The Miami Story Blu-ray - Beverly Garland

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

directed by Fred F. Sears
USA 1954

Fred Sears directs a routine crime thriller from a story by Robert Kent. Barry Sullivan plays ex-con Mick Flagg, a Chicago gangster who helps the police put a powerful Miami crime boss, Tony Brill (Luther Adler), behind bars. It is shot in a semi-documentary style with a narrator relating the action.

[...]

The feds and the Miami police chief Martin Belman hire reformed gangster Mickey Flagg to work undercover for them to get info on Tony Brill that would put him in jail, something they haven't been able to do on their own due to the crime lord's cleverness. Flagg agrees for the following reasons: the $50,000 offered, to redeem himself in the eyes of his young son and because twelve years ago Brill framed him on a murder charge which got him a prison sentence. Leaving his Indiana farm, Flagg poses as head of a Cuban syndicate trying to muscle in on Brill's gambling operations run from the Biscayne Club casino. Flagg enlists the help of nice girl hoofer Holly Abbott (Beverly Garland) just arriving from Cuba to track down her missing older sister hoofer Gwen (Adele Jergens), last seen in the company of Brill's mobsters. Holly witnessed the murder of two Cuban hoods on the plane whom she hoped would help find her sis, rivals of Brill's, who were gunned down as soon as they landed in Miami. The police believe Brill had them killed over a turf war, but can't prove it.

Excerpt of review from Dennis Schwartz for Ozus' World Movie Reviews located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 3 May 1954 (USA)

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Comparison:

Sony Pictures (Choice Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Kit Parker Films - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the DVD Review!

1) Sony - Region 0 - NTSC LEFT

2) Kit Parker Films - Region FREE - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Cover
Distribution	Sony Pictures Region 0 - NTSC	Kit Parker Films - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:15:12	1:15:22.226
Video	1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 4.33 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 49,507,040,286 bytes Feature: 15,401,017,344 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.85 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Bitrate Blu-ray
Audio	Dolby Digital Mono (English)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 893 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 893 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Sony Pictures Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1 Edition Details: • None DVD Release Date: January 8th, 2014 Keep case Chapters 8	Release Information: Studio: Kit Parker 1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 49,507,040,286 bytes Feature: 15,401,017,344 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.85 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • No extras - shares the disc with 711 Ocean Drive and Assignment Paris Blu-ray Release Date: April 23rd, 2019 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 12

Comments

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

City exposé sub-genre of film noir started in 1952 with The Captive City and peaked with The Phenix City Story in 1955. There were many semi-documentaries made in the classic noir era to uncover seedy underbelly of various cities - Chicago, New York, Portland, Houston, New Orleans. Columbia producer Sam Katzman particularly cranked out these films in various cities all over US and even going down South for The Tijuana Story, but for him it started with The Miami Story in 1954 (he would go back to Miami in 1956 for, what else, Miami Exposé). Starring Barry Sullivan and featuring great noir cast with Luther Adler, Beverly Garland, Adele Jergens and John Baer, the film starts with usual for this genre foreword from some politician and follows with an assassination at Miami airport with a quite gory for 1954 aftermath.

- Gregory Meshman

ADDITION: Kit Parker Blu-ray (April 2019): Kit Parker Films in association with Millcreek Entertainment have released the first (of three announced) of these 3 Blu-ray / 9 Film Noir features Boxset. This is described as:

"Stalwart noir directors and casts highlight these hard to find features Address Unknown (1944) dir/William Cameron Menzies, cast/Paul Lukas, Carl Esmond, Peter Van Eyck; Escape in the Fog (1945) dir/Oscar (Budd) Boetticher cast/Otto Kruger, Nina Foch, William Wright; The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947) dir/Henry Levin cast/Rosalind Russell, Melvyn Douglas, Sid Caesar; The Black Book (aka The Reign of Terror) (1949) dir/Anthony Mann cast/Robert Cummings, Richard Basehart, Arlene Dahl; Johnny Allegro (1949) dir/Ted Tetzlaff cast/George Raft, Nina Foch, George Macready; 711 Ocean Drive (1950) dir/Joseph M. Newman cast/Edmond O'Brien, Joanne Dru, Otto Kruger; The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) dir/Earl McEvoy cast/Evelyn Keyes, Charles Korvin, William Bishop; Assignment Paris (1952) dir/Earl McEvoy cast/Dana Andrews, Marta Toren, George Sanders; The Miami Story (1954) dir/Fred F. Sears cast/Barry Sullivan, Luther Adler, John Baer - all in high definition presented in their original aspect ratios."

So, 3 films on a dual-layered Blu-ray, with a decent bitrate in 1080P and the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. This has the same damage marks as the Sony (MOD) DVD - but the higher resolution shows more texture and superior contrast layering. There may be a tad more information in the frame and is a notable step above the made-on-demand SD transfer.

The audio is 24-bit lossless (DTS-HD Master) exporting the generic score and clean dialogue. The Blu-ray offers optional English subtitles on this Region FREE Blu-ray package.

No supplements - but the disc has 711 Ocean Drive and Assignment Paris. For Noir fans this is nirvana to have both upper-tier and mid-level dark cinema in the higher resolution. A solid deal.

***

The Miami Story was released on made-on-demand DVD by Sony Pictures. The progressive anamorphic image is strong, with little damage, but the contrast is good. The mono soundtrack is decent, with no damage or distortion. The film starts with no menus provided, but the single-layered disc is excellent and can be easily recommended for the discounted price to any fans of B crime dramas.

- Gregory Meshman