When Orson Welles speaks in any of his films, he makes words sound as if they were born of lightning. It is the same in “Compulsion” where he, as Jonathan Wilk---representing Clarence Darrow in this examination of the famous Leopold-Loeb murder case in 1924 Chicago—works not to understand the young men (Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman) who heinously murdered a young boy, but to seek for them the justice that is deserved without resorting to the death penalty, as Darrow was known for being against.

Welles doesn’t walk in until late in the movie when, after Judd Steiner (Stockwell) and Artie Strauss (Dillman) confess, his services are obviously needed. Before him, his growing girth and his rumbling, thunderous voice, the burning questions about Steiner and Strauss rush forth in our minds when, cleverly by the efforts of director Richard Fleischer and screenwriter Richard Murphy, we thankfully don’t see the actual murder take place, but find out about it when Sid Brooks (Martin Milner, who photographed well in black-and-white and color, by way of “Adam-12”), a budding newspaperman and fellow classmate of Steiner and Strauss, is sent by one of the writers of the Globe to the morgue to see about the young victim’s body, the condition of it, and if there are any clues to give way as to how it happened.

Excerpt from Film Threat Indie Voice located HERE

Trivia: Because Orson Welles was having tax problems during the production, at the end of shooting his salary for the movie was garnisheed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. This upset Welles so much that just before he finished looping his dialogue in post-production, he stormed off the studio and left the country. All that was left to be looped was the last 20 seconds of his end speech in the courtroom. Incredibly, editor William Reynolds fixed this problem without needing Welles. Reynolds took words and pieces of words Welles had spoken earlier in the movie, and pieced them one by one into those 20 seconds.

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Disc Size: 23,333,737,440 bytes

Feature: 21,675,633,600 bytes

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Disc Size: 24,014,884,616 bytes

Feature: 23,413,272,576 bytes

LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
DTS-HD Master Audio English 2201 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2201 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48
kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Guardian Interview:

• The Guardian Interview with Richard Fleischer (1981, audio only): the award-winning director discusses his career after a screening of Compulsion (1:43:10)
• The Guardian Interview with Richard Fleischer (1994): Fleischer returns to the NFT for this filmed interview (1:16:42)
• Orson Welles in the Courtroom Scene from Compulsion (1959, audio only): reproduction of the original 7" vinyl (10:12)
• Lobby cards, posters and stills gallery (:59)
• Original theatrical trailer (2:27)

Blu-ray Release Date: February 29th, 2016
Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters: 11

Release Information:
Studio: Kino
 

• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas
• Trailers for Compulsion (1:01), 23 Paces to Baker Street (2:15), Five Miles to Midnight (3:19) and The Stranger (1:17)

Blu-ray Release Date: March 7th, 2017
Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters:8