6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A gritty crime thriller about a newly-discharged sailor who gets a job as a longshoreman in The Big Easy. He swiftly discovers mob corruption throughout the docks, and when a friend is killed by the gangsters, he convinces the police to let him go undercover and take matters into his own hands. Filmed on location on the docks and in the French Quarter.
Starring: Beverly Garland, Arthur Franz, Helene Stanton, Michael Ansara, Stacy HarrisDrama | 100% |
Film-Noir | 94% |
Crime | 54% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This version of this film is available as part of Hollywood Story / New Orleans Uncensored.
Kit Parker Films assembled three interesting collections called Noir Archive Volume 1: 1944-1954, Noir Archive Volume 2: 1954-1956 and Noir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960, but all three of those volumes were also branded with the Mill Creek
Entertainment logo, despite one “helpful” member sending me a seemingly very insistent private message, when the first volume was
announced and was bearing the
Mill Creek Entertainment name in our database, “informing” me that “Mill Creek had nothing to do with this.” Mr. Parker himself actually
sent me an email
clarifying a kind of partnership which resulted in both entities being listed on the releases (and indeed Mill Creek Entertainment had at least
something to do with them), but the upshot is Mill Creek Entertainment itself has now re-released New Orleans Uncensored, which
was
featured in the second volume of Kit Parker’s offerings, along with Hollywood Story, in a double feature that offers two lesser remembered
films helmed by the venerable William Castle.
New Orleans Uncensored is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p
transfer in 1.85:1. Perhaps unsurprisingly given Mill Creek's involvement with the Kit Parker version of this film, this looks largely if not completely
identical to that presentation, and so I'll be repeating some of what I said in my review of that version. This presentation has a couple of built in
detriments that keep it from looking totally excellent all of the time, including a glut of
stock footage developing various locations of New Orleans (even though the film does appear to have been shot there, at least in part), and perhaps
more importantly a huge number of optical dissolves, including some montage sequences (as in one beginning at circa 18:00). All of these approaches
and/or techniques can lead to a pretty noticeable downgrade in detail levels and uptick in grain and dirt. There are also some pretty bad scratches as
with a rather large black one that recurs just right of the center of the frame during a boxing sequence at around 27:00. Otherwise, though, this
presentation does deliver some appealing detail levels on things like fabrics or even some of the New Orleans location work. Grain is once again on the
heavy side, but doesn't encounter any major compression issues.
Note: I've tried to come close to replicating some of the screenshots contained in my New Orleans Uncensored Blu-ray review of the Kit Parker Films release, as well as providing some
other moments.
While this version of New Orleans Uncensored features a dual channel mono track delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio, as with the video element, I frankly noticed no major differences between the audio presentations. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track capably supports narration, score and dialogue as well as the several outdoor scenes where appealing background noise and/or music help to bring the New Orleans setting to life. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the presentation.
There are no supplements offered on this Blu-ray disc.
This is the kind of film where you know the bad guys are bad guys because they're almost always chomping on cigars. This may have had aims to be a B-movie On the Waterfront, but it never quite attains that same kind of mythic grandeur. Performances are generally excellent, and it's kind of fun to see Michael Ansara featured as a snarling bad guy. Video has some issues, but audio is fine, for those considering a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Rundskop
2011
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1955
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1932
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Includes Elia Kazan: Outsider 1982 Documentary
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