Rope of Sand - Burt Lancaster

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

(aka "Off Limits")

Directed by William Dieterle
USA 1949

After a two-year hiatus, Mike Davis (Burt Lancaster) returns to the same African city where he was tortured and left for dead at the hands of a sadistic Police Commandant (Paul Henreid). Originally innocent of all charges, Mike is back to claim the diamonds he had supposedly stolen two years ago. He enlists the help of an alcoholic stranger (Peter Lorre) and the doctor (Sam Jaffe), who had helped him back to health. The diamond syndicate head (Claude Rains) recruits a nightclub temptress Suzanne Renaud (Corinne Calvet) to seduce and betray Mike as an alternate to brute force. This suspense-noir classic was directed by William Dieterle (Dark City).

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Theatrical Release: August 3rd, 1949

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DVD Review: Olive Films - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Olive Films - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:44:04
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.75 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 1.0)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Olive Films Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: April 3rd, 2011 Keep Case Chapters: 8

Comments:

Olive films (through access to Paramount) offer William Dieterle's 1949 Rope of Sand as they have done with the director's Dark City, and similar classic's like Lewis Allen's Appointment With Danger and Rudolph Mate's Union Station. This has an incredible male cast with Burt Lancaster, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains and Peter Lorre. The atmosphere is smoky, dark, nightclubs and vast desert dunes in South Africa - conflicts over diamond fortunes abound.

Like previous Olive Film DVDs this is dual-layered, progressive and bare-bones. It looks excellent in the original black and white - 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Contrast is highly impressive and the print is spotless. Some grain is visible and detail is at the very high end for the format. This transfer provides a very strong SD presentation.

The unremarkable audio is flat mono but everything is consistent and dialogue clear. As stated there are no subtitles, nor extras - not even a trailer or any subtitles.

Personally, I'd be all over this - if only for the stellar cast and milieu. It's not quite Noir but has the tension and shadowy scenes. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am very surprised it has not been on DVD previously - although a poor quality European PAL version may have snuck under my radar. Fans of Lancaster, Lorre et all with be very pleased.