, offering a welcome alternative to the acknowledged superiority of the miniseries. --Jeff Shannon

Review
If I said that Robert Downey Jr. is a singing dick then that might be a completely different review all together. Actually Downey steps into the world of Dennis Potter in this shortened adaptation of his epic miniseries. I m the dick for even implying that Downey is nothing short of excellent in the role, bad me.

Novelist Dan Dark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a sick man. He s been hospitalized with extreme psoriasis that has caused debilitating arthritis. So terrible is his disease that his hands are no more than clubs. Not a good thing for an author to be suffering from as he can t write or even use a typewriter.

His intense pain causes him to seek solace within his own mind. So we accompany him as he views a film noir starring himself as The Singing Detective, a gumshoe and nightclub singer that s involved in an investigation.

Dark s reality isn t exactly normal as characters frequently burst into song as well as looking back on his terrible childhood. His psychiatrist Dr. Gibbon (Mel Gibson, who also produced) tries to help Dark out of his darkness and back into the cold, hard light of reality.

Reality and fantasy have a habit of blending together as Dark tries to come to grips with his illness, his wife (Robin Wright), his nurse (Katie Holmes), and being haunted by his mother (Carla Gugino), all of whom have alter egos in his fantasy world.

The Singing Detective is based on the 1986 British miniseries by author Dennis Potter and starring Michael Gambon. His previous miniseries, Pennies from Heaven (1978), was adapted by Hollywood into a film that he reportedly despised. It was with this in mind that Dennis Potter wrote the screenplay for this adaptation himself and it floated around Hollywood long after his death in 1994.

Mel Gibson s Icon Productions happened upon that screenplay and finally succeeded in making the film in 2003. The problem arises that for fans of the miniseries this might seem like a Cliff s Notes version. I ve always had a soft spot for the film version of Pennies from Heaven (with a favorite Christopher Walken performance he even dances!), but I ve not watched the miniseries of Pennies.

I have watched The Singing Detective and the film seems to not have the breathing room needed. That being said, the film also has a fantastic performance by Robert Downey Jr. who excels in the role of Dan Dark. The concept of his fantasy life as a singing gumshoe and his sad reality also make an interesting contrast.

It s made even better when the two start blending together as well as the characters occasionally bursting into lip-synched musical production numbers. What s interesting is that The Singing Detective has already been on DVD before in 2004 under the Paramount label.

That version was out of print, but it now appears that Paramount is farming out some product to Legend Films so this reissue is exactly the same as that other version, but takes the Paramount logo off the front and puts the Legend logo on the disc and elsewhere.

The Singing Detective is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The only special feature is an interesting commentary from director Keith Gordon, who you may recognize as the star of John Carpenter s adaptation of Stephen King s Christine.

The Singing Detective is an interesting film with a great performance by Robert Downy Jr. Fans of the miniseries may prefer the greater depth of it, but I found this film a nice version of the story. --Patrick Luce of MonstersandCritics.com

Customer Reviews

A pale imitation of the classic TV series
The original BBC television series THE SINGING DETECTIVE, written by Dennis Potter, is by any standard one of the milestones of television. It was a weird but spectacularly successful blend of hospital drama, film noir, psychological thriller, and surreal musical that managed to strike the right balance between its disparate elements to create something utterly unique and magical. Michael Gambon was perfect in the lead, and he was complemented by a first rate cast, including Bill Patterson and Joanna Whalley.

Now we have a very odd thing indeed: a film version of a television series, complete with an all star cast of such performers as Robert Downey Jr., Mel Gibson (all but unrecognizable behind a balding head of light brown hair and thick glasses), Adrien Brody, Robin Penn Wright, Alfre Woodard, Carla Gugino (of SPY KIDS fame), Jon Polito, Katie Holmes, and Jeremy Northam. Despite a spirited, capable performance by Downey (talent intact after his incarceration) in the main role (Dan Dark, as opposed to the Philip Marlowe of the television series), the film simply isn't very successful. I had such high expectations for this one!

So, why does this movie fail? Primarily, two reasons. First, the original series was 450 minutes long, while the movie is only 109. In other words, the series had ample time to introduce the viewer to its strange, nightmarish, surreal world, while the movie, because of time limitations, simply plunges the viewer directly into the heart of things. For anyone who has seen the series, it will seem as if the movie is constantly in a rush, and as if it is always leaving things out. The movie comes across as far less varied and rich.

The other problem is that for the most part the movie lacks the energy and vitality of the series, almost as if there is less of a sense of what it is that they are trying to achieve. One watching the series will recognize that without the deft touch exerted by Potter on the script, the show could easily degenerate into something odd and unpleasant. This is precisely what happens in the movie.

One would imagine that with an all-star cast and a larger budget, the movie would at least be a far more attractive and visually compelling affair. I actually prefered the hospital wards of the series. The cast should have been an improvement, but I found nearly all the performers apart from Downey to be wasted in their roles. About the only thing that I found better in the film was Downey's makeup. The main character is suffering from an especially nasty case of psoriatic arthritis, and Downey does indeed look quite afflicted. However, psoriatic arthritis is far more treatable today than it was during the time when the television series was set (one of my best friends suffers from it, and tells me about the medications that she uses in fighting the condition), so it didn't make as much medical sense now as it did almost twenty years ago.

My greatest fear about this film is that it will skew people's assumptions about the original series. It is truly an unworthy successor, and I would urge everyone to see the original series, which is available on DVD. Those who like the movie will love the original even more, and even those who hate the movie will love it.

Very Unusual!!!
The Singing Detective is a frantic, high energy and very weird cinematic experience. Dennis Potter wrote the screenplay for the film in 1992, two years before his death, based on his own 1986 BBC miniseries of the same name. Potter, who suffered from the same skin disease as our main character, very much wanted a feature film version of his miniseries, which may or may not closely resemble his own life. The script kicked around Hollywood for nearly a decade before director Keith Gordon, star Robert Downey Jr., and producer Mel Gibson became attached. The result is a fine example of entertainment - an eclectic mix of drama, film noir, and comedy, with plenty of fantasy musical numbers thrown in for good measure.

Robert Downey Jr. gives a truly amazing performance as Dan Dark, a pulp fiction author who is flat on his back in a hospital, suffering from a debilitating skin condition. If anything, his mind is in worse shape than his body. As he slowly recovers, he imagines scenes from his first novel, The Singing Detective, with himself as the lead character. His ex-wife, Nicola (a beautiful Robin Wright Penn), visits him at the hospital and plays a key part in his frantic imagination. He also has dreams and visions of his childhood, where he sees his mother (Carla Gugino) have an affair with his father's partner, Mark Binney (Jeremy Northam). His psychotherapist, Dr. Gibbon (an almost unrecognizable Mel Gibson), believes that things he experienced as a child have led to his sudden outbursts of violent temper. It is Gibbon's job to heal Dan's mind in tandem with his recovering body. Katie Holmes, as a nurse caring for Dan, Adrien Brody, and Jon Polito, as a pair of hoods, round out the excellent cast.

The Singing Detective is definitely different from any film to come out in recent years. It has a bizarre David Lynch like quality and a refreshing weirdness. The script is jumbled and moves frantically from one thing to another, but its gorgeous style, energetic performances, and fantastic musical numbers keep it entertaining. I wish it were a bit longer so I could understand the story a little better, but seeing this has made me desperate to seek out the original miniseries, which I have yet to see. The pacing can sometimes become tedious, and the concept of the film can be challenging for those unfamiliar with the source material, but ultimately "The Singing Detective" is a visual delight and an acting tour-de-force. It is one of the most unique films I have seen in years and I'm sure glad I saw it. Not recommended for everyone, but worth a try.

Seen on its own merits . . .
Few if any reviewers here indicate having watched Keith Gordon's director's commentary on this DVD. I think it would alter some of their judgements. As Gordon explains, the film script was in fact written by Dennis Potter, whose original "Singing Detective" ran as a much longer miniseries on British TV 20 years ago, and the changes to an American setting with 1950s American pop music were really Potter's own ideas. If the transition to feature film format loses something in the translation, it is in part due to his reconceptualization of his original creation.

As the commentary reveals, much of the inventiveness in this new version is not apparent in a single viewing. While it may seem to truncate and over-simplify the lengthier TV version, there is still complexity and ambiguity enough to entertain and engage a thoughtful viewer appreciative of good screenwriting and wonderful performances. Robert Downey's dual role as the embittered writer and the Bogart-style detective of the title reveal the mercurial range of this amazing actor, and his scenes with Robin Wright Penn, who plays his wife, are a brilliant portrayal of two people equally matched in their struggle to preserve a relationship and, at the same time, the integrity of themselves as individuals.

Strong cast. Interesting contrast of visual styles. Rated R for a wide range of disturbingly graphic and lurid visual imagery, including the main character's horrific skin condition. Granted, this "Singing Detective" is no substitute for the original, but seen on its own merits, it still stands up well on its own.