Appointment with Crime Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Appointment with Crime Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 4, 2016

John Harlow's "Appointment with Crime" (1946) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. There are no supplemental features on the this release. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Four men and a fool

They convince Leo Martin (William Hartnell, This Sporting Life) that it will be an easy job and he agrees to do it because he is broke. But when he attempts to steal the diamonds from the store he breaks his wrists and gets caught by the police.

A few years later, Leo returns to the streets and immediately goes looking for the fat man, Gus Lowman (Raymond Lovell, 49th Parallel), who should have waited for him in the getaway car. Some underground characters tell him that Lowman is now a legit businessman, with strong partners willing to protect his interests. They meet again and Leo asks Gus to give him a bigger job so that he can repair his image and make enough for the time he has wasted in prison. When Gus tells him that there is no room for losers like him in his organization, Leo decides to smash a few faces and force the ‘winners’ to pay what they owe him.

John Harlow’s Appointment with Crime is a very mean noir thriller that unapologetically bets on style over substance. Right from the get-go it unloads a ton of one-liners that at times create the impression that one is actually viewing a series of timed TV spots, not a feature film. As a result, the film does not engage quite as well as it should have.

Hartnell’s character is an incredibly intense crook that is basically left to improvise in a world that no longer has room for him. He is an outsider amidst the men he once worked with and a target for an ambitious Canadian detective (Robert Beatty, 2001: A Space Odyssey) who is dying to send him back to prison. So it really is only a matter of time before he slips and something bad happens to him. The only question is whether it will be permanent -- like a bullet in his head.

There are a couple of interesting twists in the second act that expand the story rather well. Leo meets a beautiful but incredibly naïve young girl (Joyce Howard, The Night Has Eyes) who makes ends meet as a dancer in a popular club where lonely men must buy a ticket before they can get a date. The girl unintentionally helps Leo frame Gus and then agrees to leave town with him so that they can start a new life together. Leo also clashes with a homosexual crime boss (Herbert Lom, Bang! Bang! You're Dead!) after he demands that he returns a gun that belongs to him.

The finale is predictable but it has the right vibe. The message also could not be any clearer: What goes around, comes around.

The film’s budget must have been fairly modest, but Harlow and cinematographer James Wilson manage to infuse it with proper noir atmosphere. As noted earlier, however, there are segments where the editing is quite rough.

A surprisingly strong orchestral score from George Melachrino is effectively used to ramp up the intensity after Leo goes berserk. (See a sequence early into the film where he attacks a gas station attendant and then deals with the guys that run to help him).

Appointment with Crime Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, John Harlow's Appointment with Crime arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

My one and only criticism pertains to the presence of some minor stability issues. There is light image wobble that pops up in select sequences, but there are no serious image distortions. Also, there are a couple of shaky transitions, though it is very easy to see that they are inherited and at best can only be minimized with expensive digital work. The rest of the film looks very healthy and vibrant, which leads me to believe that it has been sourced from a fairly recent master. Clarity and especially shadow definition are as good as one can expect in a film from the 1940s (see screencaptures #1, 2 and 5). Overall balance is also very good and as a result fluidity is consistently pleasing. Grain is well exposed and typically nicely resolved. There are absolutely no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. A few minor flecks and scratches pop up, but there are no large cuts, damage marks, or distracting traces of fading. So there is room for some stability enhancements, but the overall presentation is indeed very good. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Appointment with Crime Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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

I assume that some sort of remastering work was done because there are absolutely no balance issues -- not even minor dynamic fluctuations -- or distortions in the mid/upper registers. With these types of older films when the audio has been untouched for years or taken from an inferior source typically there are age-related imperfections, but the overall quality of the lossless track is indeed very good. Also, there are no audio dropouts, pops, or distracting background hiss.

Appointment with Crime Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray release.

Appointment with Crime Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Harlow's Appointment with Crime could be a bit formulaic at times, but it is quite enjoyable. I must say, however, that William Hartnell's crook is one of the meanest characters I have seen in noir films from the 1940s. This new Blu-ray release from Olive Films is sourced from a recent and very good master, but there are no supplemental features on it. If you enjoy noir films, consider picking it up. I think you will like this film. RECOMMENDED.