THE TAMARIND SEED [1974 / 2015] [Blu-ray] [UK Release]
Where Love Grows and Passion Flower!
A captivating romantic drama unfolds against a backdrop of Cold War paranoia in this acclaimed feature by multi-award-winning director Blake Edwards. Featuring an outstanding score by multiple Oscar winner John Barry and presented here in a brand-new High Definition transfer from original film elements, ‘THE TAMARIND SEED’ stars Dame Julie Andrews as a Home Office minister's assistant, and Omar Sharif as the Paris-based Soviet attaché with whom she falls in love; among an outstanding support cast are Anthony Quayle and Sylvia Syms, whose performance earned her a BAFTA Awards in 1974.
Holidaying in Barbados in the hope of overcoming the unhappiness of a broken love affair, Englishwoman Judith Farrow [Dame Julie Andrews] meets debonair Russian Feodor Sverdlov [Omar Sharif]. As they explore the island paradise together and their mutual feelings grow, so too do the suspicions of the intelligence agencies in both London and Moscow. In a world where no-one is to be trusted and appearances can be fatally deceptive, every move they make is being watched...
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1975 BAFTA Film Award: Nominated: Best Supporting Actress for Sylvia Syms.
FILM FACT No.2: The film was partly financed by Sir Lew Grade as part of a two-movie deal to get Dame Julie Andrews to commit to a TV show. It was Dame Julie Andrews' first film in four years, since the film ‘Darling Lili.’ During that time Dame Julie Andrews had married Blake Edwards and concentrated on raising their children. This is a nice film," said Dame Julie Andrews. "It's just right for my comeback.” ‘THE TAMARIND SEED’ was filmed on location in Barbados, Eaton Square, Belgravia in London, England, and Paris, France. The film received a Royal Command Performance in 1974.
Cast: Dame Julie Andrews, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quayle, Daniel O'Herlihy, Sylvia Syms, Oskar Homolka, Bryan Marshall, David Baron, Celia Bannerman, Roger Dann, Sharon Duce, George Mikell, Kate O'Mara, Constantine Gregory, John Sullivan, Terence Plummer, Leslie Crawford, Alexei Jawdokimov, Janet Henfrey, Lewis Alexander (uncredited), Ernest Blyth (uncredited), Harry Fielder (uncredited), Otto Friese (uncredited), Richard Gregory (uncredited), Aidan Harrington (uncredited), Walter Henry (uncredited), Juba Kennerley (uncredited), Aileen Lewis (uncredited), Mike Reynell (uncredited), Guy Standeven (uncredited) and John Tatum (uncredited)
Director: Blake Edwards
Producers: Johnny Goodman and Ken Wales
Screenplay: Blake Edwards (screenplay) and Evelyn Anthony (novel)
Composer: John Barry
Cinematography: Freddie Young O.B.E., B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Eastman Color)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 124 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: ITC Entertainment Group Ltd / Network
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: Out of all the recent releases by Network to feature a John Barry score [‘Raise the Titanic’ and ‘Legend of the Lone Ranger’], this one is perhaps his best of the three for the film ‘THE TAMARIND SEED.’ Deeply intoxicating in places and heartfelt in others it heightens the emotion on screen, as all good musical scores should. Dame Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif are the leads in this romantic drama which involves Cold War espionage and the stunning scenery of the Caribbean Islands.
Makes great use of some interesting visuals, to suggest inner turmoil or a characters recollection of a painful past memory. In some ways similar to something out of the horror genre, the imagery is often black and red being the only colours on screen, enhanced by the use of jarring music and editing techniques.
As can be expected of a film that has the ever prim-and-proper Dame Julie Andrews [aka Mrs. Blake Edwards] in the lead, things are pretty much on the safe side. At least during the first half of the film, when British Home Office assistant Judith Farrow [Dame Julie Andrews] takes refuge on the exotic island of Barbados to overcome her broken love affair with British minister Richard Paterson [David Baron]. When she is wooed by dashing Soviet military attaché Feodor Sverdlov [Omar Sharif] she is flattered but not in the mood to have her heart broken all over again. Easier said than done and the charms of Feodor Sverdlov and his almost irritatingly macho persistence make it very hard for Judith not to fall for him. Of course she does, and that’s when the trouble starts…
With this unique relationship, the pair is quite frank about sex, past relationships and emotions. The roles seem to take delight in often bringing up difficult past experiences or something they’d prefer not to talk about. As they are meant to be opposing each other is this verbal jousting with an attempt to keep some form of hostility between them?
British Intelligence is none too pleased about the blossoming liaison between the attractive Brit and the debonair Russian, and begin to monitor the couple. In particular British intelligent officer Jack Loder [Anthony Quayle] is certain that Feodor Sverdlov is planning on using Judith Farrow in order to have her recruited as a spy. Jack Loder already suspects one of his own men involved in the nasty spy game, further suspicion arises when he learns that his assistant George MacLeod [Bryan Marshall] has had an affair with Margaret Stephenson [Sylvia Syms], the wife of Minister Fergus Stephenson [Daniel O'Herlihy].
Dame Julie Andrews gives a memorable performance and it shows that she is more than capable of just being in whimsical roles such as her famous ‘The Sound of Music’ character. Very risqué for an actress who has been best remembered for nearly half a decade as a ‘national treasure’ of British acting and iconic family films. Elsewhere the acting is just as strong for Dame Julie Andrews if not better in places. Sharif is an engaging presence on screen as usual, his Egyptian nationality giving him the looks that complement the character and the seductive surroundings of the film. Bryan Marshall, Anthony Quayle and Sylvia Syms fill out a fine supporting cast.
Director Blake Edwards will be best known to many for having directed the numerous Pink Panther films [1962 – 1993]. Blake Edwards has also been responsible for other comedy features, yet ‘THE TAMARIND SEED’ is the director making a different type of Cold War paranoia film.
THE TAMARIND SEED MUSIC TRACK LIST
PLAY IT AGAIN (Music by John Barry) (Lyrics by Don Black) [Sung by Wilma Reading] (uncredited)
MAN WITH A MONKEY (uncredited) (Music by Sam Fonteyn)
Blu-ray Image Quality – The Network Company has done a really wonderful job in bringing this 1974 film on the Blu-ray format in a pristine 1080p encoded image and of course enhanced with the 2.35:1 original aspect ratio. It's always heart-warming to see this film ‘THE TAMARIND SEED’ of the 1970s era restored close to its former glory, and the transfer here certainly has its share of strong points. The contrast is punchy, and while the strong black levels do pull in some of the darker picture information, the mid-range greyscale is most attractively rendered. There's not a dust spot to be seen and the image is rock solid in frame, and the detail is still crisper than you'll find on even a high quality inferior DVD disc. But the film also has a funny mélange of styles and while the interiors are highly stylised, full of shadows and contrasts typical of noir type effect, especially with the black levels that are very solid looking, so well done Network for all your hard work in seeing this film in a new light. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Once again the Network Company has done a really wonderful job in bringing this 1974 film with an upgrade on the Blu-ray format in realising the audio soundtrack in a pristine 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio track. Surprisingly for this Blu-ray, there is no degrading of this soundtrack on offer for the age of this film, and the audio track here still does the job and sounds brilliant. The dialogue and music exhibit the sort of narrowed dynamic range you'd expect for a film of the early 1970s, but it's always very clear and is also free of any damage or background hiss. The dynamics on the stereo track are fine, as is the balance; there is a little bit of popping, though, but not enough to interfere with the audibility of the dialogue. But overall it is a great effort on the background people at Network.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: ‘THE TAMARIND SEED’ Soundtrack Suite and Musical Arrangements by John Barry [Audio Only] [1974] [1080p] [1.78:1] [48:41] What you get to hear is lots of the individual John Barry compositions for the actual film soundtrack and at the same time you get to view still images from the film ‘THE TAMARIND SEED.’
Special Feature: ‘THE TAMARIND SEED’ Song Suite featuring music by John Barry [Audio Only] Once again you get to hear lots of the individual John Barry compositions for the actual film soundtrack but this time you get to hear two singers and at the same time you get to view still images from the film ‘THE TAMARIND SEED.’ [1974] [1080p] [1.78:1] [18:40] “Play It Again” [Single Version No.1] Sung by Wilma Reading. “Play It Again” [Single Version No.2] Sung by Wilma Reading. “The End” [Demo Version No.1] Sung by Danny Street. “The End” [Demo Version No.2] Sung by Danny Street. ‘THE TAMARIND SEED’ [Main Theme]. ‘THE TAMARIND SEED’ [Main Theme Reprise]. As usual, you can listen to each Song Suite individually or Play All.
Theatrical Trailer [1974] [1080i] [2.35:1] [3:00] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for film ‘THE TAMARIND SEED.’
Special Feature: Russell Harty Archive Interview with Omar Sharif [1972] [480i] [1.37:1] [15:02] With is particular archive interview that appeared on the Russell Harty’s Chat Show, Omar Sharif comes across as a warm and engaging man. But as a bonus we get an appearance of the legendary English bombshell actress Diana Dors, who gets very flirty with both males and very funny it, is to. Original ITV Transmission was on 2nd December, 1972.
Special Feature: Russell Harty Archive Interview with Omar Sharif [1974] [480i] [1.37:1] [11:33] Once again we get another insight into the archive interview that appeared on the Russell Harty’s Chat Show, once again Russell Harty does more intimate probing questions towards Omar Sharif, and Omar Sharif is once again very gracious and again comes across as a really nice warm and engaging man. Original ITV Transmission was on 11th October, 1974.
Special Feature: Blake Edwards Archive Interview on the Russell Harty Chat Show [1976] [480i] [1.37:1] [34:46] In one of Blake Edwards very rare appearance on British Television, where Russell Harty did a three-hander interview in this full length episode. But first up we encounter Peter Sellers at his funniest and then Burt Kwouk bursts on the scene to attack Peter Sellers, like the two appear in the Pink Panther films and they were there to promote the film ‘The Return of the Pink Panther.’ Plus we also get the director Blake Edwards, who talks about the fun time the two of them when making a film and you get a really hilarious moment when Blake Edwards talks about him getting very ill and being rushed off to the hospital and where Peter Sellers kept trying to make him laugh. This is a brilliant extra and it is hoped other distributors use archive footage like this in the future. Original London Weekend Television Transmission was on 9th January, 1976.
Special Feature: Image Gallery [1974] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:10] Here we get to view 45 promotional images, that consist of Cinema Posters from around the world, studio promotional images, behind-the-scene images, and also lots of images of the main actors in the film, in both colour and black-and-white.
PLUS: You have a beautiful designed reversal Blu-ray cover, but no information that did the design.
BONUS: A 16 page booklet, that contains an article entitled: The “Tamarind Seed: Film and Soundtrack Notes.” Also “John Barry: A Biography” by Geoff Leonard and Pete Walker. Plus lots of colour publicity photos of the film poster.
Finally, a unique holiday romance film that has a lot of talent behind it, ‘THE TAMARINE SEED’ is rewarding on numerous levels. ‘THE TAMARINE SEED’ is not exactly a rip-roaring James Bond adventure; especially the first half of the film has its emphasis on romantic walks along the beach and candle-lit dinners. But the tone shifts in the second half when the Cold War paranoia kicks in and no one must be trusted under any circumstances. Some fine performances here, in particular from Anthony Quayle whose character speaks with a rough Northern accent and Sylvia Syms as the troubled wife and she won a BAFTA award in 1974 for her role. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
