Party Girl - Cyd Charisse

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

(aka 'Traquenard')

USA 1958

Although it's basically a gangster movie, it's Charisse's dancing that is the high point of the film. She slinks across the screen in her role as a nightclub dancer who falls in love with Mob lawyer Taylor. She wants him to go straight and testify against his former employers, but they kidnap her to keep him toeing the party line when his day in court arrives. The two leads are great at displaying vulnerability around each other, but it's Cobb's role as the gangster boss that steals the acting honors.

Excerpt from Channel 4 located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: October 28th, 1958

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DVD Comparison:

Warner Home Vidéo - Region 2 - PAL vs. Warner (Archive Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC

Warner Home Vidéo - Region 2 - PAL LEFT vs. Warner (Archive Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC RIGHT

DVD Box Cover

Distribution	Warner Home Vidéo - Region 2 - PAL	Warner Home Video Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:34:48 (4% PAL speedup)	1:38:54
Video	2.35:1 Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.11 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.25 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: PAL
Bitrate: NTSC
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0), DUB: French (Dolby Digital 2.0)	Dolby Digital 2.0 (English)
Subtitles	French, None	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Vidéo Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: March 8th, 2006 Keep Case inside cardboard box Chapters: 12	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Theatrical trailer (2:46) DVD Release Date: May, 2009 Keepcase Chapters 10

Comments:

Party Girl got a DVD release in France back in 2006. Warner finally got around to a US release in 2009 - sticking it, unfortunately, in Warner DVD-R Archive purgatory. Comparing the two releases though, the transfers seem to be very close - both progressive, and anamorphic. The PAL image is slightly thicker and I might give the edge in detail to the NTSC edition.

The Archive disc has a short trailer, while French disc is bare-bones offering a French dub and an option for French subtitles.

Those sensitive to PAL speedup have an easy choice - otherwise whatever is cheaper in the geographic area you live.

- Gregory Meshman

***

ON THE FRENCH DVD: Quite a decent cinemascope image on this European Warner PAL DVD. There is some definite black/red boosting tending to give the image a very heavy look with occasional overly-red skin tones. It almost produces some unwanted moiring. Otherwise the colors look quite good and the widescreen ratio is impressive. It is acceptably sharp with a little haze to it. Only French subtitles but they are removable (not on the fly though - must press 'aucun' on the Languages selection screen). Consistent audio and no extras - but I recommend this bare-bones DVD and still wonder why region1/NTSC are dragging their heels on many of these hidden Hollywood gems.

For the film, it seems to have squeaked into the Noir genre and like any healthy hetero-male I'm all for Cyd Charisse twirling on the screen. The film has some basic weaknesses but if you can look beyond it Ray's signature is still bold enough to dole-out some keen enjoyment.

Gary W. Tooze

DVD Menus

Warner Home Vidéo - Region 2 - PAL LEFT vs. Warner (Archive Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC RIGHT