Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

No Way to Treat a Lady Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson January 12, 2022

No Way to Treat a Lady (1968) is one of Hollywood's earliest serial killer movies inspired by the likely murders committed by Albert DeSalvo in the Boston area over a three-year span. Indeed, William Goldman reportedly read newspaper articles about DeSalvo which he used as the basis for his eponymous 1964 novel. Goldman declined to adapt his own work into a screenplay. That task fell to John Gay (Separate Tables). No Way to Treat a Lady arrived in American cinemas seven months before the DeSalvo-inspired The Boston Strangler. Goldman's novel employs two killers while Gay's adaptation incorporates only one. Rod Steiger was fresh off his Best Actor win for In the Heat of the Night (1967) and here showcases his chameleon abilities in which he plays seven different roles (six in disguise). Steiger's true self is as thespian and theatrical entrepreneur Christopher Gill, who has his own theater playhouse. Gill's mother was a highly talented theater star whom Gill harbors posthumous jealousy and envy towards. Gill takes his pent-up rage and hostility out on middle-aged to older women he visits in makeup and costume. As the film begins, Gill dresses up as an Irish priest complete with clerical collar, brogue, and red wig. He visits a Mrs. Mulloy (Martine Bartlett) in her apartment where she invites him in and offers him a glass of port wine. He obliges and later tells her that she's been lax on her religious practices. It seems that the priest and Mrs. Mulloy engage in some jovial fun but he strangles her to death. As he does with all of his victims, Gill brings them in the bathroom, places them on a toilet seat, and draws a cupid bow mouth on their foreheads with bright red lipstick, which is his signature of death. On other occasions, Gill visits potential victims disguised as a German plumber, a Jewish police officer, a gay hairdresser/wig salesman, a female barfly, and an Italian gourmet waiter.

Gill has had maternal issues that have stuck with him, which may lead the viewer into surmising that he also murdered his mother. The movie parallels those with the motherly problems of Morris Brummel (George Segal), a police officer who lives with his Jewish mom, Mrs. Brummel (Eileen Heckart). Although she loves Morris, Mrs. Brummel believes that the police business is better left to Irishmen. She tells him that he should have gone into another trade where he'd earn better money like Morris's brother, a doctor who's a lung specialist. Mrs. Brummel is practically a domineering presence in Morris's domestic life. Morris gets a reprieve when he gets out of the house to go to police headquarters or a crime scene. As he goes up to Mrs. Mulloy's apartment, he tells a journalist that the murder was well-planned and well-executed. Gill reads articles about criminal activity in the newspapers like he would reviews of his theater performances. Morris's comments impress him and he begins telephoning him both at work and at home after he commits another murder. Gill even does impersonations of W. C. Fields and Maurice Chevalier. Kate Palmer (Lee Remick), a former swinger who's now a tour guide at the recently built Lincoln Center, passed Gill's priest as he made his way up to Mrs. Mulloy's door. She's not only a witness but a love interest for the usually bashful Morris. Gill knows of her, too. Will he get to Kate before Morris knows?

Does Police Chief Gillespie appear in another movie, too?

No Way to Treat a Lady is essentially the versatile Steiger's show as he pulls out all the stops. George Segal and Lee Remick are both very good but they play second fiddle to Steiger. The film's obvious weakness is that the police are stereotyped into being portrayed as too slow and dimwitted. Director Jack Smight repeatedly shows scenes where the police are attempting to trace the whereabouts of Gill while he talks on the phone with Morris but always hangs up before they can get a complete trace.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Smight and his crew began filming No Way to Treat a Lady in New York on July 24, 1967. According to the Johnson City (TN) Press Chronicle, the filmmakers put out a call for 300 extras to appear as tour­ists, policemen, pedestrians, and diners for scenes set at Lincoln Center, the Pan Am Building, Sardi’s Res­taurant, and the Club 82. The film's production notes document that more than 1,000 extras ultimately appeared for this NYC production. Celebrity reporter Florabel Muir noted in her "Hollywood" column that Paramount hosted an invitational preview of the film in mid-March, 1968. Attendees included star Rod Steiger and his then-wife Claire Bloom, Roman Polanski and then-bride Sharon Tate, Janet Leigh, Walter Matthau, Carl Reiner, Edward G. Robinson, and other stars.

No Way to Treat a Lady Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

No Way to Treat a Lady makes its global debut on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50 (disc size: 32.51 GB). The picture appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Paramount's 2002 DVD suffered from some print damage and faded colors. Those deficiencies are thankfully not present on the new master that Scream worked from. It should be pointed out, though, that the first reel has a coarser grain structure than at any other point in the film. The print initially looks a bit dirty during those first few scenes but that aesthetic seems intentional. Milton R. Bass, then an entertainment editor for The Berkshire Eagle (MA), saw a theatrical print of No Way to Treat a Lady and observed that the Technicolor photography was "murky, but this may have been a deliberate attempt to show the smog problem in Fun City." The new scan shows off, for example, Lee Remick's wardrobes (her magenta top in Screenshot #2) and the bowl of fruit on the Brummel kitchen table in #3. Scream has encoded the feature at a mean video bitrate of 34000 kbps.

The 108-minute film receives the standard twelve scene selections.

No Way to Treat a Lady Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Scream has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1694 kbps, 24-bit). The monaural mix is free of any audible hiss, pops, crackles, or dropouts. Dialogue is flat yet relatively clear and crisp. The track has very limited range, although it opens up a little bit when the ballad, "A Quiet Place," is sung by The American Breed. Composer Stanley Myers's orchestral score fits the period and the film's various moods very well.

Scream delivers optional English SDH for the feature.

No Way to Treat a Lady Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Audio Commentary with Film Historian David Del Valle - Del Valle is a huge Rod Steiger fan and reminisces about the time he met him on a Canon Films production in the late '80s. Del Valle offers an appraisal of Steiger's performance in No Way to Treat a Lady and several other roles. He pretty comprehensively covers the work in this film by the other cast members, too. Additionally, Del Valle discusses other similarly themed movies of the period such as The Strangler (1964). (He's a big fan of Victor Buono, too.) There's only one gap (towards the end) of this commentary track. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW A Terror Treat – Film Historian/Author Kim Newman Recalls a Killer Thriller (16:44, 1080p) - Newman recounts the period when William Goldman wrote No Way to Treat a Lady, copycat killings inspired by the Boston Strangler, this movie's unusual approach to its material, Rod Steiger's performative style, George Segal as a leading man, and Jack Smight's movies/TV shows as a director. In English, not subtitled.

• Photo Gallery (5:56, 1080i) - a slide show comprising seventy images that display the production and ad campaign of No Way to Treat a Lady. The first thirty are glossy black-and-white photographs from Paramount's press packet. These consist of stills taken of scenes, publicity snapshots, and behind-the-scenes images showing the crew at work. The next twenty-one stills are lobby cards (in color!) from the US and French marketing campaigns. This is followed by five color photos. The presentation wraps with fourteen stills of American and international poster sheets (vertical and horizontal) as well as ad slicks from Paramount's press book and merchandising manual.

No Way to Treat a Lady Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

No Way to Treat a Lady is a masterclass from Rod Steiger, who inhabits six different characters in disguise! It's surprising that he didn't at least net an Academy Award nomination, although he won a year earlier. The movie is more successful as a character study than it is as a police procedural. Scream Factory delivers a stellar restored transfer and a very solid uncompressed monaural track. The label recorded a fine new audio commentary with film historian David Del Valle and also shot a recent interview with Kim Newman. Australian label Via Vision has an exclusive audio commentary by Kat Ellinger on its Blu-ray but nothing else. Overall, Scream has a few more extras. A STRONG RECOMMENDATION for the movie and this package.