Killer McCoy- Mickey Rooney

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

Directed by Roy Rowland
USA 1947

For years Mickey Rooney had portrayed Hollywood’s all-American teen, but at the age of 27 he was eager to move into grown-up dramatic roles. So he laced up the gloves as feisty boxer Tommy McCoy and scored a resounding box-office K.O. in the hard-hitting Killer McCoy. The story – a retelling of 1938’s The Crowd Roars – traces McCoy’s rise from slum kid to lightweight title contender. Along the way, he falls under the sway of a big-time gambler (Brian Donlevy), copes with his boozed-up pop (James Dunn) and finds forbidden romance with the gambler’s daughter (Ann Blyth). But will he take a dive in the big fight? Don’t expect Killer to be some everyday palooka.

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Theatrical Release: December 30th, 1947

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DVD Review: Warner Home Video (Warner Archive Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Warner Home Video Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:43:32
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.34 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Archive Advert (:59) DVD Release Date: September 15th, 2009 Keep Case Chapters: 10

Comments:

Pretty fair boxing picture with "The Mick' as the tough guy with a heart. The melodramatic elements aren't caked on too heavily and there is plenty of fisticuffs... but not enough Ann Blyth. The film rides the straight and narrow and doesn't really have any prominant 'noir' excepting the solid camerawork. Rooney is perfect in his first adult role and also shows off a fine physique.

It's another single-layered DVD-R treatment that is progressive, but the Chroma Bug is evident at times. Image quality improves as the film rolls along and it's reasonably clean with only a few cue-blip markers visible (see last capture). Noise exists but It ends up producing a decent presentation considering all the limitations.

Predictably, no subtitles - and, unremarkable but audible 2.0 channel sound. Extras consist of only the too-oft seen Archive advert that starts the disc presentation.

It's not a film that distinguishes itself in any dominant way but it still makes for some decent MGM-style 40's entertainment. Noir completists need not indulge but fans of vintage cinema may wish to give it a spin.