6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Attorney Andrew Morton (Humphrey Bogart) started as a young kid in the slums, but worked his way up to become one of the top lawyers in town. A young hoodlum, Nick Romano (John Derek), has been arrested for the murder of a cop, but he says that he has been framed. While Morton does whatever he can to get Nick cleared, we learn about Nick’s dangerous life while living in the same slums Morton came from.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, John Derek, George Macready, Allene Roberts, Mickey KnoxDrama | 100% |
Film-Noir | 61% |
Crime | 33% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Nicholas Ray's "Knock on Any Door" (1949) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films. The supplemental features on the release include new program with critic Geoff Andrew; new audio commentary by critic Pamela Hutchinson; vintage trailer for the film; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
Listen, kid. You gotta go in and make a good impression. Smile.
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Knock on Any Door arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films.
The release is sourced from an older master, but despite some sporadic minor unevenness, I think that it is quite good. Delineation and clarity, for instance, are typically very pleasing, which isn't always easy because there is plenty of diverse footage where light and shadow produce subtle nuances. Depth is good too, though there are a couple of areas where darker visuals tend to collapse existing detail. Why? Because of small anomalies in the grayscale that produce stronger than usual blacks which introduce crushing (an example can be seen in screencapture #16). Grain exposure is fine, but the surface of the visuals could have a more attractive organic appearance. Image stability is good. A few nicks and blemishes can be spotted, but there are no distracting large debris, cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report. (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).
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.
I thought that the lossless track was very good. The dialog is always clear, clean, stable, and easy to follow. George Antheil's soundtrack easily produces plenty of good contrasts as well. In fact, I would say that for a film from the late 1940s, this dynamic intensity is probably as good as it can be. A few times, I did notice some extremely light hiss in the upper register, but I had the volume of my system turned up quite a bit. It was not in any way distracting.
Knock on Any Door promotes the ancient Hollywood myth that society is the ultimate criminal that ought to be blamed for the actions of despicable individuals that have made the conscious decision to spend their lives on the wrong side of the law. I think that the film is impossible to take seriously by anyone that actually understands the concept of personal responsibility as well as its purpose in any properly functioning contemporary western society. Nicholas Ray's direction of the film's two stars, Humphrey Bogart and John Derek, is quite disappointing, too. This release is sourced from an older but good master that was supplied by Sony Pictures. It is included in Columbia Noir #5: Humphrey Bogart, a six-disc box set.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Indicator Series | Standard Edition
1949
Indicator Series | Standard Edition
1951
Indicator Series | Standard Edition
1949
Indicator Series
1950
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1947
Indicator Series | Standard Edition
1954
Indicator Series
1950
Indicator Series | Standard Edition
1948
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1957
Indicator Series | Standard Edition
1954
Standard Edition
1957
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1951
Indicator Series | Standard Edition
1956
Indicator Series | Standard Edition
1947
Indicator Series | Standard Edition
1947
Masters of Cinema
1947
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1951
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Indicator Series | Standard Edition
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Arrow Academy
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