Beyond All Limits
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C+
Though thought of often as a tough guy, Jack Palance
turned up in his share of melodramatic films.
One of the independently produced works is the 1959 Roberto Gavaldon
film Beyond All Limits, which offers a love triangle of sorts between
Palance as a “pirate” and married couple Maria Felix and Pedro Armendariz (From
Russia With Love) who have a child between them.
The question is, is it really their child or is there a
larger secret to discover? Either way,
the film is a little more edgy than your usual melodrama and VCI has issued it
for the first time on DVD. Not as campy
or dated as expected, the film has some good performances and shows the male
leads in rare acting form. It is not a
great film, but an interesting film worth a look just for being so unusual.
The letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is not awful, but has some
color fading and certainly lacks detail and some depth, as shot by
cinematographer Gabriel Fegueroa. Too
bad this was not anamorphically enhanced.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is not bad for its age, though has slight
background noise. Extras include four
trailers for other VCI DVDs and text on the three leads and director Gavaldon.
- Nicholas Sheffo
