Bluebeard Blu-ray - John Carradine / Jean Parker

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

USA 1944

Scream great John Carradine (The Black Sleep, House of the Long Shadows) stars in this eerie film noir version of the oft-told Bluebeard legend. Carradine is masterful as the dastardly Gaston, an artist and puppeteer in 19th-century Paris with a ghastly penchant for strangling lovely young models and surreptitiously slipping their bodies into the Seine. Gaston’s latest model, Lucille (Jean Parker, Black Tuesday), learns of his shocking secret and bravely vows to bring him to justice. Directed by the master of the strange and the spellbinding, Edgar G. Ulmer (The Black Cat, The Man from Planet X), who sustains a steady level of suspense throughout this most sinister of love stories. A dread-soaked dream for connoisseurs of classic horror and noir! Co-starring “the male Garbo” Nils Asther (By Candlelight).

***

Ulmer’s treatment of the material is immediately atmospheric. Ulmer himself had once been a set designer, and the sets for Bluebeard are quite remarkable. The park where the puppet shows occur (all the exteriors are in a small studio) lends itself to picturesque compositions of women in bonnets, soldiers on horseback, etc. From the original and painterly, Ulmer moves to the familiar and stagy: Gaston’s studio is a mildly expressionist tableau of windows and stairs that avoids most clichés but invokes that good old gothic mood. Finally, underneath Gaston’s rooms is the site of pure melodrama and psychic shadow, the Parisian sewers, which not only provide a convenient dumping place for his victim’s corpses, but also a secret entrance for the film’s real villain, an art dealer named Lamarte (Ludwig Stossel).

Excerpt of Henry Sheehan's located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: November 11th, 1944

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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	1:12:01.942
Video	1.37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 22,606,569,696 bytes Feature: 20,270,850,048 bytes Video Bitrate: 33.59 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 1555 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1555 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentaries: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.37:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 22,606,569,696 bytes Feature: 20,270,850,048 bytes Video Bitrate: 33.59 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • 2020 HD Master by Paramount Pictures – From a 4K Scan • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Gregory W. Mank and Tom Weaver • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian David Del Valle • Trailers for other films y Blu-ray Release Date: April 30th, 2024 Standard Blu-ray Case inside slipcase Chapters 9

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (May 2024): Kino have transferred Edgar G. Ulmer's Bluebeard to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "2020 HD Master by Paramount Pictures – From a 4K Scan". We reviewed Bluebeard as part of Image Entertainment's Edgar G. Ulmer - Archive DVD set from 2005, HERE. Unfortunately this 1080P is still fraught with, marks, speckles and damage. We have included 6 examples below. I think this film requires a full restoration. Strangely this does not have the same marks as the old DVD (the film is in the Public Domain) and, if fact, they may be more extensive on the BD. The superior resolution and improved contrast benefit the HD presentation. Overall better than DVD, but it is a shame about the condition of the source material.

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. Bluebeard's audio also suffers from the source condition. Dialogue is rough but clear however the score by Leo Erdody (Detour, Strange Illusion, Girls in Chains), seems to take the brunt - often in the end of reels and the conclusion. Everything is audible but there are weak patches throughout. Kino offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers two new commentaries. The first is by Gregory W. Mank (author of Women in Horror Films, 1940s) and Tom Weaver (author of John Carradine: The Films also contributed by Mank.) It appears to have been recorded separately and they comment on how Bluebeard is an 'art film' of a 'horror film', that this is considered John Carradine's finest film performance and talk about Ulmer - King of the 'B''s - seeing a touch of Shakespearean tragedy, Tom Weaver sees comparisons to the opening of Universal horror's Murders in the Rue - Morgue and Mystery of Marie Roget, more on Ulmer and others are quoted, as well as discussions of The Black Cat, puppet creator Bob Baker, PRC studios and much more. The second commentary is from David Del Valle (author of Lost Horizons Beneath the Hollywood Sign.) David talks about how the film was often forgotten because the prints were in such poor condition, how Ulmer wanted to do this story for years, Carradine's admiration from John Barrymore and plenty on the filmmaker, cast, how the film has Sonia Sorel (as Renee Claremont) who is the mother of David and Robert Carradine, plus many anecdotes of meeting John Carradine - and much more. Great job David! There are also trailers for The Mad Doctor, The Undying Monster, The Spider Woman Strikes Back, The Lodger, The Man from Planet X, Beyond the Time Barrier, The Amazing Transparent Man and Black Tuesday , but none for Bluebeard.

Edgar G. Ulmer's Bluebeard is based on the famous French tale 'Barbe bleue' - about a serial killer of women and one who escapes his clutches. We recently reviewed the 1972 version on Blu-ray with Richard Burton HERE. Ulmer's Bluebeard is another example of the director's ability to do a lot on s tiny budget. There are themes of corruption, artists creation process, psychological aspects, obsession, etc. and it has a strong performance by John Carradine. The period aspects are exported effectively. It's quite a good, almost poetic, film if hampered by the image quality. This 4K scan may be the best we ever get and the Kino Blu-ray has two very revealing commentaries. If you can get over the damage-laden presentation - you will probably be rewarded. Recommended!