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While The Last Picture Show may be this writer's personal favorite of the three - I simply cannot resist Timothy Bottoms and Eileen Brennan in that one - Paper Moon may be Bogdanovich's most accomplished piece of throwback fun. His tender yet authorial approach has always been to let good actors do what they do best, but by a monumental stroke of luck, the performances in Paper Moon literally erupt. They are the centerpiece of the picture.

It's easy to point at Tatum O'Neal - the film's Oscar winner - as the standout here, but she's a giant among giants. Madeline Kahn delivers a fierce performance as Trixie Delight, the zany free-for-all who dares to come between Tatum and her beloved and clumsy pop, and Ryan O'Neal - who to this day doesn't get the respect he deserves - brings a sexy bravura to the gypsy-esque father figure. He perfectly straddles the line between doting daddy and sell-to-the-highest-bidder schmuck, but with humorous grace and mercurial slyness.

And if these three top-of-the-line portrayals aren't enough to keep you interested, the writer-director pairing of Bogdanovich and Alvin Sargent (based on Joe David Brown's play Addie Pray) mines unquestionably fertile ground. Yes, everything is hyper-mannered - Paper Moon, it can be said, is not an overly subtle picture - but there's a surprising amount of organic interplay to the picture's dialogue. Typically, period pieces have to revert to contemporary forms and colloquialisms to attract the mainstream, but here the filmmaking is of such high caliber that Bogdanovich doesn't have to pander. In presenting Sargent's script as it is, with a minimal of postmodern cheekiness, he concocts a world as dramatically palpable as it is believable and involving.

And let us not forget Laslo Kovacs' unparalleled photography, the icing on an already delicious cake. This DVD preserves the film's visuals in excellent fashion (more on that below), but formalism aside, with Paper Moon, Kovacs was able to instill the film's depression-era setting with a wildly imperative photographic style, which created a supple and immediately identifiable look that remains as glorious as it ever was.

Paper Moon is a stunningly enjoyable picture, a cool glass of lemonade. Some of its vaudevillian histrionics may be too much for modern filmgoers, but let them miss out: with this black and white masterwork, Bogdanovich both cemented his place as one of the 70s greatest auteurs and gave moviegoers around the world a peek into a period of bittersweet Americana that has yet to be equaled.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Excellent! Presented in its original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio and anamorphically encoded, Paper Moon is still as beautiful and stunning as it ever was. Like The Last Picture Show, contrast is extraordinary, with detail revealing many a fine texture and delicate shadow. Even the simplest shots, with the add of some gorgeous deep focus, look terrific. Black levels are as right as rain, and there are no compression artifacts to speak of. The only drawbacks here is that, every once in a while, a speck of dust or grain pops up - to be expected with a thirty-year-old film - but all in all, this one's a keeper.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The English Dolby mono track included here, on the other hand, is just okay. The basics are in place, with dialogue that is decently reproduced and the film's wonderful score is hard to resist, but atmosphere is non-existent. Also a problem is that there is a bit of shrillness to the high end and some old mono crackle. I really wish these new Paramount Bogdanovich releases at least got some sort of an audio upgrade, as his sound design is so imperative to the effectiveness of the narrative, but I suppose this will have to do.

Also included is a French mono dub plus English subtitles and Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Peter Bogdanovich's new screen-specific audio commentary is, not surprisingly, the main attraction here. Just as fascinating as his other commentaries on Daisy Miller and Targets, here he discusses Tatum and her mannerisms, dealing with Ryan O'Neal and what his celebrity at the time entailed, and arguing the pros and cons of shooting in black and white. Bogdanovich is always talkative and intelligent, and this is another grade-A commentary.

Rounding out the collection is 30+ minutes of featurettes, "The Next Picture Show,” "Asking For the Moon,” and "Getting the Moon,” all of which address different aspects of the film's development and the effect the film had on both the careers of its collaborators and audiences. It's not entirely definitive, and it's a drag that there isn't a Bogdanovich introduction, like on the other recent re-releases of his films on DVD, but this is a nice collection nonetheless.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts