(aka "The Numbers Racket" or "The Story of Tucker's People")
directed
by Abraham Polonsky
USA 1948
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Dark and brooding, FORCE OF EVIL offers one of Garfield's greatest performances as the cynical, hard-as-nails lawyer. Pearson, in her first of only two films, doesn't really register in a role that could use Shelley Winters or Ida Lupino rather than a June Allyson clone. Her presence is more than offset, however, by Gomez's marvelous performance and that of the suitably slimy Roberts. A tour de force for gifted writer Polonsky, FORCE was the only film he directed before he was blacklisted for being an uncooperative witness before HUAC in 1951; he didn't direct another feature for 21 years. At its best, FORCE achieves a style at once brutal and poetic, documentarian and noir. |
Posters
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Theatrical Release: 25 December 1948 - USA
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Lions Gate - Region 1 - NTSC
Big thanks to Ole Kofoed for the Region 1 captures and thanks to Pieter Boven for the PAL captures!
DVD Comparison:
Lions Gate - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Wild Side Video - Region 2 - PAL
(Lions Gate - Region 1 - NTSC LEFT vs. Wild Side Video - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)
| DVD Box Covers |
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| Distribution |
Lions Gate Region 1 - NTSC |
Wild Side Video Region 2 - PAL |
| Runtime | 1:18:28 | 1:18:51 |
| Video |
1.33:1
Original Aspect Ratio |
1.33:1
Original Aspect Ratio |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Bitrate:
Lions Gate
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| Bitrate:
Wild Side
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| Audio | English Dolby Digital mono |
English (Dolby Digital 1.0), DUB: French (Dolby Digital 1.0) |
| Subtitles | English (Closed Captions), and none | French (forced) |
| Features |
Release Information: Studio: Lions Gate Aspect
Ratio:
Edition Details:
Chapters 15 |
Release Information:
Edition Details: Chapters 12 |
| Comments: |
The French Region 2 is horribly yellow/green, flat, dull, contrast boosted, has ghosting and is hazy... and to top it off it has forced French subtitles. It eclipses the Region one in Extras (not hard) but many of the features do not have English subs (and are with French audio). I don't see any extensive cropping on either issue. Notice the total time - this indicates that the Region 2 DVD was taken from a NTSC source and not converted before digitizing to PAL. So it will have inherent artifact problems as well as ghosting (see last capture). Easy choice as the image on the Region 2 is so dreadful - Region 1 all the way! One note: I do like the French cover a lot better! |
Recommended Reading in Film Noir (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)
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Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City by Nicholas Christopher |
Film Noir Reader 4 : The Crucial Films and Themes
(Film Noir Reader) by Alain Silver |
The Art of Noir: The Posters and Graphics from the
Classic Era of Film Noir by Eddie Muller |
The Little Black and White Book of Film Noir:
Quotations from Films of the 40's and 50's by Peg Thompson, Saeko Usukawa |
Film Noir by Alain Silver |
Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era,
1940-1959 by Michael F. Keaney |
Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir by Foster Hirsch |
More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts by James Naremore |
DVD Menus
(Lions
Gate - Region 1 - NTSC LEFT vs. Wild Side Video - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)
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Screen Captures
(Lions Gate - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Wild Side Video - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Lions Gate - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Wild Side Video - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Lions Gate - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Wild Side Video - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Lions Gate - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Wild Side Video - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Lions Gate - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Wild Side Video - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Lions Gate - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Wild Side Video - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Lions Gate - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Wild Side Video - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
NOTICE: slight incident of 'ghosting' on the Region 2 DVD
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Report Card:
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Image: |
Lion's Gate |
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Sound: |
Wild Side (for French DUB option) |
| Extras: | Wild Side |
| Menu: | - |
| DVD Box Covers |
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| Distribution |
Lions Gate Region 1 - NTSC |
Wild Side Video Region 2 - PAL |
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Gary Tooze
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