You and Me Blu-ray - Sylvia Sidney / George Raft

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

(aka "Wonderful")

USA 1938

One of the earliest and quirkiest Hollywood ventures of groundbreaking filmmaker Fritz Lang (Metropolis, Scarlet Street, Human Desire), You and Me is a romantic comedy-drama that packs a punch of social commentary through the hard-boiled love story of a hard-luck couple. Sylvia Sidney (Fury, You Only Live Once) and George Raft (Spawn of the North, Some Like It Hot) star as two former convicts who find honest work in a department store and love in one another—until a dark secret from the past threatens to drive them apart. With dazzling montages and choral sequences that marry the director’s German Expressionist technique to Kurt Weill’s music, You and Me overflows with sheer cinematic joy. Featuring Barton MacLane, Harry Carey, Roscoe Karns, Robert Cummings and the rich cinematography of Charles Lang (The Big Heat).

***

Mr. Morris, the owner of a large metropolitan department store, gives jobs to paroled ex-convicts in an effort to help them reform and go straight. Among his 'employed-prison-graduates' are Helen Roberts and Joe Dennis, working as sales clerks. Joe is in love with Helen and asks her to marry him, but she is forbidden to marry as she is still on parole, but she says yes and they are married. In spite of their poverty-level life, their marriage is a happy one until Joe discovers she has lied about her past, in order to marry him. Disillusioned, he leaves, goes back to his old gang and plans to rob the department store.

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 28th, 1938

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Review: Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:33:44.166
Video	1.37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 23,163,407,838 bytes Feature: 22,002,579,456 bytes Video Bitrate: 27.43 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	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1964 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1964 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	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 23,163,407,838 bytes Feature: 22,002,579,456 bytes Video Bitrate: 27.43 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Critic and Author Simon Abrams • Trailer (2:33) Blu-ray Release Date: April 18th, 2023 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 (April 2023): Kino have transferred Fritz Lang's You and Me to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New 2K Master". In 2010 we reviewed the German Koch Media PAL edition of You and Me HERE. Then the film was transferred, in 2014, to SD as part of Turner's Dark Crimes: Film Noir Thrillers, Volume 2 - that we reviewed HERE. We've compared some captures below. The Kino 1080P improves in all the expected areas; it is sharper, supports the grain textures better, shows more information in the frame and, overall, it is brighter. Contrast is pleasingly layered. There was damage (see sample below) but it was rare. The films is housed on a single-layered disc with a supportive bitrate.

NOTE: We have added 54 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. You and Me has no real aggressive moments (a one punch fist fight) and the audio is authentically flat and a shade hollow. The score is by Kurt Weill (The 3 Penny Opera) including Song of the Cash Register, The Right Guy for Me, and Knocking Song sounding clean with consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by film critic and author Simon Abrams. It is fairly academic. He discuss how this was the director's 3rd American production, the cinematography of Charles Lang, that composer Kurt Weill disliked working with Lang, the unusualness or non-continuity of the film including the opening song - contrast of tone and style often quoting Lang and Bogdanovich about the production. He observers the film's winking didacticism, the shortness of some scenes and Bertolt Brecht - Lehrstück (lesson-play) -influences. It's a well-researched commentary and I appreciated it. It is quite dense and you could need to listen twice. There is also a trailer for You and Me and other trailers.

Fritz Lang's You and Me is not prominent in the noir cycle despite the proliferation of ex-cons, Lang directing and Raft-Sidney starring. There are stronger elements of romance and comedy floating over a half-baked crime caper. Fritz Lang had just made Fury and You Only Live Once with Sylvia Sidney. You and Me lacks desirable style (however, loved the Art Deco opening credits) but it is fun and I enjoyed the leads very much - ex-cons (she know he is, but he doesn't know she is) breaking the terms of their parole by secretly marrying. It's not one of Fritz Lang's masterpieces but is a better film than some critique it. The Kino Blu-ray has the best a/v and I learned quite a lot from the commentary and it bolstered my opinion of You and Me. Raft, Sidney and Lang fans should definitely indulge.