Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Dark City Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 24, 2024

William Dieterle's "Dark City" (1950) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include an audio commentary by writer and film noir expert Alan K. Rode and vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

They are a four-member crew running a gambling den in Chicago. To be allowed to operate without problems, at the end of each month, they pay a fee to a crooked cop somewhere high up the ladder. Danny (Charlton Heston) is the brains behind the entire operation. Barney (Ed Begley), Augie (Jack Webb), and Henry (Harry Morgan) do the phones and the books.

When an ambitious detective (Dean Jagger) disrupts the protection agreement and damages their reputation, they gather to determine the future of their operation. As if to make up for their immediate losses and encourage them to continue working together, Lady Luck then sends their way a sucker (Don DeFore) from Los Angeles with a $5,000 check in his wallet. They set up a poker game for him and let him win big, and on the following day, after he returns to double his fortune, they easily get their money back and his check. Shortly after, having lost all of his money and a check that did not belong to him, the sucker hangs himself in his hotel room.

But before they can cash the check, and while the police are trying to figure out why the sucker took his life, someone strangles Barney in his room. At first, Danny refuses to believe that Barney’s death has anything to do with the sucker, but after learning that he was supposed to meet his brother, he changes his mind. Danny also quickly concludes that tracking down a second stranger to prevent more trouble without knowing his name or what he looks like is a waste of time too, so together with Augie, he heads to Los Angeles to find out the identity of their nemesis.

After tricking the sucker’s widow (Viveca Lindfors) into believing that he works for an insurance agency and needs to get in touch with his brother, Danny learns that their nemesis is a dangerous psychopath. However, the widow’s kindness and pain unexpectedly alter his take on everything he and his partners have gone through since meeting and cheating the sucker. Determined to help her reset her life, Danny then travels to Las Vegas, where after reuniting with his girlfriend (Lizabeth Scott), a freelancing nightclub singer, he hits one of the biggest casinos in town to win a small fortune for her. But the psychopath learns about his plan to help the widow and follows him to Las Vegas.

Directed by William Dieterle in 1950, Dark City is frequently cited as the film in which Heston had his first major role. However, this is not entirely accurate because several years earlier Heston had done the main part in David Bradley’s remake of the silent drama Peer Gynt. (On the other hand, this remake was a very low-budget silent production, so Heston’s first major speaking role was in fact in Dark City. A very young Heston also played Julius Caesar in another below average project helmed by Bradley).

The scope and atmosphere of Dark City are quite similar to those of Don Siegel’s The Lineup, though the visuals these films produce could not be any more different. In Dark City, Dieterle rarely misses an opportunity to emphasize the crucial film noir qualities -- the shadow effect, the relationship between character and location identities, the striking contrasts between the criminal underworld and the real world. In The Lineup, Siegel trades the shadow effect for bright daylight and follows another crew of shady characters as if they are the main subjects in a raw documentary about crime on the streets of San Francisco. And yet, both are very similar and representative of the type of entertainment film noirs were expected to offer during the 1950s.

Heston is excellent as the conflicted crook who chooses to become a good man, but he is not the only one who leaves a lasting impression. Begley and Webb handle their characters incredibly well, too. Scott and Lindfords are likable but look somewhat mismanaged. The former is in several unnecessarily long singing acts, while the latter’s transformation is too quick.

It is worth noting that Dieterle and cinematographer Victor Milner chose several excellent locations in Los Angeles and Las Vegas to use in the film.

Dark 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, Dark City arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a recent 4K master prepared at Paramount Pictures. This is not the same master that Olive Films worked with to prepare this release of Dark City a decade ago.

I liked what I saw on my system a lot. Some cosmetic work could have been done to remove a few nicks and blemishes that pop up in a few places, but the overall quality of the visuals ranges from very good to excellent. For example, there is plenty of nighttime footage, some of it with thick fog too, that boasts wonderful ranges of darker nuances. here. Also, daylight footage reveals good ranges of highlights. Yes, there are small density fluctuations, some of which affect delineation and depth, but in these areas nothing looks unnatural. On the contrary, all visuals maintain very solid organic qualities. The grayscale is very good. I did not see any distracting crushing patterns, even in the darkest material. Image stability is very good. All in all, there is some room for minor cosmetic improvements, but I think that Dark City looks wonderful in 1080p. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Dark City 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 English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Although I viewed the Dark City extremely late, I had the volume of my system turned up quite a bit and did not notice any concerning anomalies to report in our review. Franz Waxman's dramatic score frequently surprised me with its potency, and in a few areas I thought that it sounded outstanding. The dialog is always clear, sharp, and easy to follow. The upper register is stable, but if there is any room for improvement, it is probably there, as occasionally small unevenness can be spotted.

Dark City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this audio commentary was recorded by writer and film noir expert Alan K. Rode. The bulk of the comments address the production history of Dark City, the film's style, the exact period in which it emerged and some trends in film noir, the different locations where key sequences were shot, and the casting choices.

• Trailer - a vintage theatrical trailer for Dark City. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

Dark City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It would be unfair to place Dark City among the biggest film noirs of the 1950s, like The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing. However, as a smaller film, it is almost brilliant, producing terrific characters and visuals that you would expect to see in its bigger relatives. It reminded me of Don Siegel's The Lineup, which has stayed in the shadow of his iconic films, but is an almost brilliant film, too. Kino Lorber's release of Dark City is sourced from a solid recent 4K master and is included in Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XIX, a three-disc box set. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.