Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

New Orleans Uncensored Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 15, 2020

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.

As mentioned above, New Orleans Uncensored received a previous release on Blu-ray, and this review will repeat part of what I wrote at the time of that release.

If Hollywood Story owes more than a bit to Sunset Boulevard, New Orleans Uncensored traffics in some “ On the Waterfront sensibility”, with an emphasis on longshoremen and either racketeering or anti-racketeering (depending on which side of the conflict you come down on) efforts. Dan Corbett (Arthur Franz) is a decent guy trying to make a living in shipping in New Orleans, who runs up against a bevy of bad guys including the wonderfully named chief villain Zero Saxon (Michael Ansara). Kind of interestingly (and quite probably not completely by coincidence), there’s also a boxing angle to this film (as with On the Waterfront), but the film never attains the near mythic emotional power of Kazan’s masterpiece, even if this film does offer the directorial hand of William Castle. Instead, it’s a suitably gritty morality lesson which features some really good performances (including a surprisingly pouty Beverly Garland) and at least some passing shots of New Orleans in the fifties.

New Orleans Uncensored Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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.

New Orleans Uncensored Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

New Orleans Uncensored Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements offered on this Blu-ray disc.

New Orleans Uncensored Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.