Starring:	Kathy Bates	125min
	Jessica Tandy
	Mary-Louise Parker	1991
	Mary Stuart Masterson
Screenplay:	Fanny Flagg &	Drama
	Carol Sobieski
Director:	Jon Avnet	Colour

Region	2	Studio:	VCI
Format	Single Sided, Dual Layer	Subtitles	None
Aspect ratio	16:9
Anamorphic	Yes
Soundtracks	Dolby Digital 2.0	Extra Features	Production Featurette
			Theatrical Trailer
Case type	Amaray		Animated Menus

The DVD * * * *		The Movie * * * *
This is the first dual layer release from UK label VCI, and it seems on the face of things a strange choice. At "only" 125 minutes and with only a sum total of 6 or 7 minutes of extra material, most studios would just cram the lot on one side and be done with it. It is credit to VCI's commitment to the format that they have seen fit to fork out the extra dosh and do it properly. The original print here is slightly soft and grainy, both qualities that can play havoc with the MPEG coding process. Using the dual layer switch, a high bit rate has been used, and the whole thing is (to all intents and purposes) artifact free. The transfer blemishes are certainly not distracting, and there is a pleasingly high visual contrast - plenty of detail in the dark night scenes, followed by almost wince-inducing brightness in the day. It positively oozes atmosphere from the Deep South. The sound is less impressive, with the surround only mix lacklustre. Undoubtedly, this is just unimaginative dubbing in the film making process. Ah well - what can you do? The featurette is the usual short promotional thing, and together with the trailer make for a bit of icing on the cake. The main menu screen is good - textured old photos accompanied by some blues, but the scene selections are disappointingly minus the cute full motion menus VCI have graced their recent titles with. One quibble - the layer change itself is a little obtrusive, at more or less dead on 60 minutes, in the middle of a moving sequence filled with sound effects. Some 6 3/4 minutes later, a gift of a spot exists with a sound fade out and a still picture - why on earth not pick there? Still, it's a brief one-off glitch, and I'll happily live with it next to the improved quality throughout. Another disc that puts many of the majors to shame.		Would be standard wet afternoon weepie elevates itself way above the expectations of the genre. Sweet, overweight and aimless Bates is befriended by 82 year old Tandy on a visit to her nursing home, and proceeds to spin a wild tale of events - including murder - at the titular Whistle Stop Cafe some 40 years earlier. As the story unfolds, so Bates' mundane existence takes a dramatic turn as she begins to walk (and drive) on the wild side. Although far from without cliche, patience and a kind heart are rewarded with humour, intrigue and poignancy, with an almost whimsical ambiguity peppering some of the narrative and the sexuality of the characters. The performances from old and young alike (Masterson and Parker are wonderful and believable as the young cafe-owning friends) are first rate, and the screenplay - based on Fanny Flagg's novel - steers this above a well trodden path.