Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Enter Arsène Lupin Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 15, 2022

Ford Beebe's "Enter Arsene Lupin (1944) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary recorded by film historian Anthony Slide as well as vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

It is too bad that Enter Arsene Lupin isn’t a much bigger film that tells a better story. It is too bad that it isn’t a serious film. Frankly, it is too bad that it is not a film noir.

I did not dislike Enter Arsene Lupin. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, almost immediately after Charles Korvin and Ella Raines met on the Orient Express my mind began speculating how much better the two would have been in a film noir. Korvin looks very handsome but the period attire does not transform him into a French aristocrat who also happens to be a master thief. He would have been perfect as a doomed rebel who was forced to become a gangster and run for his life. Raines would have been the special girl Korvin fell in love with but was told he could not have or a deadly femme fatale that turned his world upside down. The two would have made an incredible couple.

But in Enter Arsene Lupin it seems like Korvin and Raines become a couple simply because the screenplay demands that they do. It is not that they don’t look right for each other, but their behavior and words are such that there is zero electricity in their romantic relationship. They meet on the Orient Express, he “helps” her find a missing precious stone and steals her heart, and fate reunites them in London. Was this his plan? Then he becomes a target for inspector Ganimard (J. Carrol Naish), who has come all the way from Paris to nab him, and she becomes a target to her relatives who want the precious stone for themselves. Their love is put to the test, but not in the way you assume. Why? Because Naish’s character, who would have been perfect in one of those wild period comedies the great W. C. Fields made around the same time, effectively transforms Enter Arsene Lupin into a romantic parody.

Oddly, Enter Arsene Lupin does not feel too comfortable being a romantic parody. When Raines’ relatives decide to stage an “accident” that gets her killed, its tone suddenly changes and it begins to look like they may actually succeed. This new tone is detectable also during the finale, which might be the only area that produces a few genuine surprises, but whether intentional or not, it only solidifies the impression that Enter Arsene Lupin could and should have been a different type of film.

Director Ford Beebe worked with an original screenplay that was handed to him by Bertram Millhauser, who penned a couple of early Sherlock Holmes films. This seems to be why Enter Arsene Lupin occasionally looks like a modernized Victorian adventure film, too. Different leads matching what Naish does before Beebe’s the camera probably would have made Enter Arsene Lupin appear a lot more convincing. But as it is, Enter Arsene Lupin does not have a convincing personality while Korvin and Raines look like captives doing parts that would free them to move on with their careers.

The one thing that Enter Arsene Lupin undoubtedly gets right is the dual image of its star. Indeed, Korvin quite easily could have been portrayed as a French replica of Robin Hood who steals precious objects and then gives them away to the needy so that they exchange them for money. Enter Arsene Lupin makes it quite clear that its star is also a chronic womanizer who would change his plans on the fly, which is precisely how he was described by Maurice Leblanc.

Enter Arsene Lupin was lensed by Hal Mohr, who won Oscar statuettes for his contribution to A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) and Phantom of the Opera (1943).

The original score, which is quite energetic and actually works pretty well for the film, was created by Milton Rosen, whose credits include Under the Gun (1951) and The Glass Web (1953).

Enter Arsène Lupin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.38:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Enter Arsene Lupin arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an exclusive new 2K master with strong organic qualities. However, the quality of the visuals could be somewhat inconsistent because there are plenty of minor but visible surface imperfections, such as nicks, tiny black dots and scratches, and various blemishes. Also, there are minor density fluctuations. The majority of them are introduced by the original cinematography, but some are a byproduct of aging and minor fading. So, you should expect to see small inconsistencies in terms of delineation, clarity, and even depth. The grayscale is convincing, but some of the gray and white nuances reveal sporadic instability. Image stability is good. However, this is another area where minor improvements can be made. All in all, the new 2K master makes it easy to enjoy the film, but there is definitely room for various meaningful cosmetic improvements. (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).

Enter Arsène Lupin 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.

The dialog is clear and easy to follow. However, early into the film, I noticed some very light but slightly distracting thumping sound in the background. This is an issue that I also encountered on The Boss. While its intensity isn't even remotely similar, if you turn up your volume enough -- I usually do because I want to hear all exchanges and do not like using subtitles -- you will hear it. It lasts a couple of minutes and then disappears, so it is clearly something that could have been addressed with digitaltoolsl.

Enter Arsène Lupin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for Enter Arsene Lupin. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by film historian Anthony Slide, who discusses the style and tone of Enter Arsene Lupin and wonders whether Peter Sellers had seen it. I had not made the connection, but J. Carrol Naish's character definitely looks like a possible model for some of Sellers' characters, specifically the colorful inspector Jacques Clouseau. Also, there are some interesting comments about the exact period in which Universal produced the film.

Enter Arsène Lupin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you approach Enter Arsene Lupin expecting even a tiny amount of noirish material in it, you will be disappointed. And why would you approach it with such an expectation? The classic Arsene Lupin character is utterly incompatible with film noir, so the only way Enter Arsene Lupin could have been that kind of a legit genre film is if this character was dramatically remodeled. On the other hand, if you are not at all familiar with Maurice Leblanc's classic character, you probably won't have a problem with Charles Korvin's transformation, though he still isn't right for a film noir. I enjoyed Enter Arsene Lupin, but the entire time my mind kept speculating what could have been if Korvin and Ella Raines had been asked to play lovers in a tough crime drama with noirish aesthetics. This release is included in Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema VIII, a three-disc box set.