6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
New York Herald Tribune reporter Jimmy Race is sent to Budapest to help colleague Jeanne Moray investigate a rumored plot to overthrow Hungary’s Communist dictatorship. After coming into possession of some microfilm, he is arrested and jailed.
Starring: Dana Andrews, Märta Torén, George Sanders (I), Audrey Totter, Sandro GiglioDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Note: This film is available as part of
Noir Archive - Volume 1: 1944-1954.
While the frequently questionable “expertise” of Wikipedia asserts that film noir lasted from the early 1920s until the late 1950s, my
hunch
is at least some fans of film history would tend to proscribe the idiom’s heyday to a probably smaller window of time beginning at some
point in the
1940s and then extending into some other point in the 1950s. If that proscription is accepted, it might then be arguable that there was
no
better purveyor of film noir than Columbia Pictures during this period. While many of the undisputed classics of film noir came
from other studios, as
in the case of Paramount’s Double Indemnity
(released
on Blu-ray through Universal, due to the vagaries of film catalogs changing hands), or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s The Postman Always Rings Twice (released on Blu-ray through
Warner Brothers, due to — well, you get the idea), Columbia Pictures managed to churn out a rather significant amount of noir offerings,
albeit often in what would probably be termed the “B-movie” category. Kit Parker Films and Mill Creek Entertainment have now assembled nine of
these rather interesting
Columbia offerings in one three disc package, and for noir fans, there are at least a couple of rather notable films in this first collection (it
looks like Noir Archive Volume 2: 1954-
1956 is due in a few months), as well as some other outings which frankly might be best categorized as oddities.
Assignment Paris is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment and Kit Parker Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. This is another outing that only intermittently employs typical noir visual styles, and so it's a bit brighter and more out in the open, two things that help to elevate detail levels. There are a few passing issues in what amount to quasi-montages, where a series of optical dissolves can lead to slightly less fine detail being visible, along with the expected uptick in grain. There's also quite a bit of rear projection that supposedly gets the main characters out and about around Paris, which doesn't look particularly realistic. But fine detail especially is very nicely rendered throughout this presentation, kind of funnily often more with regard to the heavily patterened suit jackets or overcoats some of the men wear than with regard to any of the female costumes. There is some noticeable damage in the closing moments of the film which involve a prisoner exchange. There's recurrent flicker and other damage mostly evident on the left side of the frame during the final couple of minutes of the film. My score is 3.75.
Assignment Paris features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track which supports the film's dialogue (along with narration, which seems to be a staple of several films in this set). Occasional sound effects, like static from a "blocked" broadcast from behind the Iron Curtain, also sound properly energetic. As with several other films in this set, minor background hiss becomes more evident in quieter moments.
No supplements are offered on this release.
Assignment Paris may be too tied to its time to really resonate very well with modern day audiences (to cite just one example, will people even know who Tito is/was?), but it's an interesting document of a time when America was ramping up into its own anti-Communist hysteria. Technical merits are generally solid for those considering a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1944
1954
1947
1982
1949
1965
1950
1995
1967
1953
Limited Edition to 3000
1962
The Marseille Contract
1974
1984
1932
2020
2005
2010
2010
1962
2017