The Big Heat Blu-ray - Gloria Grahame

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

USA 1953

"Somebody's going to pay… because he forgot to kill me." Ruthless criminals, a dedicated honest cop, sultry women and a gripping plot - all the elements of a classic police action-drama are here in full force. Police Sergeant Bannion (Glenn Ford) is investigating the apparent suicide of a corrupt cop, then is suddenly ordered to stop - and The Big Heat is on. Driven to unravel the mystery, Bannion continues probing until an explosion meant for him, kills his wife. He resigns from the force and soon learns that behind it all is the powerful underworld led by Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby) and his cold-blooded henchman, Vince Stone (Lee Marvin). When Stone's girl Debby (Gloria Grahame) makes a play for Bannion, Stone disfigures her face. In revenge, she tells all she knows. Ultimately, Bannion and Stone square off in a life-or-death confrontation.

***

Renegade cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate and after his family brought into the picture, his efforts know no bounds. A perfect Noir vehicle with master Fritz Lang at the helm. Glenn Ford is his usual powerful-but-understated character and Gloria Grahame just does it for me. Tumble it together in the dryer and you have a classic Film Noir. out of

Gary W. Tooze

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Theatrical Release: October 14th, 1953

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Comparison:

Columbia Tri-Star - Region 1, 3, 4 - NTSC vs. Sony (5-disc) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Twilight Time - Region FREE - Blu-ray

1) Original Columbia Tri-star DVD LEFT

2) Sony Noir Collection Volume 1 MIDDLE

3) Twilight Time - Region FREE - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Cover
Distribution	Columbia Tri-Star Home Video - Region 1, 3, 4 - NTSC	Sony - Region 1 - NTSC	Twilight Time Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:29:30	1:29:27	1:29:33.409
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.57 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.57 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 23,720,865,234 bytes Feature: 23,294,521,344 bytes Video Bitrate: 29.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Columbia
Bitrate: Blu-ray
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0), DUB French (Dolby Digital 2.0)	English (original mono)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1617 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1617 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) DTS-HD Master Audio English 1064 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1064 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Thai, Portuguese, Korean, None	English, None	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Columbia Tri-Star Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Vintage Advertising lobby cards • Theatrical trailers DVD Release Date: December 18th, 2001 Keep Case Chapters: 28	Release Information: Studio: Sony Aspect Ratio: All Original: The Sniper (1952) The Big Heat (1953) are 1.33 and 5 Against the House (1955), The Lineup (1958) and Murder by Contract (1958) are anamorphic 1.85:1. Edition Details: • Featurette: “Martin Scorsese on The Big Heat” (5:47) • Featurette: “Michael Mann on The Big Heat” (10:56) • Trailer for The Big Heat DVD Release Date: November 3rd, 2009 Custom digi-pak case (see image below) Chapters: 12 X 5	Release Information: Studio: Twilight Time Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 23,720,865,234 bytes Feature: 23,294,521,344 bytes Video Bitrate: 29.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Isolated Score Track • Original Theatrical Trailer • extensive Julie Kirgo liner notes and film art package Blu-ray Release Date: May 7rth, 2012 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters: 12

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Twilight Time - Region FREE Blu-ray - May 2012: Sweet stuff! Nice grain showing through - a shade of noise on the single-layered transfer but improves in other areas as well - like the more layered contrast. This offers English subtitles (see sample below). lossless sound that definitely improves over the SD version. Extras are Twilight Time's typical 'Isolated Score Track', an original theatrical trailer and the Julie Kirgo liner notes. Nice package art - an easy essential for Noir fans. LOVE Grahame and Ford...

***

This DVD was produced at a time when Columbia seemed to be more keen on investing some real effort into their discs. Great image with some good film grain - a few scratches and marks but otherwise a very strong representation. Solid contrast and shadow detail. The DVD is actually Region 1,3 and 4 and has a host of subtitles (awful bright yellow though) so it was made to be sold elsewhere (Asia and Brazil) as well. Audio was clear and consistent throughout. Virtually no extras but at least they tried with the vintage lobby cards. Heck of a film and treated well on DVD. out of