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

ADDITION: Imprint Blu-ray (June 2021): Imprint have transferred William Castle's Hollywood Story to 1080P for  Blu-ray spine #48 as part of their Essential Film Noir: Collection 2 Blu-ray set with Private Hell 36 (1954), The City That Never Sleeps (1953), Plunder of the Sun (1953) and, this one, Hollywood Story (1951). It appears to be from the same master in 1.33:1 as the Millcreek with the same marks but the Imprint bitrate is higher and on a dual-layered disc. The image improves in contrast looking a shade brighter and an overall superior HD presentation with more consistent and prevalent grain. Depending on your system, it may be minor but it is definitely there.  

NOTE: We have added 34 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Imprint use a linear PCM 1.0 channel mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. It is another minor advancement in the film's audio over the US Blu-ray. It's a fairly passive film with some early and latter gunplay, and a dramatic score by Frank Skinner (Foxfire, Madame X, Magnificent Obsession, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, All That Heaven Allows, and The Naked City) accentuated the 'build' to the finale. Marginal superiority for the Aussie disc, but, likewise, it exists. Imprint offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Imprint Blu-ray has a new (2020) audio commentary with film scholar Jason A. Ney. He discusses Hollywood Story in the shadow of Sunset Blvd. He details the career of Richard Conte and offers many back-story of Hollywood in the vintage era including on rather 'shady' around the murder of director William Desmond Taylor. There is also a new (2020) 1/4 hour interview with film author / critic Kim Newman on “Hollywood Story” giving his unique take. There is also an older, short, interview with charming Julie Adams (Sally Rousseau in “Hollywood Story”.) We also get a TCM interview with film critic Eddie Muller on “Hollywood Story” for a few minutes giving his input on this classic - the true murder story it is based, all the landmarks and the adept pacing by Castle. There is no theatrical trailer for the film.   

Another of the many 'City'-titled Noirs or crime dramas of the era like The Tijuana Story, The Miami Story, New Orleans Uncensored and The Phenix City Story. Hollywood Story is a good one - Conte in fine form, comely Julie Adams and sly Henry Hull! I am very happy to own on Imprint's superior Blu-ray with the commentary and interview extras. An easy recommendation to dark cinema aficionados although the debate rages on about its inclusion as a true Noir. I think it qualifies. Indulge yourself in Imprint's Essential Film Noir: Collection 2 Blu-ray set!   

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ADDITION: Millcreek Blu-ray (May 2020): Kit Parker Films in association with Millcreek Entertainment have brought a "William Castle Double Feature" to Blu-ray. It has New Orleans Uncensored on its own Blu-ray and 1951's Hollywood Story - on a second single-layered Blu-ray. So, while this is a new transfer - and appears to be from the same source as the Dark Crimes: Film Noir Thrillers SD just in the higher 1080P resolution. It has the same marks and cue-blips. This, however, does remarkably improve the home theater presentation in terms of contrast, depth, detail - it is a slightly brighter image and grain texture is consistently supported. 

On their Blu-ray, Millcreek use a DTS-HD Master mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement in the film's audio. Millcreek offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Millcreek Blu-ray has no extras and only the New Orleans Uncensored Blu-ray sharing the package.

Gary Tooze

ON THE Dark Crimes: Film Noir Thrillers Volume 2 DVD set (fully reviewed HERE): 2 years after Universal and TCM released Dark Crimes: Film Noir Thrillers that included such noir essentials as The Glass Key, The Phantom Lady and The Blue Dahlia for the first time in region 1, they are bringing Dark Crimes: Film Noir Thrillers Volume 2. This time, the choice of films is not as stellar. The 2-disc set contains 4 films - 2 films by Fritz Lang - You and Me and Ministry of Fear, and 2 films by William Castle - Undertow and Hollywood Story. You and Me (1938) is available on DVD in Germany from Koch Media as part of their Film Noir Collection line. Ministry of Fear is available in region 1 in superior Blu-ray release from Criterion (compared HERE) and inclusion in this set is highly questionable - there are some other excellent noirs in Universal vaults that are still missing in region 1 and would have been a welcome addition to this set, like Robert Siodmak's Christmas Holiday, One Way Street (1950), Ride the Pink Horse (1947), The Suspect (1945) or Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948) (that is tied up in legal limbo). William Castle's both features make their welcome DVD debut and are very strong noirs. While the quality of Hollywood Story is surprisingly good, Undertow is taken from an old master that is soft and has some chroma. You and Me compares well to Koch Media transfer, having the same marks (including cue marks), but losing a sliver on the sides it does not suffer from PAL speed-up.

The second film in each set - Ministry of Fear and Hollywood Story - were transferred anamorphically, so there are black bars on the sides - see the first captures for each film. Audio quality is decent, with no distortions and per usual standard, there are no subtitles provided. The set starts with a generic introduction by Ben Mankiewicz. Each film includes a number of galleries, a short overview of each film by Eddie Muller (not recommended to watch before the film in question) and a very welcome 5.5-minute discussion of Hollywood Story with its star, Julie Adams. We can recommend the set with some reservation to quality of Undertow and existence of Ministry of Fear in HD.

 - Gregory Meshman