Black Moon Blu-ray - Jack Holt / Fay Wray

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

Directed by Roy William Neill
USA 1934

This forgotten 30’s voodoo horror is a thrilling piece of cinema, ripe for rediscovery in this special release through both the original Black & White and Tinted versions of the film.

After dabbling in voodoo on the island of Saint Christopher as a child, Juanita Lane now finds herself powerless to resist its spell as an adult. She returns to the island to try to exorcise the hold that voodoo has taken upon her life, however, once there, Juanita falls ever deeper under the spell of the voodoo drums.

***

A young girl, Juanita, finds her parents killed in a voodoo ritual on a distant tropical island. She escapes with her life, but when she reaches adulthood, she feels compelled to return to the island, bringing her daughter and a nanny who takes care of the child. Once there, she goes to stay with her uncle who lives on the island. She soon discovers that the natives, who had been using her for voodoo rituals when she was a child, now treat her as a voodoo goddess. In this role, she begins leading their rituals.

Excerpt from Wikipedia located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: June 15th, 1934

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Review: Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Imprint - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:08:39.156
Video	1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 29,650,737,918 bytes Feature: 14,756,063,232 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Imprint 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 29,650,737,918 bytes Feature: 14,756,063,232 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Tinted Version Blu-ray Release Date: June 5th, 2024 Transparent Blu-ray Case inside slipcase Chapters 13

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Imprint Blu-ray (June 2024): Imprint have transferred Roy William Neill's Black Moon to Blu-ray. It offers the black and white or tinted versions on separate transfers. I think the tints may show a bit more information. There is sepia and heavy green for exteriors with the latter being brighter. It looks decent for a 90-year old, forgotten, film. The 1080P is consistently thick with a pleasing texture, minor speckles and decent contrast - all the more remarkable considering the middling bitrate. Iy should have been more robust and does have a few noise-like moments. Hopefully the captures below will give you and idea of the image quality.

NOTE: We have added 50 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Imprint use a linear PCM dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Black Moon has native drums and gunfire. The effects and dialogue are a bit hollow - as predictable for the production limitations. The score was by Louis Silvers (musical director or stock scores used in films like It Happened One Night, Drums Along the Mohawk, Only Angels Have Wings.) The audio shows its age but is acceptable via the uncompressed. Imprint offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Imprint Blu-ray offers only the tinted version as a supplement. It has the exact same bitrate as the black and white rendering. We've added some matching captures below. The tinting only starts at about 40-minutes - mostly sepia and some heavy green filters for the exteriors. I couldn't decide which I enjoyed more.

NOTE: I am reminded (Thanks David!) that the film has some unsavory racism. Those potentially offended should be warned.

Roy William Neill's Black Moon is a pre-code horror film. I wish there was a commentary as there is not a lot written about the production. I recall a few vintage horrors using "voodoo" as a plot point; White Zombie, I Walked With A Zombie, and Valley of the Zombies. I only observed one prevalent example of pre-code naughtiness; Dorothy Burgess (as Juanita,) seemingly in trance, wears an invisible wisp of a see-thru top near the conclusion. Black Moon was based on a short story by Clements Ripley. At Yale, he was an editor of the campus humor magazine, 'The Yale Record', with James Ashmore Creelman, who was the writer of King Kong (famously with Fay Wray - who also plays Gail Hamilton in Black Moon) and The Most Dangerous Game (again with Miss Wray.) I actually don't mind that the film takes a while for any significant excitement. The era's decor and fashions are ravishing. What we have is a bare-bones Imprint Blu-ray of an interesting pre-code horror. The tinted version is an appealing inclusion. Serious fans only should consider.