Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Warner Movie •••• Picture •••• Sound •••• Extras •••½

With the fourth boxed set in its marvelous Film Noir series, Warner has once again raised the bar for the DVD release of American classics. This time, there's even more bang for your buck, with 10 prime titles assembled as double features on five dual-layered discs. Each twofer is also available separately - but frankly, you'd be nuts to pass up going for the entire box.

The films here - including the rarely seen Decoy (1946) and Crime Wave (1954) - are superb examples of the hard-boiled thriller, populated with take-no-prisoner femme fatales, cynical tough guys, corrupt officials, and hopped-up sickos. The casts comprise the crème de la crème of noir stars: Robert Mitchum (The Big Steal, 1949, and Where Danger Lives, 1950), Robert Ryan (Act of Violence, 1948), Sterling Hayden (Crime Wave), Audrey Totter (Tension, 1950), and Jane Greer (The Big Steal). And they're directed by some of cinema's all-time masters: Nicholas Ray (They Live by Night, 1948), Anthony Mann (Side Street, 1950), Andre de Toth (Crime Wave), Don Siegel (The Big Steal), John Farrow (Where Danger Lives), John Sturges (Mystery Street, 1950), and Fred Zinnemann (Act of Violence).

As usual, Warner has done a superlative job transferring these gems to DVD. All are from near-pristine-quality 35mm source prints with generally razor-sharp clarity. The black-and-white pictures look phenomenal on most of the titles; the two that aren't quite up to snuff are They Live by Night and Side Street, which isn't surprising since they are the most famous in the bunch and, consequently, their elements have undergone the most wear and tear. This isn't to say they're substandard; au contraire, they look better than most other classics I've seen on DVD. They Live by Night, for example, blows away the recent French PAL edition, with many details far more discernible and with decidedly cleaner, artifact-free images. Side Street lacks the stark contrast it should have, but that's a minor point of contention - and only in comparison to the rest of these splendidly preserved movies.

The most astounding of the group is probably Decoy, if only for the fact that seeing a movie from a Poverty Row studio (in this case, Monogram Pictures) in a transfer taken from 35mm elements never fails to floor modern viewers used to umpteenth-generation public-domain monstrosities.

Mono sound on all titles is crisp and free of all sibilance and crackle. In fact, considering the age of the films, the startling, dynamic, in-your-face audio - thunderous music, screaming sirens (both automotive and human), and, of course, gun shots - remains all the more remarkable.

Extras are decent, too. Each movie comes with a cool new 5-minute featurette containing memorable on-camera reminiscences by noir cinematographer extraordinaire John Alton (Mystery Street) and screenwriter Stanley Rubin (Decoy). Other interviewees of note include directors Oliver Stone and Christopher Coppola and film historian Molly Haskell. Illegal (1955), presented for the first time on video in its original widescreen aspect ratio, comes with a lengthy excerpt from a 1950s TV show promoting the movie, with an engaging appearance by star Edward G. Robinson.

Where the extras truly excel is in the commentaries for all 10 titles, which offer expert, enthusiastic, and insightful observations by key noir scholars Alain Silver, James Elroy, Drew Casper, Eddie Muller, and Patricia King Hanson. (Only the ubiquitous Richard Schickel's diatribes seem forced and lackluster.) Equally significant and entertaining are the verbal contributions of Rubin and actors Nina Foch (Illegal), Farley Granger (They Live by Night), and Totter. In short, these streets were never meaner - nor more enticing. All: English, Dolby Digital mono; full frame (1.33:1); dual layer. Illegal: letterboxed (1.85:1) and anamorphic widescreen; five dual-layer discs.

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