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Warner Home Video

Region 0 - NTSC

1.31:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 7.14 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.

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.31:1

Edition Details:
� None

DVD Release Date: June 9th, 2015
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Chapters 10

Summer of 2015 will be remembered as summer of darkness - film noirs airing every Friday on TCM in June and July and an on-line noir course Into the Darkness: Investigating Film Noir, presented by TCM and Ball State University that can be taken by everyone to widen their noir knowledge. Warner Archive Collection adding their own spark, issued 5 RKO noirs on June 9 under their ongoing Film Noir Archive Collection marquee.

Films included are not some tier Z hardly noirs, but are from the best film noir studio, RKO, and directed by some of the biggest names in the genre - Anthony Mann (Two O'Clock Courage), Richard Fleischer (The Clay Pigeon), Robert Wise (Criminal Court) or starring the heavy-hitters George Raft (Johnny Angel) and Pat O'Brien (Riffraff). There is something for everyone as we review these releases.

Johnny Angel was the first collaboration between actor George Raft and director Edwin L. Marin - they would work again 5 more times, including 2 films already released by Warner Archive - Nocturne (1946) and Race Street (1948). George Raft plays the title character (not to be confused with another Johnny he played, Johnny Allegro ), a sea captain investigating a disappearance of his father, also a sea captain. Angel Sr's boat is found drifting at sea with nobody onboard. As we later find out, there is a mysterious passenger played by Signe Hasso who may have answers to the mystery.

Femme fatale of the picture is played by always mesmerizing Claire Trevor. The film is elevated by gorgeous noir cinematography by Harry Wild who also worked on Murder, My Sweet and Cornered for RKO.

The newly remastered transfer from Warner Archives looks excellent, with good contrast and healthy grain. There are a few marks and scratches, but they are never intrusive and never take away from the enjoyment of the picture. There was a Spanish DVD released 3 years ago under title Capitan Angel, but we don't own it to compare and it's unlikely Warner Archive's progressive transfer can be beat without going through expensive restoration. The image is window-boxed with slight black bars on the sides at approximately 1.31:1 aspect ratio. The mono audio is decent and per usual standard, there are no subtitles or captions. There are no extras, but Warner Archive disc still gets our recommendation as one of film noir essentials.

  - Gregory Meshman

CLICK to order from:

Warner Home Video

Region 0 - NTSC