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

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (June 2024): Indicator have transferred John Guillermin's The Whole Truth to Blu-ray. The 1080P is excellent with a brief period where the source appears compromised looking inordinately soft / muddy for about 10-minutes (see samples below) at about the one hour mark. Other than that the image quality is remarkable - clean, tight, plenty of depth and impressive detail in close-ups. Cited by IMDb as 1.66:1 this transfer comes in around 1.74:1. I very much enjoyed the film and my Blu-ray viewing.

NOTE: We have added 52 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Indicator use a linear PCM mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. The Whole Truth has no real aggressive moments (a fiery car accident off a cliff) relying most on the jazzy score by Mischa Spoliansky (Wanted For Murder, The Man Who Could Work Miracles, Saint Joan, Hitler: The Last Ten Days) to accentuate the taught-ness tension and suspense. It sounds clean and authentically flat in the uncompressed transfer. Indicator offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'B' Blu-ray.

The Indicator Blu-ray offers a new commentary by film historians Kevin Lyons (The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television) and Jonathan Rigby (author English Gothic: A Century Of Horror Cinema.) They talk about Philip Mackie's play that follows on along the lines of Dial M For Murder and the distinct differences between the theatrical and cinema versions. They talk about the actress / beauty queen Gianna Maria Canale, in sword-and-sandal films and wife of Riccardo Freda (starring in his I vampiri), the brief appearance of Carlo Giustini (Nicholas Ray's The Savage Innocents,) cinematographer Wilkie Cooper (Jason and the Argonauts,) the French Riviera shooting, Stewart Granger, Donna Reed, George Sanders, the fast-wipe editing (Gerry Hambling) and much more. It's at their usual informative and enjoyable level. You can also watch the film listening to a 3/4 hour BEHP interview with Ronald Spencer from 1991. It is an archival audio recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring the assistant director in conversation with Joyce Robinson. Sinister Smiles is new and has film historian Robert Shail (author of British Film Directors: A Critical Guide) who discusses The Whole Truth, its making, personnel and reception, and the history of British production company Romulus Films (Room at the Top) for almost 20-minutes. There is an original theatrical trailer and Indicator's usual image gallery of promotional and publicity materials. The package has a limited edition exclusive 44-page booklet with a new essay by Barry Forshaw (Brit Noir : The Pocket Essential Guide to British Crime Fiction, Film & TV), archival interviews with George Sanders and Gianna Maria Canale, archival article on Canale and Donna Reed, extracts from the film’s campaign book, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits.

John Guillermin's The Whole Truth is a wonderfully paced thriller with plenty of noir tropes; much of it being a flashback after the first scene, a fairly disreputable protagonist character Max Poulton (played by Stewart Granger,) murder and mistakenly identified murder, regretful affairs, revenge, blackmail and some wonderful shadowy cinematography. It has a strong cast with debonair Stewart Granger (Moonfleet,) wholesome Donna Reed (Ransom,) sly loose-cannon George Sanders (Village of the Damned) and the camera-magnet, sexy, Gianna Maria Canale - all set on the French Riviera with the backdrop of the ritzy life of filmmakers. The Whole Truth has a brilliantly established first half film and is able to maintain some of the 'Whodunit' mystery of the murder... and why. Certainly an effective and economical thriller and I am very happy with  the Indicator Blu-ray package that offers a new commentary, booklet and more. I will be keeping this one. Recommended to 'dark cinema' devotees.

Gary Tooze