Infamous
DVD - Single-disc
Warner Home Video 113738 - Region 1
118 minutes

List Price: $27.98 (Check Price at Amazon.com)

Available on DVD 2/13/2007

	Theatrical	This DVD
Aspect Ratio:	1.85:1	1.85:1
Audio:	Dolby Digital DTS SDDS	Dolby Digital

Disc 1 Contents

• Movie
• Theatrical Trailer
• Commentary by Screenwriter/Director Douglas McGrath

About the Movie

In 1959, Truman Capote was the hit of the Manhattan social scene. He was a successful writer with rich friends and seemingly no end of dinner parties and other social events. Then, one morning he sees an article in the newspaper about a farm family in Kansas who were killed.

Deciding to write a magazine article or non-fiction novel about the case, he travels to the Kansas town with good friend Nell Harper Lee. In order to research the story and the killers that committed the crime, he gets more involved than he expected, and the outcome of the case has a tremendous impact on the rest of his life.

How Does it Look?

The video quality was quite good throughout the movie. Much of the movie takes place in the Kansas plains, so things are dusty and windblown, but the contrast of New York's social locations provide quite a contrast.

My Pioneer DVD player reported an average of a 6-7 Mbps bit rate during several samples in the movie.

How Does it Sound?

This is mainly a talking movie, so there isn't much opportunity for the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound to do anything noticeable. However, it served the movie well and no artifacts or problems were noticed.

Extras

I like to see the theatrical trailer included with every movie, which is a feature that's becoming less common. I think it provides a nice context in which to understand how the studio was marketing the movie to audiences at the time of theatrical release. I did not have time to listen to the commentary track.

Conclusion

I liked this movie more than I thought I would. I'm not a follower of Truman Capote's work or his life, and I haven't read any of his books. The closest I've ever gotten to any of his works was watching the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" which was based on Capote's novel of the same name.

That said, the performances by the ensemble cast lift this movie from something I'd be inclined to stop in the first couple of minutes to a movie that held my interest. Capote's introduction in the movie by way of showing his social circle of friends is the hardest to get through. His voice is nasally, his friends are busy-bodies, and the sooner he and friend Nell Harper Lee (done very well by Sandra Bullock) get on the train to Kansas, the better.

At 118 minutes, it may be a tad long, but the second half introduction of Daniel Craig as the intelligent one of the two killers whose crime drew Capote to Kansas breathes new life into the movie. Having seen "Casino Royale" first makes it difficult to accept him in the role, but his performance soon overtakes that reluctance.

If you have passed over "Infamous" before, give it another look. You may be surprised. While it's not worth paying full price to see, it's definitely worth putting on your Netflix list. 

Recommended Reading

Don't just take our word for it, check out these resources for more reviews of the movie and of the DVD.

• Our Featured Reviews and Reader Reviews
• DVD reviews
• Evan Jacobs of Movieweb
• Bill Gibron of DVD Talk
  

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