Whirlpool Gene Tierney

directed by Otto Preminger
USA 1949

Interesting plot, if you can suspend yourself for it. Hypnotism and a fantastically derived murder crime that meshes quite well with the casting, especially Gene Tierney who displays another wonderful performance. Great cinematography with quite a tense and suspense feel. I would say I have seen better Preminger films, but this was very enjoyable, if formulaic in the ending. out of

Gary W. Tooze

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Theatrical Release: November 28th, 1949 - USA

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DVD Comparison:

BFI - Region 2 - PAL vs. 20th Century Fox (Fox Film Noir) - Region 1- NTSC

DVD Box Cover
Distribution	BFI - Region 2- PAL	Fox Film Noir - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:33:18 (4% PAL speedup)	1:37:09
Video	1:30:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.54 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.91 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: BFI
Bitrate: Fox
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
Subtitles	English, None	English, Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: BFI Video Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.30:1 Edition Details: • Director Biography (text screens) • Screenwriter Biography (text screens) • Acknowledgements DVD Release Date: March 29th, 2004 Transparent Keep Case Chapters: 15	Release Information: Studio: 20th Century Fox Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Commentary by film critic Richard Schickel • Theatrical trailer DVD Release Date: September 6th, 2005 Keep Case Chapters: 20

Comments:

ADDITION: Fox NTSC - Sept - 05 - The Fox is superior in all categories except subtitles - it is sharper, has better grey scale and contrast. I think I may be off on some frame matches below but I don't think it would makes too much of a difference in this case (well cropping is not decidedly shown because of my inaccuracy) - the image superiority of the Fox is obvious. It also has a commentary that I haven't delved into too much yet - the start sounds like another good one from Schickel though. One area that BFI always seems to best their competitors is in the menus (and in this case cover too!) - which are beautiful and look even better next to the Fox's lackluster ones. Anyway - choice is obvious - and the Fox is very reasonably priced too. Great for Noir fans.

*****

I would place the image quality somewhere between "Fallen Angel" and "Where the Sidewalk Ends". Relatively sharp picture showing some film grain and is very acceptable considering the age of the film. I saw some damage in the beginning, but it disappeared throughout the remainder of the film. Only difference in Extras from the above 2 is there is no trailer. Great to have this on DVD. Kudos for the subtitles. Thanks BFI !out of

Gary W. Tooze

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