Cry of the City Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Cry of the City Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 15, 2016

Robert Siodmak's "Cry of the City" (1948) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the British Film Institute. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; new video interview with film critic Adrian Wotton; and audio commentary by film historian Adrian Martin. The release also arrives with a 12-page illustrated booklet featuring Frank Krutnik's essay "Revisiting Cry of the City" and technical credits. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The wanted man

Our initial impression is that Marty Rome (Richard Conte) really is a bad guy. The two cops that visit him in the prison ward reveal that he has a long record and that he was involved in a recent robbery. We also learn that he has gunned down one of their colleagues.

Later on, however, we also learn that Marty is trying to protect the identity of a mysterious girl (Debra Paget) who has become a target. In fact, Marty is even ready to risk his life so that she can get away. But why? What could possibly force a cold-blooded killer to suddenly want to be a good guy? And who is the girl that Marty wants to protect?

We learn more from Marty’s nemesis, Lieutenant Vitto Candella (Victor Mature), who wants to put him behind bars. Vitto and Marty come from the same neighborhood in Little Italy and were once good friends. But when Vitto joined the police their relationship became complicated and eventually they parted ways. Now Vitto wants Marty locked up, but he also insists that he is trying to prevent his younger brother, Tony (Tommy Cook), from going down the same dangerous path. Is he sincere? We don’t know. And neither does Tony, which is why he vows to foil Vitto’s plan.

A janitor helps Marty escape from the heavily guarded ward and he goes back to the city looking for the mysterious girl. Along the way he confronts a shady character (Berry Kroeger) who offers to pay him big money if he agrees to confess his role in the recent robbery so that his boss is freed. Then Marty meets his old friend Brenda (Shelley Winters), who reluctantly helps him get his wound treated by a paperless doctor.

As it becomes clearer that Marty is running out of time, we begin to wonder if our initial instinctive impression of him was true. Then we begin to wonder if there is a clear line that separates guys like Marty from guys like Vitto. At the end, we also begin to speculate that it may not actually matter much.

The truth is that it does matter, but as it often happens in real life the big picture here is a lot more complicated, with a lot more gray than black and white. It is why this film is so effective -- it repeatedly makes us see its characters from different angles, judge them differently and in the process realize that ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are tricky terms that all of us are guilty of misplacing.

Director Robert Siodmak worked with a script from Richard Murphy, who adapted Henry Edward Helseth’s novel popular novel The Chair for Martin Rome. During the same period, Murphy also collaborated with Elia Kazan’s on the excellent noir films Boomerang (1947) and Panic in the Streets (1950).

*According to various reports, the legendary screenwriter Ben Hecht also contributed to the script, but his name does not appear in the official film credits.

Cry of the City 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, Robert Siodmak's Cry of the City arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the British Film Institute.

The release is sourced from a new 2K restoration of the film which was completed by Twentieth Century Fox. I assume that the exact same master will also be used for the upcoming U.S. Blu-ray release from Kino Video.

Generally speaking, detail and clarity remain pleasing throughout the entire film. Depth is also good, though there are select areas where blacks appear slightly elevated and as a result some extremely light crush can be spotted. Grain is well exposed, but there are sporadic density fluctuations that can become rather obvious. However, it is clear that the density fluctuations are not introduced by poor digital work. It is possible that Fox worked with an interpositive, or that time was more unforgiving in some areas, or that there is footage coming from multiple sources. Edge-enhancement is not an issue of concern. Overall image stability is very good. Finally, a few tiny scratches remain, but there are no distracting large cuts, damage marks, or torn/warped frames to report in our review. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Cry of the City 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.

It immediately becomes obvious that the audio has been cleaned up and stabilized. There are a couple of segments with some light thinness in the mid-range, but there are no sudden drops or spikes in dynamic intensity. Also, there are distracting distortions in the upper register. The the dialog and the music are clean and stable.

Cry of the City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Cry of the City. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Adrian Wotton on Cry of the City - in this new video piece, film critic Adrian Wotton discusses the novel that inspired Cry of the City and the production history and unique qualities of the film. In English, not subtitled. (27 min).

• Audio Commentary - in this audio commentary, film historian Adrian Martin discusses in great detail the production history of Cry of the City, dierctor Robert Siodmak style and unique lensing/framing choices, the ethnic elements in the narrative, the key conflicts and the dilemmas the main protagonists face, etc.

• Booklet - 12-page illustrated booklet featuring Frank Krutnik's essay "Revisiting Cry of the City" and technical credits.

Cry of the City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This very stylish and also unusually thought-provoking noir film from director Robert Siodmak has been recently restored in 2K by Twentieth Century Fox and looks quite wonderful in high-definition. If you wish to add the film to your collection but reside in the United States, keep in mind that Kino Lorber plan to release it on Blu-ray next month. (You can see our listing of this upcoming release here). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.