DVD The bumbling heir to a celebrated detective dynasty is assigned a kidnapping case by a crooked executive who is confident that he will never solve it.
Details
When the daughter of multi-millionaire P.J. Downing is kidnapped and held for a $10 million ransom, the prestigious Crumb and Crumb detective agency is called in to investigate. However, company president Eliot Draison is in no hurry for the crime to be solved and deliberately assigns the case to Harry Crumb, the last surviving member of the firm's celebrated founding family.
Unfortunately for Harry, the family's legendary detective skills appear to have skipped a generation. Relegated to a remote office serving Greater Tulsa, he spends most of his time handling minor cases and trailing unfaithful husbands and wives, often with disastrous results. His speciality is disguise, although his elaborate costumes and unusual investigative methods are generally more memorable than they are effective.
When Harry is summoned to head office, he believes that his big opportunity has finally arrived. What he does not realise is that Draison expects him to fail and that several people have their own reasons for wanting the ransom money. Armed with an impressive collection of disguises and a level of confidence entirely unsupported by his abilities, Harry begins his investigation. Much to Draison's surprise, he gradually uncovers the truth, even though he remains largely unaware of just how close he is getting.
Picture & Sound
The picture is bright, colourful and impressively detailed. The bit-rate remains comfortably above average throughout, with no obvious signs of artefacting or edge enhancement. The quality of the image is undoubtedly helped by Columbia's decision to digitally remaster the video for this release. That level of care is particularly commendable for a film of this age and one which has never enjoyed the recognition of the studio's more prominent catalogue titles.
Although the soundtrack has also been remastered, it remains a two-channel stereo presentation. Dialogue is bright and clearly audible across the front soundstage, while the surround channels are understandably given very little to do. For a dialogue-driven comedy there is no real need for an elaborate multi-channel mix, and the remastering has produced a clean and pleasing soundtrack that comfortably surpasses anything the film is likely to have offered on video.
Menu & Extras
The menu system is a static and silent affair, while the extras are limited to a selection of production notes and talent files which appear to have been lifted from fairly standard publicity material. More surprising is the number of available subtitle and language options, including Chinese, Korean and Thai, together with the fact that the disc is encoded for Regions 1, 3 and 4. Who would have imagined that Who's Harry Crumb? had attracted quite such a wide international audience?
Overall
I was greatly saddened by the death of John Candy, whose impeccable comic timing and wonderfully expressive face made even the simplest scene difficult not to enjoy. He had the rare ability to lift fairly ordinary material and turn it into something memorable, and that is certainly the case here. The storyline may be slight and the mystery is unlikely to keep anyone guessing, but it provides the perfect opportunity for Candy to display his full range of comic talents.
Harry's disguises, misplaced confidence and accidental flashes of investigative brilliance make this an enormously likeable and frequently hilarious comedy. Jeffrey Jones also makes an excellent foil as the increasingly frustrated Draison, while Shawnee Smith brings plenty of charm to the role of Nikki. If you enjoyed Candy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Uncle Buck or The Great Outdoors, then this underappreciated gem is well worth discovering. It is simply a great shame that the DVD offers so little in the way of worthwhile extras.
Special features
- Production Notes
- Talent Files
