For You I Die - Cathy Downs

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

directed by John Reinhardt
USA 1947

Convict Johnny Coulter (Paul Langton), nearing the end of a prison sentence, is forced to take part in a prison break organized by gangster and thug Matt Gruber (Don Harvey).

Coulter is told to hide out in a backwoods holiday camp. There he’s to make contact with Gruber’s woman, an ex-chorus girl Hope Novak (Cathy Downs) and let her know that Gruber will be along to fetch her as soon as things cool down.

Coulter locates the camp, makes the meet, and keeps his head down. However Novak is not at all the hard-bitten hoofer that he’d been expecting. And it turns out she no longer wants anything to do with Gruber.

[...]

For You I Die sounds like and is a film noir with some basically sound bones. However after a promising start the picture’s black magic gives way to wayward conjuring remindful of the foolishness in His Kind of Woman. The film wobbles wildly as the script/ director hands it off to a group of theatrical inanities who hang around the motor camp’s café in some unexplainable attempt at comic relief.

Excerpt of review from Gary Deane ‘Night Editor’ at Film Noir of the Week located HERE

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Theatrical Release: 17 December 1947 (USA)

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DVD Review: Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Alpha Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:14:51
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.39 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 Mono (English)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Alpha Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Bonus trailers for titles from Alpha New Cinema DVD Release Date: May 15th, 2012 Keep Case Chapters 7

Comments

Alpha continues their rescue mission of B crime dramas from Poverty Row studios with For You I Die - an interesting little thriller from Film Classics that otherwise would have been lingering in absentia if not for this SD release. It is directed by John Reinhardt (Chicago Calling), an Austrian who mostly worked for small studios. One wishes his Monogram noirs, The Guilty and High Tide, will get a Warner release soon.

Despite their effort and having the heart in the right place, For You I Die gets the usual below average transfer from Alpha. The interlaced transfer has poor contrast and a lot of damage. The film starts with Alpha's watermark over the credits, but it's not seen during the film. The soundtrack is likewise in poor shape - there are some pops and clicks during especially damaged passages. The standard trailers for Alpha New Cinema films is the lone extra.

- Gregory Meshman

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