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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
(aka 'Corkscrew Alley')
All Joe Sullivan wants is "a breath of fresh air." But when
you're serving time in stir for robbery, fresh air is a rare commodity. That's
about to change though as mob boss Rick Coyle has greased the skids inside the
prison walls, so Joe can make it outside where girlfriend Pat will be waiting. *** If you know of Anthony Mann's work at all, it's probably from seeing the minor epic El Cid or Winchester '73, one of many Westerns he made in the '50s and '60s. Mann's first projects of any note, however, were stark, brusque crime stories, three of which have now been made available on home video. T-Men is a super-manly Secret Service tale of chasing counterfeiters, complete with the tersely narrated tedium of a painstaking manhunt on San Francisco's seedier side and a dangerous blonde who just kind of got wrapped up in the whole mess. He Walked By Night takes the police procedural a step further by showcasing the entire LAPD as it methodically tracks down a cunning and inventive killer. Look for a very young Jack Webb as a crime-lab technician, and you'll also see how much he stole from this movie to use on Dragnet—from the show's expositional narrative to the creepy, clipped way the cops talk. Raw Deal switches viewpoints to the criminal and immerses the viewer in noir as we watch a man break out of prison with the help of his girl; take a lovely young hostage; and become entangled in a love triangle while en route to a confrontation with the man who framed him and had him sent up. What begins as campily as the other two eventually takes on deeper shades of meaning as the characters become conflicted about themselves and each other; the script actually improves as the movie progresses. T-Men and He Walked By Night both have gripping black-and-white visuals: There's a chase through L.A.'s cavernous storm sewers, and a hellish murder by live steam. Raw Deal adds dramatic tension to its imagery of foggy back roads and burning hotels to become a minor noir masterpiece. Excerpt from John Krewson's review at The Onion AV Club located HERE. |
Posters
Theatrical Release: 26 May 1948 - USA
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Comparison:
Sony Music - Region 1 - NTSC vs. VCI - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Classicflix - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Big thanks to Ole Kofoed , Gregory Meshman and Colin Zavitz for the Screen Caps!
ClassicFlix Blu-ray to date:
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Along Came Jones (1945) |
Another Man's Poison (1951) |
Casanova Brown (1944) |
Crime of Passion (1957) |
Down 3 Dark Streets (1954) |
Five Steps to Danger (1954) |
He Walked By Night (1954) |
Comments |
NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. ADDITION: Classicflix Region 'A' - Blu-ray - January 2018: Th is ClassicFlix Blu-ray is another Essential Noir, like their Another Man's Poison, The Killer is Loose, You Only Live Once, and Crime of Passion, He Walked By Night and T-Men. This is wonderful news for Noir fans!This restoration was sourced from a 35mm nitrate fine grain element they acquired from the BFI. After performing a 2K resolution transfer, millions of instances of dirt and scratches were removed along with density flicker, jitter and warps. After over 400 hours of digital video and audio restoration, Classicflic presents this gripping and visually stunning film noir for the first time in HD. T he ClassicFlix transfer is 1080P on a single-layered disc with a supportive bitrate. Raw Deal has many dark, shadowy, moments (John Alton cinematographer) and I see no noise or background artifacts. It has a film-like heaviness, textures are present and there is no damage and few speckles unlike both the older, picture-boxed, DVDs. It looks solid in-motion and is easily a far better presentation to the SDs - tighter, sharper etc.. I love the film and was thrilled with my Blu-ray viewing.Classicflix use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel (24-bit) and it sounds very strong and consistent in reproducing the film's narration, dialogue and the score by Paul Sawtell (Gun Fury, Silver City, The Fly, Denver and Rio Grande) which supports and augments the drama via the uncompressed. Optional English subtitles are available (see sample below). We are treated to an excellent feature length audio commentary by author and film historian Jeremy Arnold, author of Turner Classic Movies: The Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter. I thoroughly enjoyed his extensive knowledge involving details of how the film was shot, dialogue removed and much more. It is very complete and well researched. We also get the 9-minute featurette Deadly is the Male: The Making of Raw Deal with writer and film historian Julie Kirgo, film historian and director Courtney Joyner and biographer and producer Alan K. Rode. Dennis O'Keefe: An Extraordinary Ordinary Guy spends almost 6-minutes with Jim O'Keefe (son of Dennis O'Keefe) and biographer and producer Alan K. Rode & film historian & director Courtney Joyner. There is an image gallery with rare stills, posters and other promotional material and a 5.5 minute restoration comparison plus some excellent re-release trailers. Lastly is a 24-page liner notes booklet included with photos and an essay, Where Love Goes to Die, by Max Alvarez etc. VERY strongly recommended! A must-own for Noir aficionados. This was pure pleasure, the commentary adds significant value to an already essential package. This is limited to 5,000 copies - don't miss out! *** ON THE DVD: This appears to have no bone-fide improvement over the VCI edition. At times it looks hazier and other times minutely sharper - it has been brightened a bit, but we have mostly the same damage marks. Since the VCI comes with T-Men and the Dark Reflections featurette I see no reason to buy the Sony. -
Gary Tooze
About the VCI:
Well, I have seen a lot worse non-progressive transfers. This is not too
shabby. I think I see some grain and the 'combing' was very
minimal. My expectations and satisfaction were all a function of the
price and the less-than-stellar reputation of VCI. The Dark
Reflections bonus feature is certainly not as insightful as Eddie Mueller
from the
Warner Noir #2 Boxset, but it
wasn't terrible either. Certainly better than your standard fare
fillers. I think for the money this is a great substitute until (ever?)
these films are put out properly.
NOTE: This DVD is part of Anthony Mann's Film Noir Double Feature with
another disc of Mann's film: T-Men reviewed
HERE. |
DVD Menus (Sony Music - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. VCI - Region 0 - NTSC - RIGHT)
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Classicflix - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
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CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Subtitle Sample - Classicflix - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
1) Sony Music - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) VCI - Region 0 - NTSC - MIDDLE3) Classicflix - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM8 |
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1) Sony Music - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) VCI - Region 0 - NTSC - MIDDLE3) Classicflix - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM8 |
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1) Sony Music - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) VCI - Region 0 - NTSC - MIDDLE3) Classicflix - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM8 |
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1) Sony Music - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP 2) VCI - Region 0 - NTSC - MIDDLE3) Classicflix - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM8 |
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Report Card:
Image: |
Blu-ray |
Sound: |
Blu-ray |
Extras: | Blu-ray |
Recommended Reading in Film Noir (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)
The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir by Foster Hirsch |
Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City by Nicholas Christopher |
Shades of Noir: A Reader by Joan Copjec |
The Art of Noir: The Posters and Graphics from the
Classic Era of Film Noir by Eddie Muller |
The Little Black and White Book of Film Noir:
Quotations from Films of the 40's and 50's by Peg Thompson, Saeko Usukawa |
Film Noir by Alain Silver |
Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era,
1940-1959 by Michael F. Keaney |
Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir by Foster Hirsch |