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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (March 2022): Kino have transferred Joseph Pevney's Shakedown to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New 2K Master". It is on a single-layered disc with a high bitrate. It looks fairly good with some speckles and marks - but contrast is adeptly layered and there are filmic textures. There is intermittent softness but it appears to be inherent in the production. I saw minor depth and pleasing detail in a number of close-ups. 

NOTE: We have added 62 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Shakedown has few some gunshots, a car crash and building fire that come through with modest depth. There is no credited score but there is stock music by the likes of Daniele Amfitheatrof (The Captive, An Act of Murder, The Last Hunt, I'll Be Seeing You, Edge of Eternity, The Lost Moment, The Desperate Hours, Human Desire, Letter From An Unknown Woman), the iconic Miklós Rózsa (The Green Cockatoo, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, The Killers, The Lost Weekend, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Double Indemnity) and others. It supports the film effectively. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Professor and Film Scholar Jason A. Ney. He talks about actor Howard Duff career, his marriage to Ida Lupino, actress Peggy Dow - who we both like - quotes from Fred Lyon 's book San Francisco Noir about the locations. He has a preoccupation with 'Weegee the Famous' Arthur (Usher) Fellig, the photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography in New York City (see Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous.) He even has audio from him relating his antics to Jack Early (Howard Duff) in Shakedown mentioning the Joe Pesci film The Public Eye etc. He covers quite a lot - it is quite good and well-prepared with plenty of anecdotes about the alcohol-troubled Lawrence Tierney. There are trailers for similar period noir and Pevney offerings - but none for Shakedown.

Joseph Pevney's Shakedown is solid Noir. Certainly it must have inspired Jake Gyllenhaal's Nightcrawler - about an unconscionably ambitious newshound. Shakedown has an excellent dark-cinema soaked cast with Howard Duff, Brian Donlevy, Peggy Dow, Lawrence Tierney, Bruce Bennett and Anne Vernon. It's 1-hour 20-minutes of economical dark-hero gold with the relentless build being worth every minute. The Kino Blu-ray allowed me to see the film in competent 1080P and informative commentary. Noiristas need to apply.

Gary Tooze