UNDER THE VOLCANO - DVD review

According to the blurb on the back of this Criterion DVD, Albert Finney delivers "an Oscar-nominated tour de force" as a drunkard. Consider yourself duly warned. And, yes, it's every bit as bad as it sounds.

Director John Huston had a penchant for filming "unfilmable" books such as "Moby Dick" (1956) and James Joyce's "The Dead" (1987). His bullheadedness was admirable but his efforts generally provided proof the "unfilmable" novels become unwatchable films. Malcolm Lowry's "Under the Volcano" was yet another challenge to the stubborn director to take on in his twilight years. Lowry's book is a 600 page tale of the final day in the life of British Consul Geoffrey Firmin. Completed in the mid-40s it soon became a hugely popular underground novel; it has since moved well above ground, placing 11th on the Modern Library's list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century in 1998.

Huston apparently identified closely with Firmin, a former gentleman now in rapid decline, whiling away his days getting piss drunk in a Mexican village. For the role of Firmin, Huston chose Albert Finney who had played his share of alcoholics and recovering alcoholics previously. Geoffrey is definitely not in recovery; in fact, he devotes every minute of his waking life to staving off sobriety so that he can "find his balance" in the bottom of a bottle.

Finney holds nothing back. He stumbles, rumbles, and bumbles his way through the streets of his village, roaring at everyone who wanders by, his jowls flaring like a race horse's nostrils and his body shaking from head to toe. Geoffrey is a loud drunk, but a friendly one and he is well-liked by the locals. I have no idea what Geoffrey is like when sober because he never is. Geoffrey drinks, then drinks some more, then takes some time off to look for another drink, then gets himself composed enough to go out to a bar for another drink. It's like watching Peter O'Toole's vacation videos, but nowhere near as funny.

Geoffrey has surely been drinking since he was a wee lad, but his latest months-long binge is prompted by his desire to reunite with his estranged wife Yvonne. This proves that even a drunk has moments of clarity because Yvonne is played by Jacqueline Bisset who, at age 40, looks as gorgeous as she ever has. After Geoffrey mumbles a half-hearted, less-than-half-remembered prayer at a village shrine, Yvonne does miraculously return. An even greater miracle: she wants her red-nosed lush back. So miraculous that you have to wonder if it's just part of Geoffrey's drunken delirium.

This prompts Geoffrey to… drink some more, and keep on drinking. Along with the young adventurer Hugh (Anthony Andrews), they parade around town enjoying the sights of the "Day of the Dead" festival, a none too subtle foreshadowing of Geoffrey's rapidly arriving fate. Yvonne tries her best to charm Geoffrey back, but he is unable to forgive her for a past betrayal, though it's more accurate to say he is unable to choose her over the bottle, despite the fact that she never once even suggests that he stop drinking.

As you might expect from the setting, the film has a carnivalesque atmosphere to it, with more than a few touches of Hemingway thrown in for good measure. Hugh even leaps into a bullring to serve as a matador at one point. There are also dwarfs, transvestites and even other Englishmen to be found scattered about the countryside. Geoffrey, like a good drunk, remains unsurprised by anyone and anything he encounters.

In order to adapt the lengthy, very dense novel, Huston allegedly just chose all his favorite parts and dumped the rest. I hope the rest were better. No matter what else might happen in the film, the story is centered entirely on Albert Finney's highly theatrical and very sweaty performance as a relentless drunk. I found his performance extremely irritating; it's loud, louder and loudest which makes it positively Oscarrific. I respect the complete dedication Finney brought to the role; Geoffrey is, in a sense, a very "pure" character and Finney doesn't try hard to complicate the picture. But the loud lovable lush act wears thin after about ten minutes; at nearly two hours, I found it unbearable.

It's hard to find much to recommend about the film aside from the fact that Bisset is in it. Alex North's score was also nominated for an Oscar, but I found it far too strident. Huston's late-career films varied between soulless Hollywood projects ("Victory" and "Annie") and deeply personal but unevenly realized projects like "Under the Volcano" and "The Dead." I'm not sure why Criterion decided to include this one in the collection, other than the fact that it's a John Huston film.

Video

The film is presented in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Surprise surprise, here's a Criterion transfer that doesn't look nearly flawless. I suspect most of the problems lie with the source footage, but the image is dark and the colors look washed out, particularly in the sunnier outdoors scenes. It's still quite good, but definitely not pristine. Criterion has to throw in a transfer like this every now and then just so we don't take perfection for granted.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. Optional English subtitles support the audio which is in English and Spanish.

Extras

Criterion has surprisingly lavished the two-disc treatment on this rather minor John Huston film. Disc One features a hodge-podge commentary by executive producer Michael Fitzgerald, producers Wieland Schulz-Keil and Moritz Borman, screenwriter Guy Gallo, and the director's son Danny Huston, also an actor/filmmaker.

Disc Two includes most of the goodies.

"Notes from ‘Under the Volcano'" (1094, 58 min) is an on-set feature directed by Gary Conklin.

"Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry" (1976, 99 min) is directed by Donald Brittain and narrated by Richard Burton who was an earlier choice for the role of Firmin. Lowry was a troubled writer who spent his last days in a manner not entirely dissimilar to Geoffrey Firmin.

The disc also includes a new video interview with Jacqueline Bisset (18 min) and a 1984 audio interview with John Huston.

The slim insert booklet consists of an essay by film scholar Christian Viviani.

Film Value

If you like hanging out with loud-mouthed Shakespearean-trained boozehounds, you will probably enjoy "Under the Volcano" a great deal more than I did. I found it a grind to sit through; the fast forward button tempted me on many occasions. Still, I appreciate Criterion's devotion to truth in advertising. "Oscar-nominated tour de force" should read like "Warning: Cigarette Smoking Causes Cancer" to any discerning viewer.