Christopher Strong appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a pleasing presentation.
For the most part, sharpness seemed fine. Some wider shots tended to be a little soft, but those never created substantial concerns and I felt the film usually exhibited very good delineation.
No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I noticed no edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to turn into an issue.
Blacks appeared quite nice. Those tones showed solid depth, and shadows also exhibited positive clarity. Contrast gave the movie a nice silver sheen. Overall, this was a perfectly satisfactory image.
I felt the DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Strong largely matched age-related expectations. Speech tended to sound somewhat metallic and sibilant, but only occasional edginess appeared, and the lines remained perfectly intelligible.
Music came without a lot of range, but the score also seemed reasonably concise. Effects veered toward the bright side of the street, but they also remained fine given their age. Given its age, this became a more than satisfactory track.
In terms of extras, we get three circa 1933 theatrical shorts. We encounter the live-action Plane Nuts (19:42) and Tomalio (21:37) along with the animated Buddy’s Beer Garden (7:11).
Nuts essentially offers a filmed stage show, though it takes some cinematic liberties when it shoots a multitude of female dancers in two separate production numbers. Of primary interest comes an early movie appearance from the Three Stooges.
Ted Healy acts as the main focus, and the short actually bills the Stooges as “Howard, Fine and Howard”. I never much cared for the Stooges, but they actually amuse me here, mainly because they rely more on cleverness and less on the usual slapstick.
The rest of Nuts seems forgettable. Still, the view of the Stooges in their early stages as film performers makes the reel worth a look.
Tomalio offers another comedic short, though it comes at the end of a noted career – albeit one with more tragedy involved. Star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s career went on the skids in the mid-1920s due to scandals and his attempt at a 1930s revival ended prematurely due to his death in 1933.
Indeed, Tomalio represents Arbuckle’s last production. It came out five months after his passing.
I wish I could claim Arbuckle went out on top, but that doesn’t become the case. Wilbur (Arbuckle) visits the fictional Latin American country of Tomalio and butts comedic heads with a dimwitted dictator (Charles Judels). None of this adds up to much comedic value.
Finally, Buddy’s Beer Garden brings an early Looney Tunes tale, but not one with Bugs or Porky or Daffy or any notable characters. Instead, we find the titular “Buddy”, a role that starred in a couple dozen shorts from 1933 to 1935 and then promptly became forgotten to all but animation buffs.
I can’t claim Buddy didn’t deserve obscurity, as he offers a bland personality. Beer Garden itself lacks much charm, as it comes across as a cut-rate Disney ripoff. Looney Tunes would eventually offer brilliant cartoons, but Beer Garden shows they had a long way to go.
As a piece of Hollywood history, Christopher Strong seems noteworthy since it offers the first lead film appearance by Katharine Hepburn. Unfortunately, nothing else about this slow and bland romance stands out from the genre crowd. The Blu-ray brings positive picture and audio as well as a trio of period short films. Strong becomes a lackluster dud.