Address Unknown Blu-ray

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

directed by William Cameron Menzies
USA 1944

A plot revealed through the correspondence between German-American businessman and his Jewish partner, Lukas, the German-American, returns to Germany during the early Nazi years and gets caught up in the racist philosophies. He goes to the point of denying even his partner's daughter, who is engaged to Lukas's son. Disastrous results follow this man's newly acquired bigoted decisions.

***

The legendary production designer William Cameron Menzies (Gone With The Wind) produced and directed this startling drama, made during World War II. Academy Award®-winner Paul Lukas (1943, Best Actor, Watch on the Rhine) and Morris Carnovsky (Dead Reckoning) star as German immigrants and art-dealers in San Francisco whose lifelong friendship is threatened when Lukas returns to Germany and comes under the sway of Nazi beliefs. The daughter and son of the two men, engaged to be married, are also caught up in the crisis. This riveting Hitchcock-style thriller, stunningly photographed by Rudolph Maté (Foreign Correspondent), blends suspense, romance, action and a powerful message into a unique and exciting film. The cast also includes K.T. Stevens, Carl Esmond, Peter Van Eyck, Emory Parnell, Frank Faylen, Charles Halton and Frank Reicher.

Poster

Theatrical Release: April 24th, 1944

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Sony Pictures - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Kit Parker Films - Region FREE - Blu-ray

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	1:12:06	1:12:15.873
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.32 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 44,460,527,699 bytes Feature: 14,727,708,672 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.97 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 1.0 (English)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 852 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 852 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: Original - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • None DVD Release Date: March 4th, 2011 Keep Case Chapters 8	Release Information: Studio: Kit Parker 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 44,460,527,699 bytes Feature: 14,727,708,672 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.97 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • No extras - shares the disc with Escape in the Fog and The Guilt of Janet Ames Blu-ray Release Date: April 23rd, 2019 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 15

Comments

NOTE: This is, obviously, not the similarly titled 2001 Ki-duk Kim film reviewed HERE.

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 Boxsets. Volume One 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 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Like the Sony (MOD) DVD the image is very clean with some minor contrast flickering in the beginning - but the higher resolution shows rich texture, and deeper black levels accentuated the shadows. It looks beautiful on my system.

The audio is 24-bit lossless (DTS-HD Master) exporting the score by Ernst Toch (Dr. Cyclops) and, often un-credited, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (The Return of the Vampire, Night Editor, And Then There Were None) that adds tension. Dialogue is consistent and audible. The Blu-ray offers optional English subtitles on this Region FREE Blu-ray package.

No supplements - but the disc is shared with Escape in the Fog and The Guilt of Janet Ames. Noir fans get to revisit these delights in a far more film-like presentation with optional subtitles. Address Unknown is more a war-thriller and even horror (from the book by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor) than part of the 'dark cinema' cycle. Still worthy of a spin or two.

***

Address Unknown is a gripping examination of the all-encompassing power of self-blame - described by TimeOut as "Lukas' portrayal of a man haunted by guilt, and cracking when a series of anonymous letters bring him under suspicion himself, almost edges the film into noir territory."

It's a Sony MoD (Made-on-Demand) product - standard single-layered but, thankfully, progressive in the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio and looks thin but quite consistent and crisp. There is some grain texture and contrast levels are adept for SD. It does look unusually tightly-framed. The disc supports the film with a pleasant transfer with some fascinating cinematography from the great Rudolph Maté, showing unique angles and frequent shadows. Scrumptious.

The mono sound is decent but unremarkable and there are no subtitles, nor even a menu, offered. There are no supplements at all. You would only purchase this solely to see Address Unknown.

This is a gem. I was very pleasantly surprised to find the film to have so much substance. I loved the camera-work, the themes of persecution, self-condemnation, shame, revenge and the shadow and light depth of the visuals. Great stuff and one we can recommend even with the bare-bones status and SD transfer limitations. I'd love for Address Unknown to come to Blu-ray one day., although highly doubtful as it took such a long time just to make it to MoD.