Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Night Has a Thousand Eyes Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 2, 2021

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

A pitch-black night. The lights from the train station have made it easier for the man (John Lund) to run, but it seems like he has lost precious time. He stops, looks around, and then picks up something from the ground. He is at the right spot, searching for something -- or someone. A little further ahead, after he picks up what appears to be an abandoned purse, the man finally sees what he has been looking for. It is a woman (Gail Russell), quickly going up the nearby overpass. He rushes after her and moments later, as she leans over to jump off in front of an approaching train, he pulls her back and she collapses in his arms.

Later on, as they prepare to leave the train station with his car, the woman asks her savior to put the top up because she is terrified by the stars above.

In the city, the man and the woman enter a chic nightclub and in a quiet corner meet an older man (Edward G. Robinson) smoking a cigarette. The woman instantly recognizes him and, while looking at her savior, declares: “That’s how you know”. The man with the cigarette then invites the couple to join him and begins telling them a fascinating story.

For years, the man with the cigarette made ends meet as a cheating clairvoyant. He had two partners -- a woman who assisted him on the stage, and a man who would look after their finances -- that followed him across the country. Together they had crafted a brilliant act that had people convinced that the man with the cigarette can dig deep into their past and predict their future. They did not make a lot of money, but there was plenty of work and they never struggled.

Then one day, while performing on the stage, the man with the cigarette became a real clairvoyant -- he could see what was yet to happen, and he could tell exactly when it would happen. At first, he was perplexed by his newly acquired skill, but later on nearly lost his mind because he was able to see precisely when his own life would come to an end. In a desperate attempt to prove that his mind was simply playing tricks on him, he abandoned his act and walked away from his associates, but his terrifying new skill remained with him.

It is how eventually the man with the cigarette was able to see that the young woman before him would die prematurely on a night full of stars. It is why he contacted her friend, too. He wanted to help prevent the tragedy. Can he really prevent what is meant to happen? He has thought of a plan that may work, must work, but he needs help executing it. And why does he want to help the girl stay alive? She is the daughter of his former partner, the woman who helped him do his act while he was still a cheating clairvoyant, with whom he was once madly in love and wanted to spend the rest of his days.

John Farrow’s cinematic adaptation of Cornell Woolrich’s novel has the stylish appearance of a classic film noir but produces suspense that would have been perfect in an old-fashioned thriller inspired by one of Agatha Christie’s brilliant novels. Indeed, without the excellent period footage from LA, it probably would have been impossible not to profile as a Victorian thriller.

The film’s pacing is immaculate. Even though the flashbacks easily could have caused some unevenness, there isn’t a single frame of footage that is wasted. Immediately after the opening credits disappear, the film chooses a direction and then heads toward its final destination without any hesitation. While this may sound like an obvious blueprint, it actually isn’t. The story the film tells has a lot of very particular twists and turns which together with the overlapping that is introduced by the flashbacks quite easily could have pulled it in opposite directions at the same time.

Robinson is brilliant and leads throughout the entire film, but he needs Russell’s solid performance because without it the legitimacy of the story would be impossible to replicate. Lund does a fine job with his character, but his contribution isn’t as easy to praise.

Farrow worked with cinematographer John F. Seitz, who lensed such masterpieces as Double Indemnity, Sullivan's Travels, The Lost Weekend, and Sunset Boulevard.

Night Has a Thousand Eyes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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).

Night Has a Thousand Eyes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Night Has a Thousand Eyes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage theatrical trailer for Night Has Thousand Eyes. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Commentary - in this new audio commentary, critic Imogen Sara Smith discusses the history of Night Has Thousand Eyes as well as the novel that inspired it, the film's stylistic identity, some of its key themes, the cast that was assembled for it, etc.

Night Has a Thousand Eyes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.