directed by
Robert Wise
USA 1959
There is so much that I liked about this film - Robert Wise,
Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame (always had a crush on her), but although it has
some strong noir elements, the ending is quite a let-down. I loved the music,
the landscapes, Wise's use of shadow, but even with a subtle 'lesson' in the
final scene - it seemed trite. A shame that it falters because it may be Ryan's
best performance - maybe Begley's too. NOTE: Shelly Winters is in the film for,
as baseball aficionados would describe, "a cup of coffee" and her characters
purpose seems pointless at that. Still seeing Wise do classic but
individualistic Noir (as with
The Set-up) I was intrigued enough to give it
out
of 
.
Gary W Tooze
This ambitious but mainly unsuccessful 1959 black-and-white heist thriller--a loose adaptation of a John P. McGivern novel that is credited to John O. Killens and Nelson Gidding but partly written by blacklisted writer Abraham Polonsky--founders on allegorical positioning, although the location photography of Manhattan and upstate New York has its moments. Three desperate individuals (producer Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Ed Begley) plan to rob a small-town bank, and the racial conflict between the first two threatens to gum up the operations. Begley, in some ways the most interesting member of the trio, is sadly the least explored, and the jazz score by John Lewis and the roles played by Shelley Winters and Gloria Grahame mainly represent other missed opportunities. Jean-Pierre Melville worshipped this film, though I'm not clear why.
Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum's review found HERE
Posters
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Theatrical Release: October 15th, 1959 - USA
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: MGM- Region 1 - NTSC
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution | MGM - Region 1- NTSC | |
| Runtime | 1:36:00 | |
| Video | 1.33:1
Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.48 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
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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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| Audio | English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) | |
| Subtitles | English, French, Spanish, None | |
| Features |
Release Information: Edition Details: • None |
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| Comments: |
Standard fare from
MGM - good, but not great image. Decent shadow detail and contrast -
choice of three removable ugly-yellow subtitles - no extras at all. This
is a pretty interesting film from a master director, it would have been
nice if they had put some effort into it as it was released only last
year (2003). |
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out of
Recommended Reading in Film Noir (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)
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Film Noir: An Encyclopedia Reference to the American
Style by Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward |
The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir by Foster Hirsch |
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 |
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