Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Republic Pictures

Video: Olive Films

 

Disc:

Region: 'A' (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:10:06.243

Disc Size: 23,230,016,998 bytes

Feature Size: 23,076,587,520 bytes

Video Bitrate: 39.90 Mbps

Chapters: 9

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: October 27th, 2015

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.66:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1829 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1829 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)

 

Subtitles:

• None

 

Extras:

• None

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: When the scheming, double-crossing Carolyn Ellenson-Grant (Marie Windsor, The Killing) is found murdered, the list of possible suspects is very long. Those who may have killed this most unpleasant woman include her husband Harlow (John Archer, White Heat), a man desperate to divorce his money-grubbing wife so that he can move on with his life; Wayne Vincent (Patric Knowles, Auntie Mame) a newspaper columnist and art collector who believed that Carolyn loved him only to find out that her interests were not purely of a romantic nature; Betty Allen (Jil Jarmyn, Lay That Rifle Down), Carolyn’s assistant who discovered that Carolyn had designs on her fiancé; Dick Sawyer (Richard Crane, Mysterious Island), Betty’s fiancé and the object of Carolyn’s recent seduction … and blackmail plot.

The stage is set for this thrilling drama directed by Franklin Adreon (Hell’s Crossroad) and photographed in silken black & white by Bud Thackery (The Crimson Ghost).

 

 

The Film:

Her Kisses Couldn't Stop This Killer!

A greedy, scheming woman is found murdered in her studio, and the police find that there is no shortage of suspects who wanted to see her dead--among them a rich husband she wouldn't divorce unless he paid her a huge settlement, a lover she caused to be fired from his job and an assistant whose fiancé she tried to seduce.

Excerpt from Letterboxed.com located HERE

Carolyn Ellenson double-crosses five people who cross her path and is murdered by one of them. After marrying Harlow Grant for his money, she leaves him but carries on her infidelities so cleverly he can not divorce her. When Grant falls in love with Louise Nelson, art-studio employee, Carolyn demands a prohibitive cash settlement and large alimony payments. Then tiring of her art-critic lover, Wayne Vincent, who has jeopardized his own career touting her art-studio business, Carolyn leaves him to pursue Dick Sawyer and break-up his engagement to Betty Allen. All of these five people have motives for murdering Carolyn and the police choose Grant as the logical suspect. But another person comes forward to confess to the killing for personal reasons, but he didn't do it. The real killer feels secure but must remove the murder-weapon from the studio before the police discover it.

Excerpt from TelevisionFanatic located HERE

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

No Man's Woman arrives on Blu-ray from Olive Films. This is only single-layered and the print used has plenty of speckles and minor scratches but they are mostly frame-specific. It is flat and dull in the first 15-minutes but improves with some decent contrast layers. Textures are apparent.  There is no real depth but this is all certainly watchable in the 1.66:1 aspect ratio (original?) without unforgivable flaws. The Blu-ray gave me a decent, if not overly-rewarding, HD presentation.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

Olive use a DTS-HD 2.0 channel mono track at 1829 kbps (24-bit). There is minor depth burt not a ton of effect sounds (a lone pair of gunshots.) The score is by R. Dale Butts (The Shanghai Story, Stranger at My Door, Hell's Half Acre, City That Never Sleeps, Too Late for Tears) is almost non-existent - not adding much to the atmosphere.  There are no subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.

 

Extras :

No supplements - not even a trailer which is the bare-bones route that Olive are going with the majority of their releases.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Pretty short - and more suited to Marie Windsor fans (like this reviewer!) She's a nasty person here. It's very simple story and, unfortunately, not much suspense is built up. I liked the support gals (Nancy Gates, Jil Jarmyn, Fern Hall). The Blu-ray (I also like the cover) of No Man's Woman gives a decent HD presentation but the lack of extras and being such a short flic detract from the value. At, presently, 57% OFF pre-order at Amazon - it is worthwhile to those appreciative of the lead, genre and period. 

Gary Tooze

October 23rd, 2015