13 West Street Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

13 West Street Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 15, 2024

Philip Leacock's "13 West Street" arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint Films. The only bonus feature on it is a vintage U.S. trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

It's enough.

It takes less than a few minutes, perhaps even only a few seconds. Despite being an extraordinarily intelligent man who has spent decades studying what-if situations and making the right decisions, Walt Sherill (Alan Ladd), an aerospace engineer, guesses wrong and his life spins out of control. It happens on a cool but beautiful summer night and in a quiet part of town that he knows like the palm of his hand.

After his car runs out of gas, Sherill begins walking home, and while crossing a street, he is nearly hit by a sleek convertible. Before the sleek convertible disappears into the thick shadows of the night, Sherill screams: “You stupid idiots!” Then, while still shaking and assuming that the situation is over, he turns around and resumes walking.

But moments later, the sleek convertible comes back, and several teenagers jump out of it. When Sherill calmly confronts the boldest one among them, he is attacked from all sides, beaten up, and left unconscious. A few hours after the incident, at a local hospital, a doctor reveals to Sherill’s shocked wife (Dolores Dorn) that he has been left with a fracture on his left leg, two cracked ribs, and a slight concussion.

Detective Pete Koleski (Rod Steiger) begins working on the case, but the progress he makes does not satisfy Sherill, and the more time passes by, the more complicated their communication becomes. Eventually, while Koleski is still going around town asking questions and looking for clues that can reveal the identity of the attackers, Sherill launches his own investigation. However, his anger, which his busted leg and cracked ribs exacerbate as often as possible, puts him in several situations that cost him his job and nearly destroy his marriage.

Philip Leacock’s film 13 West Street retells an original story that emerged in Leigh Brackett’s novel The Tiger Among Us, which was published a few years earlier. However, Ladd, whose production company funded the film, altered a crucial detail in it. In the film, Sherill’s attackers come from the traditionally affluent Bel-Air area of Los Angeles, while in the novel they come from blue-collar East Los Angeles. Because of this change, Brackett was reportedly extremely unhappy with how the film turned out. Ironically, the change is one of the main reasons the film not only works well but feels very relevant, too. Here’s why:

After the frustrated Sherill begins tracking down his attackers, it very quickly becomes obvious that he does not have the right status and connections to bring them to justice. It is why he becomes an even bigger target. In the ensuing drama, Koleski repeatedly hits a wall too, because the rules he follows provide plenty of loopholes for the attackers and their wealthy parents to protect them. So, the change in the story effectively reveals the rigged legal game that has always been in place to shield America’s elite class. (Without the change, the entire film would have been about a middle-aged man who, while seeking justice, becomes consumed by hatred for his attackers).

The final twenty or so minutes produce the most relevant material. Having destroyed his reputation as a reliable and rational coworker, husband, and resident of his community, Sherill is temporarily framed by the film as a ‘crazy’ guy. However, because of the attack and his injuries, he can finally see the big picture as it is. So, a lot of the anger that overwhelms Sherill is directed at his previous ‘normality’, which he has suddenly discovered is what makes incidents like his possible.

Ladd and Steiger are predictably good. A young Michael Callan leaves a lasting impression as the vile leader of the attackers, too. Dorn overplays her character, but there is hardly any crucial material with her.

Charles Lawton Jr. gives the film a solid, often surprisingly stylish appearance. However, it is impossible to place it among the great classics he lensed, like The Lady From Shanghai, 3:10 to Yuma, Ride Lonesome, and A Rage to Live.

13 West Street Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, 13 West Street arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint Films.

The release is sourced from a nice master that was supplied by Sony Pictures. I assume that this is actually the remaster that the studio prepared a while ago for the DVD release of 13 West Street.

The overall quality of the visuals ranges from good to very good. Yes, if a new 4K master is created and used to produce a new Blu-ray release, these visuals will look even more attractive. But I did not encounter any inherited or newly introduced troubling issues to report. In a few areas some highlights or darker shadow nuances could be managed a little bit better, plus contrast levels can be tweaked a bit so that the visuals can reveal even stronger organic qualities, but this is it. The grayscale is very good. Image stability is excellent as well, though I should mention that a new 4K master will undoubtedly introduce superior density levels and with them superior fluidity as well. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

13 West Street Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is fully remastered. The dialog is very clear, sharp, and stable. Stability is excellent as well. The film has a rather surprisingly strong music score that does some very effective things in key areas. In fact, I think that without it the intensity of the drama would have been quite different. I did not notice any encoding anomalies to report.

13 West Street Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage U.S. trailer for 13 West Street. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

13 West Street Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If the system is rigged to protect an elite class of citizens, then there will always be rogue 'crazies' like the one Alan Ladd plays in Philip Leacock's 13 West Street. This is not difficult to figure out. I think that this film is a lot more effective and feels relevant today because of the change Ladd made in the original story from Leigh Brackett's novel that inspired it. It is included in Imprint Films' Essential Film Noir - Collection 5, a four-disc box set. The other three films in it are: The Burglar, Island of Doomed Men, and The Red Menace. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.