Man
Hunt (1941/Fox/Twilight
Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/Out
Of The Past
(1947/RKO/Warner Archive Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B-/C+ Extras: B/B- Films: B/B+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Man
Hunt
Blu-ray is a limited edition of only 3,000 made and is now only
available from our friends at Twilight Time, while the Out
Of The Past
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series. Both can be ordered from the links below.
Here
are two Film Noir classics hitting Blu-ray in impressive editions...
Fritz
Lang's Man Hunt
(1941) was controversial in its time because it attacked the Nazis
before the U.S. entered WWII, but Director Lang, a genius filmmaker
who fled Germany and left his pro-Nazi wife behind, wanted to land a
hit Hollywood film and was thrilled to make this thriller about a
hitman named Alan (a young Walter Pidgeon) who is caught just as he
is about to assassinate Hitler. He is taken to a head Nazi (George
Sanders) who questions him as he denies he even knew Hitler was going
to be there. Alan escapes back to the U.S., but the Nazis follow him
(!!!) including Sanders, using diplomatic immunity in part.
Alan
also gets involved with a pretty woman (Joan Bennett) and uses his
wealthy, elite connections to dodge the Nazis, but this only works so
well before the next doomed confrontation. Though not a total Noir,
it is Noir enough and Lang was responsible for helping to set the
style for what became a genre that just happened, not one that was
invented by the studios. He was one of the biggest names in German
Expressionism and was about to join in the Noir movement with this
film in what turned out to be its debut year (thanks to The
Maltese Falcon and
especially Citizen Kane)
so it is a key film, propagandic value and all. It has great
acting, suspense, intelligence, a few unintentionally funny moments
and great turns by John Carradine and a very young Roddy McDowall.
If you have to seen this one, put it on your list fast!
Jacques
Tourneur's Out Of The Past
(1947) is an even more powerful film, an all-time Noir classic and a
remarkable film that just gets better with age. Released by RKO at
the peak of their power, Robert Mitchum as Jeff, a former detective
trying to have a normal life by running a profitable gas station when
old friend
and deadly head gangster Kirk Douglas (who is really amazing here)
gets him caught in a new web of trouble. In flashback and as part of
the challenging, complex narrative structure, we learn Jeff was hired
to find Kathie (Jane Greer of Twin
Peaks and Prisoner
Of Zenda) who has stolen
some serious money and more.
However,
Jeff realizes there is something more going on here and is streetwise
enough to take the best possible precautions to not get in trouble,
but when he turns out to be correct, even that cannot help what is to
come next.
A
remarkable film in any genre, this is one of the great Noirs on every
level from the script to the look to the casting, acting, timing and
feel and belongs on the same shelf as Citizen Kane, Kiss Me
Deadly, The Third Man, Gun Crazy, Detour,
Double Indemnity, Kubrick's The Killing and Touch Of
Evil as the ultimate achievements in such films. It is that
great, important and having it on a high quality Blu-ray is a real
movie-lovers event.
The
1080p black and white 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image
transfers on both films are as good as they have looked in eons. Man
Hunt
continues the show off the great work the archivists at Fox have been
pulling off for years, while Out
Of The Past
is one of the best upgrades of any RKO film Warner Bros. has been
able to deliver to date, showing off incredible Video Black and
detail as well. Both epitomize how great Film Noir and monochromatic
film stocks can look on Blu-ray and each even offer reference shots
that will stun those not used to great black & white shooting.
The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 lossless Mono mixes on both films
are as cleaned up as they can be without ruining the integrity of the
original sound, but Man
Hunt
just sounds marginally better than Out
Of The Past,
which is slightly rougher despite being made
and issued 6 years later.
Extras
on both Blu-ray editions include smart,
feature length audio commentary tracks, with Man
Hunt
covered by author Patrick McGilligan and Out
Of The Past
handled equally well by author and fellow Noir expert James Ursini,
but Man
Hunt
also adds an Original
Theatrical Trailer, lossless Isolated Music Score of the impressive
work of Alfred Newman and a Making Of featurette on the film dubbed
Rogue
Male,
plus Twilight Time has included another one of their nice,
illustrated booklets on the film released with another solid Julie
Kirgo essay.
You
can order
the Man
Hunt
limited edition Blu-ray while supplies last with other great limited
editions while supplies last at this link:
www.screenarchives.com
… and
to order the Out
Of The Past
Blu-ray, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo