None But the Lonely Heart

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

directed by Clifford Odets
USA 1944

Down-and-out Londoner Ernie Mott makes the best of things – finding love here, dabbling in crime there. Still, there’s a core of decency in Ernie. But a world of poverty and despair has little use for decency. Cary Grant plays Ernie in a milestone work set just before World War II. Gone is the usual Grant elegance. Instead, wistful Cockney Ernie is closer to the star’s ’umble roots and Grant took great pride in his performance, which earned him an Academy Award® nomination as Best Actor. He also helped lure Ethel Barrymore back to Hollywood, and she responded vibrantly with 1944’s Oscar®-winning Best Supporting Actress portrayal of Ernie’s dying mother. Let the moods of this masterwork wash over you. In its ebb and flow you’ll find a moving eloquence close to the heart of the film’s leading man.

****

With the sotto voce accent on any social significance, Heart [from Richard Llewellyn's novel] emerges as a medley of simple romance in London's east side, interspersed with a little melodrama. The meller phase doesn't bestir matters until almost an hour and a half from scratch when the limey hoodlums hijack Ike Weber's pawnshop and beat up the kindly loan broker.

Cary Grant starts as a shiftless cockney who lets his struggling mother (Ethel Barrymore) fend for herself with her small, secondhand shop beneath their dingy home until the pawnbroker-friend (well underplayed by Konstantin Shayne) tips him off that his mother is dying of cancer.

Excerpt from Variety located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: October 17th, 1944

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

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Warner Home Video Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:53:00
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.86 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	Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (English)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Theatrical trailer (2:00) DVD Release Date: August 24, 2010 Keep Case Chapters 23

Comments

Long overdue for a region 1 release, None But the Lonely Heart stars Cary Grant and features an Oscar-winning performance by Ethel Barrymore. The film was directorial debut and only one of only two films directed by play-writer Clifford Odets. Odets would write such film noirs as Deadline at Dawn, Clash by Night and The Big Knife, but it would be wrong to even consider this melodrama a film noir.

The film was previously released in Spain by itself and in UK in an 18-disc megaset of Cary Grant films. Unfortunately, we do not have those versions to compare, but Warner Archive release is advertised as remastered edition. Being an RKO production, excellent materials most likely no longer exist, so Warner used a second-generation print for new transfer, but without full restoration. The progressive image is good, with many marks and scratches, but overall quality is much better than what has been shown on TCM over the years.

The mono soundtrack is decent, but on a few occasion you can hear some noise on the background. As usual for Warner Archive release, there are no subtitles, but now we get generous 23 chapters - which are NOT randomly placed every 10 minutes, like on previous Warner Archive discs. The only extra is a beat-up theatrical trailer. A recommended release of a good film with some excellent performances.

- Gregory Meshman

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