Psycho has been a very popular film amongst film directors and the like, and none more so than Director Martin Scorcese.   A few Years ago I was reading an article in fangoria which discussed the effect of this music in films.  He was at one point listening to the original recordings and notices an oddity in the sound of the shower sequence.  With a bit of re-eq'ing and other adjustments he was able to finally hear what this oddity was.  It turned out to be the voice of Alfred Hitchcock.  During the stabbings, he was saying "Norman Bates Norman Bates" over and over again!!!.  So for thirty five years, this subliminal message had gone unnoticed.

Psycho is based on the novel by Robert Bloch and is Hitch's most talked about and praised movie.  This film started the trend for what we have come to know as horror films.

Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), lives with his mother. together they run the family business, The Bates Motel, a small motel just of the main highway. as a result, they don't get many visitors anymore.  Norman and His mother have lived alone for many years.   His father mysteriously died when Norman was five, and Mother's most recent boyfriend has also died.  What is it with Norman's mother and the men in her life.   Now content with living alone with Mother, Norman maintains the motel, and his sickly mother while he pursues his interest in ........

Meanwhile, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) has just fled from Pheonix after ripping her boss off to the tune of $40,000.   She is heading as far as way as possiblefrom the scene of teh crime.  She plans to hideaway with her new found money and long time boyfriend, who is flat broken himself.  On her way, she stops by the Bates motel.

Anyone who hasn't seen this film, shame on you, but in case you haven't seen it, I think it best NOT to get into to much of the story as it's best left unsaid.
Suffice to say Marion Crane gets more than she bargained for by staying at the Bates Motel

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up??
Unlike Universal's Region 1 DVD release of Psycho, which is letterboxed only, Our region 2/4 version is 16:9 Enhanced.  As to whether ours is from a True 16:9 Source, well I[m not sure, if it isn't, who cares, it looks as good as it ever will.  Overall the image is quite sharp, with only a few moments of soft focus.  There are also moments of grain, but being a black and white film, theis tends to be a little more obvious. I noticed a fair bit of speckling thoughout the film.  I guess with this film being near 40 years old time has taken its toll on it.  It would appear as though the speckling occurs at film reel breaks.  Fade outs seem to be have been used at want I beleive to be reel changes, and it is a little before and after these points were you notice the gritty bits.  This areas aside the transfer is very good, with only minor problems.  the black level is very solid and consistent thoughout.  There are moments in this film that the picture quality is great, and make it hard to believe this film is so old.  In direct comparison to todays films, it's definitely not as good, but in its own right, has scrubbed up very well

As for the sound, this is quite acceptable for it's age.   It's only available in Dolby mono, but the Bernard Herrmann score still sounds great.  I noticed a low level of hiss throughout, but seeing as this is a dialogue driven film, that is always intelligible, you will only really notice this in quite passages or if your volume is cranked a little more than normal.  It would have been great for Universal to do some remixing of the soundtrack even if only into stereo.   Having heard so many 5.1 Multichannel movies, going mono is a bit of a stretch.   At the end of the day, I can live with it seeing as this is how it was presented in cinemas.

One area i am very disappointed with is the extras.   Knowing the great job Universal USA did with the extras on their release I was expecting we'd get the same treatment here, (seeing as the gammy remake of Psycho has lots of goodies included for us).  However, We have only 3.  Soem informative Production Notes, Cast and Crew Biographies and the 6 minutes Trailer (hosted by Alfred Hitchcock as he takes us through the Bates' house, this guy has such dry humour). 

What we have unfortunately missed out on is a 90 minutes documentary, newsreel footage, Psycho archive stills, behind the scenes photos, AND story boards for the shower sequence.  Plus a few other trailers and what not.  These extra would have pushed this DVD to a DVD9 (RSDL)

Click here for a FULL Story board of the Psycho Shower Sequence

Knowing the terrific region 1 version is available makes me wonder why we've ended up with this lacking PAL version :-( 

While the idea of a 16:9 Transfer generally favours that of a plain ol letterboxed version, for me at least, , I'd be inclined to go with the NTSC version seeing as this is a black and white film which would show even less evidence of scan lines (on widescreen projection TVs), if any at all. 

Review Equipment
TV: Pioneer SD-T50W1 (16:9 RPTV)
DVD: Pioneer DV717  (using RGB outputs)
Receiver: Marantz SR870 & Sony SDP-EP9ES
Speakers:-
     Fronts: B&W 602
     Centre: B&W CDMC-SE
     Rears: Jamo Magic 14
     Subby: M&K V125 

- reviewed 18th October 1999