The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry

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

(aka "Pesadilla" or "Guilty of Murder?" or "Uncle Harry")

directed by Robert Siodmak
USA 1945

A pitch-dark comedy in whose ironies and perversities Alfred Hitchcock might have wallowed, The Strange Affair of] Uncle Harry fell instead to Robert Siodmak, who did a professional if not inspired job. George Sanders plays a fabric-designing bachelor living with his two sisters in a New England textile-mill town. Into his ordered, dull life comes Ella Raines, a sophisticate from the New York head office. They fall in love, plan to marry. But possessive younger sister Geraldine Fitzgerald takes exception to the plans; dawdling, malingering and needling, she pries the pair apart. When the truth dawns on Sanders, he extracts his revenge by means of poison purchased to euthanize an old dog. Alas, the fatal dose goes astray, as happens with such nasty chemicals.... With its hints of unhealthy vibes between brother and sister, the movie offered fare daring for its day. And so, among several endings reportedly filmed, Uncle Harry opts for one thought to ruffle the fewest feathers.

Excerpt of review from Bill McVicar at imdb.com located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 17 August 1945 (USA)

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DVD Review: Suevia Films (Film Noir Collection) - Region 0 - PAL

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Suevia Films Region 0 - PAL
Runtime	1:20:06 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.78 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	Dolby Digital Mono (English, Spanish Dub)
Subtitles	Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Suevia Films Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Technical Credits • Bio and filmographies for director and three main actors • List of other titles in collection DVD Release Date: October 31st, 2007 Keep Case Chapters 6

Comments

Once released by Universal, the film is currently owned by Republic which means that any chance of the film to get an authorized DVD release in region 1 are nil. There is a bootleg release available at Amazon that is most likely sourced from ancient VHS tape. Unfortunately, this Spanish DVD release from 2007 is poor quality as well.

The interlaced transfer is weak and jittery in a couple of scenes, making it painful to watch. The mono soundtrack is also very tinny with some noise in a few scenes. There are some standard text-based extras, all in Spanish. Spanish dub and subtitles are included, but this underrated Robert Siodmak effort deserves a better release.

- Gregory Meshman

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