Brute Force Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Brute Force Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 29, 2020

Jules Dassin's "Brute Force" (1947) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage promotional materials; archival program with criminologist Paul Mason; audio commentary by writers James Ursini and Alain Silver; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

There are two things that immediately stand out about Jules Dassin’s Brute Force. First, it is uncharacteristically violent. The film does not glamorize the violence, the camera simply keeps rolling a bit longer and one gets to see what most early '40s films weren’t too comfortable showing. Second, it is unusually pessimistic.

Virtually the entire film takes place inside an overcrowded prison where an ambitious captain named Munsey (Hume Cronyn, The Arrangement) enjoys humiliating and torturing the inmates. Munsey’s ultimate goal is to replace the prison’s weak warden, Barnes (Roman Bohnen, The Best Years of Our Lives), whose boss, McCollum (Richard Gaines, Ace in the Hole), has warned him that unless the number of reported incidents is dramatically decreased he is going to lose his job.

Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster, The Killers) is a respected inmate with a different goal in mind -- he wants to escape so that he can reunite with his wife who is dying of cancer. He already has a plan, but needs the help of a few more desperate men willing to follow orders.

Joe approaches Gallagher (Charles Bickford, A Star is Born), an old-timer with a cozy job who has been promised by the warden that very soon he is going to be paroled. Initially Gallagher rejects Joe’s invitation to join him, but when the warden informs him that the Department of Corrections has cancelled all parole hearings indefinitely he concludes that it is better to risk his life than spend whatever is left of it behind bars.

Based on a story by Robert Patterson and screenplay by Richard Brooks, Brute Force was the second film Lancaster did with producer Mark Hellinger (the first was the cult classic The Killers). The film, which was completed in 1947, effectively established Lancaster as a star with enormous potential.

The core of Brute Force has a noir identity -- the blending of explicit violence and pessimism infuses it with a type of atmosphere that is very common for classic noir films from the early '40s. However, there are numerous political overtones in the film that actually bring it closer to being a crime melodrama which pushes various social and political agendas. (A quick comparison between the fascist warden who enjoys Wagner’s music and Joe and his boys who have all been imprisoned for the wrong reasons makes this painfully obvious).

Despite the oversimplified characterizations the film is enormously entertaining. Lancaster exudes tremendous confidence and a type of energy that give the film its character. Though not likeable, Cronyn is also astonishing. There are also memorable cameos by Art Smith, who plays an aging doctor, and a very young Yvonne De Carlo.

Brute Force was beautifully lensed by William H. Daniels, who won an Oscar award for his contribution to Dassin’s next film, The Naked City. The intense soundtrack was created by the legendary Hungarian-born composer Miklós Rózsa (Ben-Hur, Double Indemnity).

Brute Force 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, Brute Force arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet that is provided with this release:

"This new 4K digital restoration was undertaken by TLEFilms Film Restoration & Preservation Services in Berlin using footage from four separate elements -- primarily a 35mm nitrate fine-grain master positive from the British Film Institute and a safety duplicate negative -- transferred via two film scanners, an IMAGICA Imager XE Advanced Plus and a Scanity HDR. Digital restoration was performed using the Pixel Farm's PFClean 2017 and Foundry's Furnace 4. The soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm composite fine-grain optical track print using Avid's Pro Tools and iZotope RX.

Restoration supervisor: Torsten Kaiser/TLEFilms Film Restoration & Preservation Services, Berlin.
Colorist: Roland Fliss/PostFactory GmbH, Berlin.
Restoration produced by Master Licensing, Inc.
Producer: Simon Brook.
Executive producers: Andrew Garroni."

The first release of this film that we covered on the site came from the United Kingdom in 2014. At the time I thought that the technical presentation of the film was very strong, and now that I have seen the 4K restoration my take on it remains the same.

I spent quite a bit of time comparing the old and new presentations of the film and I believe that most viewers will see improvements in two key areas. On this release the visuals reveal better ranges of nuances, so on a larger screen viewers should notice more details and improved depth. The difference isn't always significant, but on my system it was very easy to appreciate (see screencapture #8). During indoor and nighttime footage the improvements are easier to spot, but even during daylight footage the new presentation quite easily eliminates some black crush that is present on the old presentation (see screencapture #3). Density levels appear similar, but there are some darker footage where on the new presentation grain exposure is better. I am unsure if this improvement will be easily spotted and appreciated by untrained eyes, but it is there and again on a larger screen it certainly makes a difference. The new presentation lacks the contrasty edge of the old presentation, but I personally did not think that this was an issue that made the old release problematic. Image stability is good. The entire film looks very healthy as well. All in all, currently this is the most pleasing organic presentation of Brute Force that is available on disc. My score is 4.75/5.00. (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).

Brute Force Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is clear and stable. It could be a bit 'thin' at times, but this is a limitation of the original soundtrack. I did a few tests to see if Miklós Rózsa's dramatic score sounds any different, but I did not detect a meaningful difference. However, on this release the upper register might be slightly healthier.

Brute Force Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Brute Force. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• Paul Mason - in this archival program, Paul Mason, a criminologist at Cardiff University, discusses the evolution of the 'prison film', the humanization of the main characters in Brute Force, the role of violence in the film, Jules Dassin's idealistic view of prison's function, etc. The program was produced in 2006. In English, not subtitled. (16 min, 1080i).

• The Actor's Tool Kit - in his archival episode of the Criterion Channel's Observations of Film Art, professor David Bordwell discusses the various acting methods seen in Brute Force. In English, not subtitled. (14 min, 1080p).

• Stills Gallery - a collection of stills from the film, production stills, and lobby cards. (4 min, 1080p).

• Commentary - this archival commentary was recorded by James Ursini and Alain Silver, coauthors of The Film Noir Reader and The Noir Style. It was recorded in 2007 and initially appeared on Criterion's DVD release of Brute Force.

• Booklet - 38-page illustrated booklet featuring "Screws and Proles" by Michael Atkinson, "The Softest Touch in Hollywood" by Pete Martin, "Mark Hellinger and Joseph Breen: An Exchange", and technical credits.

Brute Force Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This upcoming release of Brute Force is sourced from a very nice new 4K restoration, which should remain the definitive presentation of the film on the home video market. The only way in which you would get a superior presentation is if in the future the folks at Criterion choose to release the same restoration on 4K Blu-ray. This isn't an impossible scenario, but I personally would not waste time waiting for such a release to materialize. On Blu-ray, Brute Force looks great. RECOMMENDED.