Night Has a Thousand Eyes Blu-ray

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

directed by John Farrow
USA 1949

From John Farrow, the acclaimed director of Five Came Back, Wake Island, The Big Clock, Alias Nick Beal and Hondo, comes this supernatural film noir about a tormented magician played by Hollywood great Edward G. Robinson (Scarlet Street). When heiress Jean Courtland (Gail Russell, Calcutta) attempts suicide, her fiancé Elliott Carson (John Lund, A Foreign Affair) probes her relationship to stage mentalist John Triton (Robinson). In flashback, we see how Triton starts having terrifying flashes of true precognition. His partner, Whitney Courtland (Jerome Cowan, The Maltese Falcon), uses Triton’s talent to make money; but Triton’s inability to prevent what he foresees causes him to break up the act and become a hermit. Years later, Triton has new visions and desperately tries to prevent tragedies in the Courtland family. Can his warnings succeed against suspicion, unbelief and inexorable fate? Noir stalwarts Barré Lyndon (The Lodger) and Jonathan Latimer (The Glass Key) penned the screenplay based on the novel by master of suspense Cornell Woolrich (Rear Window).

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A man who dreams of seeing the future discovers the horrible burden that it can carry in this film noir suspense story. Suicidal Jean Courtland (Gail Russell) is prevented from killing herself by her fiancée Elliot Carson (John Lund). When they consult psychic John Triton (Edward G. Robinson), he confesses that he used his powers to bring on her death. Years ago, Triton was a phony mentalist in a vaudeville act, but he began seeing genuine visions of the future, most of which portended tragic results. After a premonition of the death of his wife Jenny (Virginia Bruce) in childbirth, a terrified Triton went into hiding for five years; upon his return, he discovered that his wife had married Whitney (Jerome Cowan) shortly after John was declared dead...and she died giving birth. Years later, Jenny's child grew up to be Jean Courtland, and when Triton receives a vision of Whitney's death in a plane wreck, he rushes to California in hopes of stopping fate. However, he's foreseen a tragic future for both Jean and Whitney and is afraid of the agony that awaits them. Night Has a Thousand Eyes was adapted from a novel by Cornell Woolrich.

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 20th, 1948

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Comparison:

Koch Media - Region 2 - PAL vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Koch Media Region 2 - PAL	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:17:36 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:20:56.476
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 9.26 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 23,117,925,905 bytes Feature: 21,458,362,368 bytes Video Bitrate: 31.31 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate DVD:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	Dolby Digital 1.0 (English), DUB: Dolby Digital 1.0 (German)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1955 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1955 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Koch Media Aspect Ratio: Original - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Gallery Book-case with photos and German text DVD Release Date: May 14th, 2015 Book-style Case Chapters 16	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.33:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 23,117,925,905 bytes Feature: 21,458,362,368 bytes Video Bitrate: 31.31 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Imogen Sara Smith • Theatrical Trailer (2:22) Blu-ray Release Date: November 16th, 2021 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 9

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (October 2021): Kino have transferred John Farrow's Night Has a Thousand Eyes to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New 2K Master". The 2015 German DVD was quite strong for that format albeit exporting PAL speedup. The new 1080P transfer is much darker and has some rougher textures, looking occasionally clunky, also showing a shade more in the frame. There is occasional depth but there is softness as well that seems more a function of the source or original production. It could also have used a good film-level cleaning. Speckling exists. Whites are brighter, blacks darker and the overall image is a step up thanks to the higher resolution. Detail may be slightly obscured by the dominantly darker image but I still rate it as a pleasing HD presentation, all things considered. It is quite heavy with dense grain textures.

NOTE: We have added 60 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. Night Has a Thousand Eyes has very few aggressive moments (one gunshot) and a wonderful myster-infused score by Victor Young (Strategic Air Command, The Ghost Breakers, The Sun Shines Bright, The Accused, Johnny Guitar, China Gate etc.) that adds to the film's supernatural elements via the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Imogen Sara Smith. She may be my favorite commentarists for Film Noir. She's goes into the histories of director John Farrow (embracing Catholicism, temper, womanizer etc.), Edward G. Robinson (emigrating and 'grey' listing), Gail Russell (her beauty, shyness and eventual alcoholism) as well as discussing the source novel by Cornell Woolrich. She references a number of other films, especially noirs, that utilize the mentalist character. Her commentaries have an excellent flow with a precise vocabulary describing specific settings, emotions, and ideas. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope to hear more of her work in future 'dark cinema' or vintage-era film commentaries. There is also a trailer for Night Has a Thousand Eyes and other similar films.

John Farrow's Night Has a Thousand Eyes is delicious noir-leaning cinema. I agree with Imogen Sara Smith that it requires an inordinate suspension of disbelief, but Edward G. Robinson does a grand job of selling the role of a moral, lonely 'seer of future events' to his own unhappiness. It's such and entertaining film, dipping its toe into the supernatural, as skeptics abound, and the Kino Blu-ray has elevated the image (1080P) and audio (lossless) plus the commentary gives it immense value. Night Has a Thousand Eyes has our highest recommendation!

Gary Tooze