6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
An evil con artist marries elderly women, kills them off, and takes their fortunes, until he meets his match with his latest victim!
Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Lockwood, Kay Walsh, Kathleen Harrison, Robert FlemyngFilm-Noir | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: LPCM 2.0 Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Cast a Dark Shadow / Wanted for Murder.
Considering their vaunted reputation as such a reserved and polite people, Brits certainly have a penchant for Murder Most Foul, if I might be permitted to co-opt a film title from one of the Margaret Rutherford
Miss Marple outings (a title which is itself lifted from Hamlet).
Miss
Marple's creator Agatha Christie may be the best remembered British author of murder mysteries, but this appealing double feature from Cohen
Media
Group's Cohen Film Collection imprint proves she wasn't the only one, and in fact wasn't the only female one. Both Wanted for
Murder
from 1946 and Cast a Dark Shadow from 1955 are based on stage plays, and in the case of Cast a Dark Shadow, a play
written by Janet Green, who also gave the world Midnight
Lace
. Wanted for Murder has a different claim to fame in its authorship department, albeit in this case regarding one of the adapters of
Percy Robinson and Terence De
Marney's play, co-scenarist Emeric Pressburger, who had already begun his vaunted partnership with Michael Powell, but who was here on a
"holiday"
of sorts, before returning to Powell to deliver the one-two punch of A Matter of Life and Death and Black
Narcissus.
Cast a Dark Shadow is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Film Collection, an imprint of Cohen Media Group, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. Cohen doesn't provide any technical information on the transfer, other than the front cover of this release stating it offers "two fully restored film noir classics" and the back cover listing "a new 2K restoration. . .from the Cohen Film Collection in conjunction with the British Film Institute." That BFI co-branding may point to the fact that this was either based on a well curated archival element or that more restoration moolah may have been available, since this is the better looking presentation of the two mysteries on this disc. While grain is occasionally just a little static looking, particularly in some opticals and establishing shots, on the whole this is a commendably organic looking transfer that preserves very good to excellent detail throughout while offering generally secure contrast. There's very little in the way of age related wear and tear on display, and no compression anomalies of any major note.
Cast a Dark Shadow features an LPCM 2.0 Mono mix which supports this talk heavy enterprise perfectly well. While there is a score by Antony Hopkins, interestingly the opening credits play out over sounds (and screams) of a fun house ride that Teddy and Monica are riding as the film opens. There's a brief musical interlude with singer Lita Roza, whom trivia fans may know since her recording of "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?" made her the first solo vocalist to top the UK charts, a couple of years before this film came out. Dialogue and the occasional sound effect like some roaring car engines at the film's climax are clearly and cleanly presented. Optional English subtitles are available.
Cohen has packaged these together on one disc with the following minimal supplements. Both of the trailers listed below are new, not archival, and advertise Cohen's restorations.
Cast a Dark Shadow has some fun mystery elements and it presents Dirk Bogarde at his most nefarious and black hearted. If the preposterous revelation concerning Freda Jeffries had been a bit more artfully handled, this arguably could have been a bit more forceful. Technical merits are generally solid. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1952
Warner Archive Collection
1953
1956
1947
1952
1955
Reissue
1957
1955
The Boulting Brothers Production of Brighton Rock / Young Scarface
1947
1945
1993
1990
Warner Archive Collection
1952
1946
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1942
Warner Archive Collection
1946
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1946