7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A mind reader discovers he has been cursed with the gift of seeing the future.
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Gail Russell, John Lund, Virginia Bruce, William DemarestFilm-Noir | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.38:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
John Farrow's "Night Has a Thousand Eyes" (1948) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include exclusive new audio commentary by critic Imogen Sara Smith and vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The man who used to cheat
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.38:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Night Has a Thousand Eyes arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
My general impression of the technical presentation is that it is slightly better and marginally more consistent than the one we saw for John Farrow's Alias Nick Beal. This would mean that even though the film could reveal some signs of aging, it has an overall attractive organic appearance. So, the film can definitely benefit from a proper restoration, but the key areas we typically address in our reviews are actually pretty solid. For example, most well-lit close-ups reveal very nice delineation, though minor density fluctuations can be observed as well. (Compare screencapture #3 and screencapture #1). Depth ranges from good to very good, but this is another area where you will notice some unevenness. Now, some of the unevenness is introduced by the original cinematography, but elsewhere it is pretty easy to tell that time has left its mark on the element that was accessed to create the current master. The grading job is very good, but in darker and nighttime footage some nuances are not as convincing as they should be. This is source limitation as well, not a digitally introduced anomaly. There are no traces of problematic grain management, but ideally grain exposure should be a lot more consistent. Image stability is good. Finally, I noticed a few minor blemishes, but there are no large distracting cuts, debris, warped, or torn frames to report. To sum it all up, even though there is room for meaningful improvements, the current presentation is convincing and actually quite attractive. (Note: This is s Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
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.
Clarity is good and the dialog and narration are easy to follow. However, very light background hiss can frequently make its presence felt. Does it ever become distracting? No. It just confirms that when the current master was created from the best existing element specific work was not performed to remove all signs of ageing. A full-blown restoration would have accomplished precisely that, but you don't have to worry because the overall quality of the current lossless track is still very nice. There are no distortions or audio dropouts to report in our review.
My impression is that John Farrow constantly attempted to bend all sorts of different genre rules to produce unique cinematic thrills. Admittedly, I have not seen all of his films because some are quite difficult to track down, but I have seen enough to declare that his 'experimental work' was very effective. Men in Exile, The Saint Strikes Back, Alias Nick Beal, and Plunder of the Sun come from different periods in Farrow's career, but reveal the exact same type of narrative and stylistic flexibility that makes his work exciting. Night Has a Thousand Eyes is another example that supports this short description of Farrow's modus operandi. Indeed, it has the stylish appearance of an early film noir, but frequently behaves as a twisty Victorian thriller that could have been inspired by one of Agatha Christie's famous novels. I like it a lot. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from a slightly uneven but still very good organic master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
1955
1957
Fox Studio Classics
1950
1945
1950
1947
1956
1954
Warner Archive Collection
1951
1949
Limited Edition of 2000
1963
1954
1946
Warner Archive Collection
1940
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1950
Warner Archive Collection
1952
1975
Limited Edition to 3000
1954
1951
1952