I have to say right off the get go, these are two movies I’ve never heard of and I’m guessing it would have probably been better kept that way. Still I’m going into this review completely unbiased but rather just with the expectations of horrendously typical 80’s comedy. At least there are a few recognizable actors including Rob Lowe, John Cusack, and Virginia Madsen in Class and Kelly Preston, Lori Loughlin, and Fred Ward in Secret Admirer. At any rate lets see how these dubbed 80’s classics turn out.
I’ll start off with Class which has a better cast and was easily the better of the two, which isn’t saying much for either. Jonathon (Andrew McCarthy, Pretty in Pink) is a country boy who gets a scholarship to a posh school where he’s roomed up with his Skip (Rob Lowe, Tommy Boy), who pretty much his opposite. But despite their different backgrounds Skip takes it upon him to see that naïve Jonathon looses his virginity. He sends him off to Chicago where Jonathon meets an older woman with whom he shares an affair, only ending once she realizes he’s underage. But things get complicated one day when Skip takes Jonathon home and finds out the woman from Chicago is Skip’s mom, and Skip finds out about the affair and that’s when things get messy.
The movie itself isn’t as bad as I would have thought, but I’d hardly call it funny or interesting. The story may have been original back then, but I still highly doubt that. Nonetheless I wouldn’t recommend this one to anyone except for all you old timers who enjoyed this movie when you were a teenager in the 80’s.
Next up is Secret Admirer which has some poor acting, a poor storyline, and nil laughs. I’ll keep this synopsis as simplistic as I can. Michael has a crush on Deborah who’s his best friend Toni’s best friend. Michael gets an anonymous love letter from who he thinks is Deborah. After finding out it wasn’t, Toni for whatever reasons convinces him to write a love letter as well. The letters get mixed up and everyone gets confused and we find out who really was his secret admirer, any guesses who? This one was really straight forward and predictable, I dreaded having to watch all of it, and wouldn’t recommend anyone else watch this.
Video
Class is presented in both 1.33:1 Full Screen and 1.85:1 Widescreen, neither unfortunately look good. Colors, although generally brighter looking than Secret Admire still look lackluster compared to other films from this era. Rob Lowe’s pigment looks unrealistically washed out, hues seem to vary quite often. The print itself has some issues, more specifically with speckling. Yes, grain is apparent but the black speckling clearly seen throughout the picture is very distracting.
Secret Admire is also presented in both Full and 1.85:1 Widescreen ratios, and although it does look better than Class, it still has several serious problems. Although it is only two years newer than Class, Secret Admire looks much crisper and detailed. Speckling which plagued the other movie, was not at apparent with this one. Colors unfortunately look more washed out with some black colors looking like grey.It is hard to expect a great transfer from a double feature budget title and this is no exception.
Audio
Class is fitted with a disappointing Mono track with this release. There isn’t really much to say about this track besides telling you how awful it sounds. The dialogue sounds horrible flat and at times echoed. The dialogue was awful so maybe in hindsight it is good they included and muffled sounding track.
Secret Admirer has included 2.0 Dolby Digital track with its disc and it does sound better than Class. There is still no denying that this is an overly front channeled track, with just a few scenes using sub and rear support. Fortunately dialogue is much clearer with this track and should please fans of the movie. Like the video, the audio presentation is bad; in fact it is worse than the video transfer, which in itself is a feat.
Special Features
Nothing here but a theatrical trailer for each film, disappointing but expected from a double feature.
- Theatrical TrailerÂ
Final Thoughts
One mediocre movie and one snoozer, both with classic 80’s audio and video transfers. I think these pretty much speak for themselves, unless you love these movies and can pick them up from your bargain bin in Wal Mart don’t even bother.
