Muni does a superlative job in an ethnic portrayal. He plays a idealistic Mexican from who, after years of night school, becomes a lawyer. His passion exceeds the courts patience and, rejected, heads (seemingly by foot) to a lively Tijuana night-club where gals like Bette Davis and Margaret Lindsay give him further life lessons. Throw in a framed murder, prejudicial and social conscience themes and we have an early Noir - certainly the building blocks are here.

It's a single-layered, progressive, DVD-R that looks very good. Both film and source are obviously worthy of a full-fledged release. Damage is sparse (a few light scratches), detail consistent and contrast quite good. I wouldn't have asked for much more and Bordertown could have made the jump in a number of past Warner boxsets. Why not? Hmmm?

As usual, no subtitles - and, unremarkable but clear 2.0 channel sound. Extras consist a 2:36 trailer and the minute-long Archive advert that starts the disc presentation.

This is a great character portrait and Muni and Davis carry so much of the film's enjoyment. We have excellent vintage cinema very worthy of a 'more noble' disc representation but we'll, take what we can get at this stage and certainly recommend seeing Bordertown. This film is a prime example of why to indulge in the Warner Archive.

Gary W. Tooze