Reviews (1)

Homage Deserves A Larger Viewing Audience
It's a shame this video is so prohibitively expensive at present because it is well worth viewing. Adapted by playwright Mark Medoff (Children of a Lesser God) from its stage version, it offers subtle, complex characterizations by Blythe Danner, Frank Whaley and Bruce Davison and a magnificent New Mexico locale that I found fascinating because it is so very different from the landscape in the East. As a gritty look at the link between genius and obsession, the film could be classified as a psychological thriller, except that the viewer knows the ending from the start. The suspense is in how the characters get to the place where two are marked for death, and in its tragic inevitability. Blythe Danner, who is seen infrequently, but who maintains an onscreen presence that commands notice, is a retired school teacher who cannot teach her most important students-her own television star daughter, and the antisocial young man whom she befriends and who betrays her. It is an unusual film with the kind of excellent, crafted dialogue one expects from a playwright, some stylish directing and notable acting performances. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Great movie!
Before watching "Guilty Conscience", one must first come to terms with the DVD's technical problems. The picture is bad, it looks like a 16th generation VHS tape, not a DVD. The sound is horrid, one must crank the volume way up. It's a TV movie from 1985, so there are Princess Di haircuts, huge shoulder pads, and a rhythm to the admittedly smart dialogue that viewers used to today's television might find strange.
Okay, enough of the bad. The good news is that I liked this movie much more than I ever thought I would. Anthony Hopkins gives a wonderful and inspired performance as Arthur Jameson, a wife-beating, two timing, crooked lawyer who plots to [do away with] his black mailing wife. He is great, and it is always a joy to watch him, especially when he's so YOUNG! His character even says "Quid pro quo", which alone is worth the price of the DVD.
Sir Tony is a delight, and he looks gorgeous.
Since this is the only way I know of to see this good flick, I would recommend it.

AVOID THIS DVD!
Avoid this DVD! As another reviewer said, it's remarkable bad. I wish I'd read his comments before I bought mine. I recommend buying instead a used VHS tape from a rental store. Its quality will be far better than this DVD.

The DVD is a poor transcription of a second- or third-generation videotape. It has the tape's tracking problems. The colors are very weak. It is blurry to the degree that you want to say it has *no* resolution. The audio is terrible. Besides being blurry, we had to adjust our volume control to full volume to be able to hear much of it.

Great Movie (Guilty Conscience), Bad DVD Release
I've purchased several other budget DVDs of "Guilty Conscience" (from other companys such as Direct Video), and this double feature release has the best picture quality of all of these so far. But this isn't saying much, because the video/audio quality still leaves a lot to be desired. Worst of all, this double feature DVD has several technical problems that are very annoying. (At first I thought that I had a defective copy, so I bought another one and experienced the same problems.) What are the problems? First, after the first 20 minutes or so of "Guilty Conscience", the video "jumps" and you completely skip a scene where the Blythe Danner character is supposedly shot by her husband. For some reason, you cannot key in a reverse chapter jump or scan. Also, throughout the rest of the movie, there are occasional spots where the picture just freezes (on its own) for a few seconds. Very, very bad technical flaws in this DVD.

However, you're either going to have take it or leave this DVD, because this is the only way you can get this wonderful movie on DVD. Hopefully, a major company that cares about the products they release will reissue this movie on DVD, but since this movie is, I believe, out in the public domain, it's not very likely this will happen.

Anyway, buy this DVD at your own risk if you like this movie.

Good film wasted on a lousy DVD transfer
One of the best made-for-TV mysteries from the writing teamWilliams & Link, starring Anthony Hopkins as a doctor ponderingthe murder of his wife, is UTTERLY trashed in this atrocious DVD release. The use of a poorly-recorded source combined with a pitiful transferring effort resulting in artifacts galore, make this one of the worst DVDs I've seen.

A major technical disappointment.
I suppose it's a good vehicle for Hopkins, but the DVD version suffers terribly from technical problems. The audio track is weak and the video looks like a twice copied VHS tape. I couldn't get past the poor technical quality to really enjoy the film. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Great movie!
Before watching "Guilty Conscience", one must first come to terms with the DVD's technical problems. The picture is bad, it looks like a 16th generation VHS tape, not a DVD. The sound is horrid, one must crank the volume way up. It's a TV movie from 1985, so there are Princess Di haircuts, huge shoulder pads, and a rhythm to the admittedly smart dialogue that viewers used to today's television might find strange.
Okay, enough of the bad. The good news is that I liked this movie much more than I ever thought I would. Anthony Hopkins gives a wonderful and inspired performance as Arthur Jameson, a wife-beating, two timing, crooked lawyer who plots to [do away with] his black mailing wife. He is great, and it is always a joy to watch him, especially when he's so YOUNG! His character even says "Quid pro quo", which alone is worth the price of the DVD.
Sir Tony is a delight, and he looks gorgeous.
Since this is the only way I know of to see this good flick, I would recommend it.

AVOID THIS DVD!
Avoid this DVD! As another reviewer said, it's remarkable bad. I wish I'd read his comments before I bought mine. I recommend buying instead a used VHS tape from a rental store. Its quality will be far better than this DVD.

The DVD is a poor transcription of a second- or third-generation videotape. It has the tape's tracking problems. The colors are very weak. It is blurry to the degree that you want to say it has *no* resolution. The audio is terrible. Besides being blurry, we had to adjust our volume control to full volume to be able to hear much of it.

Great Movie (Guilty Conscience), Bad DVD Release
I've purchased several other budget DVDs of "Guilty Conscience" (from other companys such as Direct Video), and this double feature release has the best picture quality of all of these so far. But this isn't saying much, because the video/audio quality still leaves a lot to be desired. Worst of all, this double feature DVD has several technical problems that are very annoying. (At first I thought that I had a defective copy, so I bought another one and experienced the same problems.) What are the problems? First, after the first 20 minutes or so of "Guilty Conscience", the video "jumps" and you completely skip a scene where the Blythe Danner character is supposedly shot by her husband. For some reason, you cannot key in a reverse chapter jump or scan. Also, throughout the rest of the movie, there are occasional spots where the picture just freezes (on its own) for a few seconds. Very, very bad technical flaws in this DVD.

However, you're either going to have take it or leave this DVD, because this is the only way you can get this wonderful movie on DVD. Hopefully, a major company that cares about the products they release will reissue this movie on DVD, but since this movie is, I believe, out in the public domain, it's not very likely this will happen.

Anyway, buy this DVD at your own risk if you like this movie.

Good film wasted on a lousy DVD transfer
One of the best made-for-TV mysteries from the writing teamWilliams & Link, starring Anthony Hopkins as a doctor ponderingthe murder of his wife, is UTTERLY trashed in this atrocious DVD release. The use of a poorly-recorded source combined with a pitiful transferring effort resulting in artifacts galore, make this one of the worst DVDs I've seen.

A major technical disappointment.
I suppose it's a good vehicle for Hopkins, but the DVD version suffers terribly from technical problems. The audio track is weak and the video looks like a twice copied VHS tape. I couldn't get past the poor technical quality to really enjoy the film. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Great movie!
Before watching "Guilty Conscience", one must first come to terms with the DVD's technical problems. The picture is bad, it looks like a 16th generation VHS tape, not a DVD. The sound is horrid, one must crank the volume way up. It's a TV movie from 1985, so there are Princess Di haircuts, huge shoulder pads, and a rhythm to the admittedly smart dialogue that viewers used to today's television might find strange.
Okay, enough of the bad. The good news is that I liked this movie much more than I ever thought I would. Anthony Hopkins gives a wonderful and inspired performance as Arthur Jameson, a wife-beating, two timing, crooked lawyer who plots to [do away with] his black mailing wife. He is great, and it is always a joy to watch him, especially when he's so YOUNG! His character even says "Quid pro quo", which alone is worth the price of the DVD.
Sir Tony is a delight, and he looks gorgeous.
Since this is the only way I know of to see this good flick, I would recommend it.

AVOID THIS DVD!
Avoid this DVD! As another reviewer said, it's remarkable bad. I wish I'd read his comments before I bought mine. I recommend buying instead a used VHS tape from a rental store. Its quality will be far better than this DVD.

The DVD is a poor transcription of a second- or third-generation videotape. It has the tape's tracking problems. The colors are very weak. It is blurry to the degree that you want to say it has *no* resolution. The audio is terrible. Besides being blurry, we had to adjust our volume control to full volume to be able to hear much of it.

Great Movie (Guilty Conscience), Bad DVD Release
I've purchased several other budget DVDs of "Guilty Conscience" (from other companys such as Direct Video), and this double feature release has the best picture quality of all of these so far. But this isn't saying much, because the video/audio quality still leaves a lot to be desired. Worst of all, this double feature DVD has several technical problems that are very annoying. (At first I thought that I had a defective copy, so I bought another one and experienced the same problems.) What are the problems? First, after the first 20 minutes or so of "Guilty Conscience", the video "jumps" and you completely skip a scene where the Blythe Danner character is supposedly shot by her husband. For some reason, you cannot key in a reverse chapter jump or scan. Also, throughout the rest of the movie, there are occasional spots where the picture just freezes (on its own) for a few seconds. Very, very bad technical flaws in this DVD.

However, you're either going to have take it or leave this DVD, because this is the only way you can get this wonderful movie on DVD. Hopefully, a major company that cares about the products they release will reissue this movie on DVD, but since this movie is, I believe, out in the public domain, it's not very likely this will happen.

Anyway, buy this DVD at your own risk if you like this movie.

Good film wasted on a lousy DVD transfer
One of the best made-for-TV mysteries from the writing teamWilliams & Link, starring Anthony Hopkins as a doctor ponderingthe murder of his wife, is UTTERLY trashed in this atrocious DVD release. The use of a poorly-recorded source combined with a pitiful transferring effort resulting in artifacts galore, make this one of the worst DVDs I've seen.

A major technical disappointment.
I suppose it's a good vehicle for Hopkins, but the DVD version suffers terribly from technical problems. The audio track is weak and the video looks like a twice copied VHS tape. I couldn't get past the poor technical quality to really enjoy the film. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Homage Deserves A Larger Viewing Audience
It's a shame this video is so prohibitively expensive at present because it is well worth viewing. Adapted by playwright Mark Medoff (Children of a Lesser God) from its stage version, it offers subtle, complex characterizations by Blythe Danner, Frank Whaley and Bruce Davison and a magnificent New Mexico locale that I found fascinating because it is so very different from the landscape in the East. As a gritty look at the link between genius and obsession, the film could be classified as a psychological thriller, except that the viewer knows the ending from the start. The suspense is in how the characters get to the place where two are marked for death, and in its tragic inevitability. Blythe Danner, who is seen infrequently, but who maintains an onscreen presence that commands notice, is a retired school teacher who cannot teach her most important students-her own television star daughter, and the antisocial young man whom she befriends and who betrays her. It is an unusual film with the kind of excellent, crafted dialogue one expects from a playwright, some stylish directing and notable acting performances. ... Read more