The
House on 92nd Street
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B Film: B+
The
House on 92nd Street (1945) was one of the first
films to incorporate real locations for it’s principal photography and also
added a documentary texture to it’s palette, likewise that same year Roberto
Rosselini was doing the same type of thing with his war drama Open City. Oddly enough both deal with Nazi’s. However, where Open City
goes for a realistic documentary style The
House of 92nd Street uses that same technique in a narrative
that is relying on it’s Film Noir conventions.
Thus the film makes its way as part of Fox’s Film Noir series and is a
welcome addition to DVD.
Personally I think that the films title does not help make
this film memorable and it should have perhaps went with Now It Can Be Told, which is an alternative title that the film
went by. The film deals with how the
U.S. apparently cracked the Nazi spies who were hot on the trails of the
Manhattan Project secrets. The film
highlights the FBI and actually used some real officers in another attempt for
realism.
William Eythe is excellent in the double agent role
likewise is Lloyd Nolan and Signe Hasso, however the direction for the film by
Henry Hathaway is a real key ingredient and he would follow this film up with
yet another Noir that also contains a strange title Call Northside 777, which is also a Fox Noir film that has been
reviewed on this site as well.
Norbert Brodine’s old-school camera techniques prove
successful here as the film breaks into a whole new era of realism and
texture. Not only that, but the
transfer here from Fox keeps that grainy feel and does not attempt to overly
clean up the print. Although a bit soft
with some minor scratches here and there, the film still holds up after all
these years and preserves the full-frame image well. While the image is not nearly as staggering as perhaps some of
the other titles in their Noir series, this happens to be one of the stronger
titles.
The audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0 restored
version of it’s original monophonic release, as well as a slightly more spread
out Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mix that does enhance the feel a bit more with a
tad more prominence. There is still a
fair amount of static noise in the audio presentation in either monophonic or
stereophonic form, but since this is a dialogue-based film there is little need
to turn up the playback on the film.
Film Noir historian Eddie Muller’s helpful insights on the
commentary track prove as a great extra and a terrific reason to track down
this disc. Likewise other important
titles such as some of the other Fox Noir classics and Anthony Mann’s T-Men reviewed on this site. Great films deserve great commentary. Also included is a photo gallery and the
film’s original press booklet. A highly
recommended disc!
- Nate Goss
