Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Moonrise Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 8, 2018

Frank Borzage's "Moonrise" (1948) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The only bonus feature on the disc is a filmed conversation between Herve Dumont, writer and former director of the Cinematheque suisse, and critic Peter Cowie. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Philip Kemp's essay "Dark of the Moon" and technical credits. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A.

The fugitive

Frank Borzage, one of the greatest and sadly one of the most underappreciated directors to work in Hollywood during its early days, left a remarkable legacy of films, but over the years many of them have been quite difficult to track down and see. Moonrise is arguably his best post-war project and one of the jewels in Republic Pictures’ catalog.

In an unnamed small town a middle-aged man is hanged after committing a horrendous murder. Some years later his son, Danny Hawkins (Dane Clark), is frequently harassed by his peers who have been taught by their parents to disrespect him. For a while Danny does his best to avoid the attackers, but on a bad day blows a fuse and kills the most outspoken one of the bunch. It all happens very quickly in the nearby forest where young lovers usually meet.

While Danny attempts to come to terms with the fact that he has become a killer like his father, news breaks that the dead boy has gone missing and that the local sheriff (Allyn Joslyn) suspects that something bad might have happened to him. Danny does not panic and even wins the heart of Gilly Johnson (Gail Russell), who was also courted by his dead rival.

As more time passes by and the sheriff begins asking relevant questions about the missing boy, however, Danny loses his cool and while out with another couple causes a serious car accident. Gilly remains with him, but the closer they become, the more she begins to realize that he under tremendous pressure and possibly even on a verge of a serious nervous breakdown.

There are two important messages that emerge from this film and they are most definitely not dated. The first is that when a community allows an innocent person to be treated like a criminal, there is an excellent chance that eventually that person will become one. The entire first half of the film focuses on the conditions that have made it impossible for Danny to distance himself from his father’s past and the fact that he has never been given the same opportunity to choose a path in his life that every other town resident has had. The second is that kindness begets kindness, which is why at the end Danny undergoes the positive transformation. This is the more vulnerable of the two messages mostly because our modern world is a lot more cynical than the one that Danny comes from, but when placed in the right environment and given a chance to redeem themselves ‘bad’ people usually try to redirect their lives and do better.

The tone and visual style of the film are typical for Borzage’s work. There is a casual lightness in the film that effectively keeps the melodrama at bay and allows a very organic sense of intimacy to emerge, which is why the crucial segment from the swamp and the finale look so authentic. On the other hand, plenty of the visuals are composed with a similar and in some cases the same type of stylistic awareness that defined the work of the German expressionists.

The very powerful orchestral score was composed by William Lava, and it may very well be the best one used in a Borzage film.

Moonrise Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Frank Borzage's Moonshine arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a DFT Scanity film scanner from the original 35mm nitrate original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain and noise management. The monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm nitrate original soundtrack negative. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.

Colorist: Sheri Eisenberg/Deluxe, Culver City, CA.
Audio transfer: Deluxe Audio Services, Los Angeles."

I've acquired every single Borzage film that has been released on Blu-ray and Moonshine is by far the best looking one. Obviously earlier titles like Lucky Star present entirely different challenges when they are transferred to Blu-ray, but the stability of the density and the overall consistency of the fluidity on display here are really quite remarkable. Additionally, this is a very, very healthy presentation of the film, with excellent organic qualities in all major areas that we scrutinize in our reviews. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. The grading is also very convincing, supporting strong primaries and at the same time allowing plenty of healthy nuances to emerge. Very impressive. (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).

Moonrise 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.

The lossless track will almost certainly surprise most viewers because it has an outstanding range of nuanced dynamics that are quite rare for a period film of this caliber. William Lava's dramatic score is particularly effective, though as mentioned in the review it is also arguably the best one used in a Frank Borzage film. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in our review.

Moonrise Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Herve Dumont and Peter Cowie - in this brand new video program, Herve Dumont, former director of the Cinematheque suisse and author of Frank Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic, and critic Peter Cowie discuss the life and legacy of Frank Borzage, the evolution of his style, and some of the key themes and qualities that define Moonshine. The program was filmed in Lausanne, Switzerland, in January 2018. In English, not subtitled. (18 min, 1080p).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Philip Kemp's essay "Dark of the Moon" and technical credits.

Moonrise Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The thing that I usually find most attractive about Frank Borzage's films is their ability to remain casual and authentic even when their stories channel very powerful feelings and emotions. I think that this is also the main quality that makes them appear so fresh today because it is clear that Borzage allowed them to evolve on their own like a lot of great contemporary films do, rather than in the cliched ways that during his time the studios favored. Moonrise is exactly that kind of a powerful personal drama whose messages have not aged at all. Criterion's new release is sourced from a great new 4K restoration, which is also the best presentation of a Borzage film that I have seen to date. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.