Gentleman Jim appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a satisfying presentation.
Overall sharpness worked well, with only a smidgen of softness in a couple of wider shots. Most of the film boasted fine delineation and accuracy.
Neither jaggies nor moiré effects impacted the proceedings, and the presence of light grain meant it seemed unlikely that prominent digital noise reduction came into play. Edge haloes remained absent and I saw no print flaws.
Blacks seemed deep and rich, while contrast gave the movie a fine silvery sheen. Low-light shots brought us nice smoothness and clarity. This turned into a more than satisfactory image.
I also thought the film’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack worked fine for its age. Speech appeared a little brittle but the lines stayed intelligible and lacked edginess or obvious concerns.
Music appeared peppy enough, and effects followed suit. These elements didn’t pack a punch but they sounded clean and without distortion. This turned into a more than acceptable soundtrack for an older film.
As we head to extras, we find three animated shorts from 1942. These include The Dover Boys of Pimento University (8:58), Foney Fables (8:13) and Hobby Horse-Laffs (6:41).
Horse-Laffs offers a semi-rarity, as it brings us a black and white Looney Tunes reel. It features oddballs with unusual pursuits and seems more cute than funny.
Dover looks at stalwart brothers who protect a lovely lady at college. With a fun parody of turn-of-the-20th-century society, it works.
Finally, Foney spoofs fairy tales. Like Horse-Laffs, it also comes across more as cute than hilarious, but it boasts some good moments.
As a footnote, Mel Blanc uses voices suspiciously similar to those of Bugs and Daffy for a couple characters.
In addition to the film’s trailer, we finish with a Screen Guild Radio Broadcast. Aired 2/14/1944, it runs 29 minutes, 38 seconds and features Errol Flynn in place of Tyrone Power, but Alexis Smith and Ward Bond reprise their movie roles.
Because it crams a 104-minute film into roughly 25 minutes of air time, the radio Jim obviously pares the narrative to the bone. It makes sense – barely – but seems so superficial that it loses a lot of character notes.
Still, it proves mildly entertaining. After all, the film itself runs too long, so while the radio adaptation goes too far in the other direction, at least it doesn’t wear out its welcome.
A loose biopic, Gentleman Jim fails to deliver a genuinely memorable tale. Nonetheless, it brings an amiable mix of drama, comedy and romance. The Blu-ray offers good picture and audio along with a decent mix of bonus materials. This winds up as a likeable little flick.