Devil
In A Blue Dress (1995/Sony/TriStar/Twilight Time Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: B Film: B
PLEASE
NOTE: This Blu-ray is now only available from our friends
at Twilight Time, is limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered
while supplies last from the link below.
Carl
Franklin's powerful 1995 film noir, Devil in a Blue Dress, is
available on Blu-ray disc for the first time in the deluxe treatment
thanks to our friends at Twilight Time. The film looks incredible in
this new transfer and sports humor, attention to detail, and an
incredible cast including Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Don
Cheadle, and Jennifer Deals. In what I feel is one of Denzel's
greatest performances, this is a film you don't want miss or revisit
again on this great new release.
In
late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins (Denzel Washington) is an
unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a
bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright (Tom Sizemore), a mysterious white
man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing
white woman named Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals), who he suspects is
hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money
and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself
in over his head.
As
far as period pieces go, it's breathtaking what the filmmakers
accomplished here. You actually feel as if you were transported to
the past as every detail was taken into consideration here down to
the set design and costumes to the classic cars. As mentioned in the
linear notes included with the film, it's unusual for a film noir
piece to have a black star but this certainly has all the attributes
of a film noir: voice over, a private investigator as the lead that
ends up in his over his head, and even the cinematography here has
classic film noir touches of light and shadow. The film also has a
powerful commentary on race at the time, making it incredible today
how far we have come as a society.
Presented
in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and
a powerful English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 track (in a solid
mixdown from its original Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) 7.1
theatrical release), the film looks and sounds better than it ever
has before on video, finally capturing its theatrical film
appearance. Also on the disc is an English 2.0 DTS-HD MA track.
Special
Features...
Isolated
Score Track with music by Elmer Bernstein in lossless 2.0 DTS-MA
Audio
Commentary with Writer-Director Carl Franklin
Don
Cheadle Screen Test
Original
Theatrical Trailer
and
a highly collectible booklet with a great essay on the film by Julie
Kirgo with color photographs.
To
order this limited
edition Blu-ray, buy it and other great exclusive releases while
supplies last at these links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
