Unman, Wittering and Zigo appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with a fine transfer.
Sharpness appeared clear and concise. On occasion some shots looked slightly soft or hazy, but these instances did not occur frequently, and I suspect they reflected the source photography. Instead, the majority of the film was crisp and detailed.
No issues with jagged edges or shimmering materialized, and edge enhancement was minimal at worst. Source flaws stayed absent, so this was a clean image without any noticeable print defects.
Unman featured a fairly low-key palette and brought appealing colors within those constrictions. The tones seemed well-rendered given the movie’s restrained ambitions.
Black levels appeared deep and dense, and shadow detail also was clear and without excessive darkness. Across the board, this became a solid presentation.
The LPCM monaural audio of Unman held up fairly well over the last 52 years. Speech came across as reasonably warm and natural, with no issues of edginess or intelligibility along the way.
Effects appeared a bit thin, and they didn’t suffer from any distortion or other problems. Music also was reasonably bright and rich, with adequate range. For a monaural soundtrack from 1971, Unman seemed satisfying.
As we shift to extras, we launch with an audio commentary from film historians Sean Hogan and Kim Newman. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at the source radio play and its adaptation, cast and crew, genre domains, the British school system of the era and their own experiences, and their thoughts about the film.
Newman dominates. Though Hogan gets in occasional remarks, much of the time he feels like Ed McMahon to Newman’s Johnny Carson, as Hogan often does little more than laugh and exclaim “yes!”
Despite that, this becomes a decent commentary. We learn little about production specifics, but we get enough related to the property, the genre and those involved to make this a moderately useful track.
Two featurettes follow, and An Unruly Education spans 25 minutes, 45 seconds. It provides notes from critic/broadcaster/cultural historian Dr. Matthew Sweet.
“Education” covers how Unman represented the culture of its era, notes about the play’s writer and his works, aspects of the film and changes from the source, and various reflections. Some of this repeats from the commentary, but Sweet nonetheless offers a nice overview.
Unman, Lipstrob & Terhew + Mrs. Ebony lasts 30 minutes, 13 seconds. Here we get info from actors Michael Cashman, Michael Howe, James Wardroper and Carolyn Seymour.
They tell us about their characters as well as their experiences during the shoot. They relate some reasonably interesting memories.
We also find the 1958 Radio Play on which the movie comes based. It runs one hour, 13 minutes, one second.
With no score and minimal effects, the radio version seems stark by comparison with the film, and it acts more as a morality play – or lack thereof, as it accentuates the various characters’ absence of ethics. The radio Unman also feels less like a mystery.
This creates an interesting tale, though one that seems more heavy-handed than the film. The movie adaptation proves more nimble.
In addition to the film’s trailer, we finish with an Image Gallery. It offers 139 stills that mix publicity elements, shots from the movie and behind the scenes photos. Though that becomes a generous number of pictures, they tend to feel less than compelling much of the time.
While not on the level of classic thrillers, Unman, Witting and Zigo nonetheless delivers a pretty solid psychological journey. It maintains a noteworthy level of subtlety that ensures it never telegraphs its elements to the audience. The Blu-ray comes with appealing visuals, acceptable audio and a mix of bonus features. This winds up as an effective journey.