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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Crime > Serial Killer > British TV > Mini-Series > Reporting > Press > Prison > Depression > Trauma > Salisbury Poisonings (DVD/*both 2020/Acorn)/They Won't Believe Me (1947/RKO/**both Warner Archive Blu-rays)

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/


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