Des
(Blu-ray*)/Each
Dawn I Die
(1939**)/Land
(***)/The
Mauritanian
(***w/DVD/both 2020)/Merrily
We Go To Hell
(1932/Paramount/Criterion Blu-ray)/Our
Friend
(2019/DVD/***all Universal)/Salisbury
Poisonings
(DVD/*both 2020/Acorn)/They
Won't Believe Me
(1947/RKO/**both Warner Archive Blu-rays)
Picture:
B-/B/B-/B & C+/B/B-/C+/B Sound: B/C+/B+/B &
C+/C+/C+/C+/C+ Extras: C-/C+/C/C+/B-/C/D/D Main Programs:
C+/B/C+/B-/B-/C+/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Each
Dawn I Die
and They
Won't Believe Me
Blu-rays are now only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Here
are more dramas, some of which you may not have heard about, but
should....
We
start with one-time Doctor Who lead actor David Tennant in a
three-part British TV mini-series playing a real life serial killer
in Des
(2020) in what is supposed to be a little shocking and off-putting
considering his star persona. As Nilsen, the three episodes take a
pretty well considered approach that is almost journalistic that
makes sure this is not trivializing the murders and shows just how
they figured out what he did. It seems simple at first and maybe he
wanted to be caught, but it becomes more complex than that.
The
only problem is that the script runs on a bit and cannot justify the
length of what we get, despite some ambition and good performances
all around. This takes place in 1983 and is usually period accurate
and convincing, but they should have even spent the time doing more
or cutting back. Otherwise, this is worth a look.
A
10-minutes-long Behind The Scenes featurette is the only extra.
William
Keighley's Each
Dawn I Die
(1939) has James Cagney, usually know for playing tough guy
gangsters, playing a reporter being threatened by gangsters and lo
and behold, still lands up going to jail!
The
big flaw is that he is purposely made drunk and then wrecks his car
and is guilty of vehicular homicide, yet the characters know he is
following a big case that could endanger his life, so why does this
not come up in court or stop him from going to jail? Oh well, George
Raft is the major criminal he meets in jail and may be able to prove
the truth... which is obvious to the rest of us and many of them!
Still,
it was a hit and is well made, despite its illogic, even having some
part that age interestingly. The acting and directing are fine, as
is the dialogue. It is worth a look, but try not to laugh too much.
Extras
are many and include a radio drama version of the film with George
Raft and Francois Tone, an Original Theatrical Trailer for the film,
plus one for Wings
Of The Navy
the same year, a feature-length audio commentary on the film by film
scholar Haden Guest, the Technicolor cartoon mocking the title of the
film Each
Dawn I Crow,
a period newsreel tied to the film, featurette Stool
Pigeons and Pine Overcoats: The Language Of Gangster Films,
documentary short A
Day At Santa Anita,
Oscar-nominated Technicolor cartoon Detouring
America
and the especially hilarious (and R-rated-ish) Breakdown
Of 1939: Studio Blooper Reel
that Warner issued within the company for private use and private
gatherings.
Robin
Wright's Land
(2020) has the great actress directing herself in her directorial
debut as a woman whose trauma is so awful, she decides to buy a place
in the middle of nowhere and get away from all of society to try to
find herself and not hurt anymore. Of course, she does not have the
skills to survive and there the story really begins.
Playing
like an interesting flipside to Nomadland
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) unintentionally, it has more than a
few silent moments, but that works. She really gives it her all here
and the film deserves to get more of an audience than it has had so
far, intelligent, mature and honest, I liked it despite some off
moments and the sometimes supporting cast led by the underrated
Demian Bichir completes this as one of last year's most underrated
films.
Extras
include Digital Copy and three behind the scenes promo clips on the
disc.
Kevin
MacDonald's The
Mauritanian
(2020) is one of last year's most challenging films, asking us to
sympathize with the title citizen (Tahar Rahim) who gets dragged away
from his home and lands up in the hands of the U.S. Government in
Cuba where they have set up a prison just outside of U.S. legal
jurisdiction, but not interrogation after the events of the 9/11
attacks in 2001.
Hearing
about the case, a proactive lawyer (another great turn by Jodie
Foster) lands up taking his case and brings on one of the new members
of the office (Shailene Woodley) to get deeply involved and represent
him. Even she is not certain if he was involved and there are some
suspicious circumstances that would rightly make anyone think badly
of the man, but he deserves proper representation either way. Making
things more interesting, a military lawyer of some moral standing
(Benedict Cumberbatch) will be representing the U.S. Government on
the case, but it will not be as simple as that for any of them.
At
a time where immigrants have been re-stigmatized and worse in the
last 5 years, when hate crimes are skyrocketing and we have more than
a few people stirring up such unacceptable behaviors, what this
country may have done to innocent people needs to be continually
addressed and never forgotten, or those who are part of the greatest
democracy alive will see it suffer. The film never gets on any
soapbox like that, but makes its points intelligently and subtly. A
few moments unfortunately seem out of nowhere and do not help the
narrative or flow of the film, but it is a remarkable film otherwise
and I suspect it was somewhat censored in its too limited release.
It deserves a much wider audience and a the COVID crisis starts to
peak, maybe audiences will finally catch up with it. You should do
so ASAP.
Extras
include Digital Copy, plus the discs add a Behind The Scenes
featurette, Deleted Scenes and an Alternate Opening.
Dorothy
Arzner's Merrily
We Go To Hell
(1932) is another underseen classic Paramount film from its pre-WWII
era that is not seen enough for a few reasons (Universal owns the
films to about 1948, people do not get to see them enough and they
are not discussed enough, for instance) and shows what a unique
studio the #2 studio in the Classic Hollywood Era was. Fredric March
in his younger years is an alcoholic who starts to get frisky with a
woman he just met (Sylvia Sydney, looking great) and it is played for
comedy, though doing that for being drunk is very passe now.
His
condition is a problem, but despite this, they manage to get together
and for a moment, maybe he'll change, but that does not last. They
still land up getting married and all kinds of twists follow,
including the fact he is still interested in other women. Yet, it is
still a love story.
A
classy drama with some good comedy, it has more dark moments than not
and some surprising ones, as he is a reporter who also wants to be a
stage play writer. Her family has money, so maybe she can help him
with a success that will stop his drinking. Hmmm. But the way high
society of the time is portrayed is accurate and even a fine time
capsule thereof, plus we get the great character Kent Taylor in a
comical supporting role and an early supporting turn by no less than
Cary Grant!
Though
the film only runs 93 minutes, it covers much ground and the rest of
the actors are spot on, but Director Arzner does an amazing job
helming it all and delivers a film all the way to the end that holds
up extraordinarily well almost 90 years later. Any serious film fan
should consider this one a must-see.
Extras
include a
paper fold out with tech info and am essay by film scholar Judith
Mayne, while the disc adds Dorothy
Arzner: Longing for Women, a
1983 documentary by Katja Raganelli and Konrad Wickler, a new video
essay by film historian Cari Beauchamp
The
drama Our
Friend
(2019) pulls at the heart strings and tells the story of a woman
(Dakota Johnson) who gets news that she has a terrible illness and
must soon say goodbye to her loving husband (Casey Affleck) and two
daughters. With the help of her longtime friend Dane (Jason Segel),
he moves in and helps take care of the family and shows the true
meaning of friendship and compassion.
The
film also stars Isabella Rice, Violet McGraw, Marielle Scott, and
Gwendoline Christie with direction by Gabriela Cowperthwaite
(Blackfish,
Megan
Leavey).
Special
Feature:
Behind
the Scenes Featurette with the cast and crew
The
Salisbury Poisonings
(2020) is a mini-series about an awful incident that was highly
underreported in the U.S. (for some political reasons too) about two
people who get poisoned by Russian agents with something so deadly
that it slowly kills and does not dissipate for at least 50 years!
At
first, the authorities think it is some illness (pre-COVID outbreak?)
and approach things accordingly, but when they discover the true
identity of the first victims, they quickly learn better. Russia
openly threatens the entire country and additional madness ensues.
Anne-Marie Duff leads a really good cast that tell the story like it
is and does this effectively enough. I would consider it a must-see
and probably not the last word on this event, that happened in March
2018.
There
are no extras, but note that Mark Addy also stars.
Lastly,
Robert Young became solidified with a nice guy reputation thanks to
his two huge TV hist, Father
Knows Best
and Marcus
Welby, M.D.,
but before all of that, he was a more successful Hollywood lead actor
and star than meany tend to remember. In Irving Pichel's They
Won't Believe Me
(1947) for RKO. In this sometimes Noirish crime melodrama that
lands up in a courtroom, he is a man who may be responsible for the
murder of several women. Is it true or is he innocent?
Though
he could be happy with his rich wife (Rita Johnson) and her money, he
lands up getting involved with two others (Jane Greer and a dynamite
Susan Hayward) so we have to figure out if he is a killer or just a
victim of circumstances and his own flaws. The film has more than a
few unintentionally funny moments and it gets funnier if you know him
from his TV hist. Well directed and edited enough, it has its
moments and is worth a look, even if you are unfamiliar with the
stars like I do.
There
are unfortunately no extras.
Now
for playback performance on all the discs. The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Des
has some flaws here and there that is not about its style, which is
slightly dark to a fault (read cliched) but is often consistent and
you can tell it is an HD shoot. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mix has some good music
and fares better, but this is also dialogue-based often and resolves
the sometimes difficult accents well enough.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfers on Dawn,
Believe
and Hell
can show the age of the materials used at times, but these
presentations are far superior transfers to any previous releases of
these films outside of the best film prints. Dawn
and Believe
also both sport DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes off of the original
theatrical monophonic analog masters (Hell
equals them with PCM 2.0 Mono) and are the best they will ever sound,
but they cannot hide their age or sonic limits.
The
1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Land
has some soft spots throughout, but also has some nice shots as well
that hold, so the results are interesting. More amazing, though we
get many moments of silence, the DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless sound is so well mixed and presented
that I was shocked by its soundfield and constant high resolution.
It is absolutely the best-sounding film on the list and one of the
best of the past year!
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer and its very
well recorded and mixed DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Mauritanian
are very well done, meld well ands are one of the mos effective,
professional combinations of any film released in the past year.
Very nice. The DVD version's anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image
is much softer than expected and cannot compete with the Blu-ray,
while its lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is passable at best and not
anywhere near as involving or warm as the Blu-ray's DTS-MA.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Salisbury
is one of the better-looking HD shoots for TV anywhere we have seen
lately and makes me wish this was a Blu-ray, but it skips simple
stereo by including a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 that is one of the best
of its kind from TV in a while I have run into. Bet it would sound
better lossless.
And
finally, Our
Friend
is presented in standard definition on DVD with an anamorphically
enhanced widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78 X 1 and a lossy 5.1 Dolby
Digital mix. Compression issues are evident here and a lack of
detail that is seen in Blu-ray and Ultra HD. Still, the film is very
nicely photographed and looks as good as it can on the aging format.
To
order either of the Warner Archive Blu-ray, Each
Dawn I Die
and/or They
Won't Believe Me,
go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases
at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James
Lockhart (Friend)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/