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

ADDITION: Arrow Blu-ray (May 2024): Arrow have transferred Sidney Lumet's Night Falls on Manhattan to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand new 2K remaster from the original negative by Arrow Films". The 1080P is quite impressive as we have come to expect from Arrow; on a dual-layered disc with a very high bitrate, true, balanced colors, consistent texture, clean, strong detail in close-ups, adept contrast and occasional examples of depth. I had no negative image quality issues with the very pleasing HD presentation.

NOTE: We have added 70 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Arrow use a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track (24-bit) in the original English language. Night Falls on Manhattan has aggression - notably in the beginning - plenty of damaging gunfire, a police raid etc. There are instances of effective separation. The supportive score was orchestrated by Mark Isham (Fire in the Sky, Short Cuts, Little Man Tate, Of Mice and Men, Crossing Over, In the Valley of Elah, A River Runs Through It) featuring songs by American trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. It supports the film wonderfully in the lossless transfer. Arrow offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A'-locked Blu-ray.

The Arrow Blu-ray offers a the two older commentaries; one by director Sidney Lumet who is always a pleasure to listen to. The second is by actors Andy Garcia and Ron Leibman, with producers Josh Kramer and Thom Mount who get down to the granularity on their contributions including characters, working with Lumet and more. These were both on the Imprint Blu-ray. Arrow add more, although nothing new; The Directors: Sidney Lumet, is an hour-long archive TV documentary from 1999 by Robert J. Emery featuring interviews with Lumet, Garcia, Leibman, Jacqueline Bisset, Dyan Cannon, Melanie Griffith, Jack Lemmon, Rod Steiger, Christopher Walken and others. Many of his exception films are referenced; 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Prince of the City and The Verdict. Also included are On-set interviews with Lumet, Garcia, Dreyfuss, Olin, Holm and Leibman running about 20-minutes in total. There is a 1/4 hour of Behind-the-scenes footage, a theatrical trailer and three TV spots. The limited edition packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tom Ralston with an illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Nick Clement (upcoming book on filmmaker Tony Scott) and original production notes. 

Sidney Lumet's Night Falls on Manhattan is based on Robert Daley's novel "Tainted Evidence," (screenplay by Lumet) about a new DA who investigates police corruption that trails back to his father. There are parts of an effective courtroom drama, a superfluous romance (Garcia / Olin,) and father / son conflict. Nice to see Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) - Richard Dreyfuss is always great playing a William Kunstler-esque defense attorney... but there is a hollowness to the story although the strong performances maintain an entertaining film experience. At it's core it does an excellent job of examining the dichotomy between corruption and compromise. Sidney Lumet's Night Falls on Manhattan is a good film if not at the director's highest caliber. The Arrow Blu-ray provides an excellent presentation, two commentary tracks, interviews, booklet and more. Certainly a must-own for Lumet fans.

Gary Tooze