The Chase (1946)/Bury Me Dead
Picture: Sound: C Extras:
C+ Film:
The Chase (1946) C+ B-
Bury Me Dead C
C+
In another of their Classic Film Noir Double Feature
releases, VCI offers two more gems that are long overdue on DVD. The Chase (1946) is one of the great
Film Noirs, produced independently by one Nero Films and distributed by the
original United Artists, it offers one of the most dreamlike of all situations
when a young man (Robert Cummings) returns a wallet, only to find himself
becoming a driver for some hoodlum gangsters.
Bury Me Dead (1947) is the more hilarious, amusing tale of the
failed attempt to kill a woman, who comes back to verbally torment and
absolutely shock all around her as she looks for who set her up. The twist is this is played for a few more
incidental yucks than usual and future TV mom June Lockhart plays the woman in
question, from the hit TV version of Lost In Space and the most
successful TV Lassie.
The Chase here, not to be confused with
the ambitious 1965 Arthur Penn film of the same name, this is one of the best
and most honest adaptations of a work by the great writer Cornell Woolrich (who
also wrote under the pen name William Irish).
Like Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes film series director Roy William
Neill’s Black Angel from Universal the same year, this film also offers
Peter Lorre in peak form. This film has
a few interesting gimmicks and some memorable film moments that pull no punches
and are the reason Noir was the early peak of honestly in cinema about the
world at large. Besides any given
murders or how they occur, the villains are truly menacing and the ending is
one of the oddest anywhere. Can the
innocent driver get away with his life?
It does not help that he has run away with the boss’ girlfriend. Philip Yordan’s screenplay is solid.
As for Bury Me Dead, it would be an interesting
curio without Miss Lockhart, but her post-TV reputation as “the good mother”
only emphasizes the feminine qualities she so very much possesses in the first
place. Co-star Hugh Beaumont would be
known even sooner and better for TV’s Leave It To Beaver. Thanks to them, it is fun, even when the
film runs into problems. Both are
must-sees, especially those who have never seen them and claim to understand
what Film Noir is. Director Bernard
Vorhaus furthers the intensity with his effective matter-of-fact style that
allows Lockhart’s one-liners hit the mark everytime.
Jay Fenton did as much as he could to restore both films
and the result is good for what he had to work with and purists will be happy,
as usual, that he did not tamper or take liberties with the films. Cinematographer Franz Plane shot The
Chase and adds to its unique quality.
The great thing is that anything dreamlike is emphasized by the deep
focus camerawork (with so much of each frame in focus) and that he does not
create any dated visual effects that spell out an obsolete language for
“dreams” in film, then the film really does not have any literal such
sequences. That comes form the
script. The brilliant John Alton shot Bury
Me Dead and though the restored print has some more issues, the distinct
work is amazing and further smooths over any story issues. That is quite a pair of films in the best
shape they have been in for a very long time.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on both films is also as fixed up as it is
going to get for now, with as much cleaning as could be done without taking
liberties. Fenton also does audio
commentaries on both films that are mixed, being amusing at worse and smart at
best. His old school describing things
as he sees them as they go along is charming.
His knowledge is very valuable.
Other extras include a poster gallery set to music, a great Noir
trailers section, bio/filmographies of the stars, the Famous Studios Superman
cartoon short Showdown (made after Max & Dave Fleischer left) has a
budget but is not as good as earlier installments of that series, and an
amusing abbreviated for TV version of Bury Me Dead is included for
kicks. Be sure to get this well-priced
two-on-one DVD today.
- Nicholas Sheffo
