7.9 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.3 |
A revolutionary ex-con leads a robbery that goes horribly wrong. Injured and hunted by the police, he seeks refuge throughout the city, while the woman he loves searches for him among the shadows.
Starring: James Mason (I), Robert Newton, Cyril Cusack, F.J. McCormick, William HartnellDrama | 100% |
Film-Noir | 43% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Nominated for the prestigious Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival and winner of BAFTA Award for Best British Film, Carol Reed's "Odd Man Out" (1947) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include new video interview with cinema scholar John Hill; new video interview with music scholar Jeff Smith; the documentary film "Home, James" (1972); radio adaptation of the film; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Johnny
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Carol Reed's Odd Man Out arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"This new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit DataCine film scanner from a new 35mm composite fine-grain made from the original nitrate negative, provided by the BFI National Archive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS and Pixel Farm's PFClean, while Digital Vision's DVNR and Phoenix were used for small dirt and stabilization.
Transfer supervisor: Lee Kline.
Colorist: Trevor Brown: Deluxe Digital London."
Criterion's presentation of Odd Man Out has little in common with British Network's presentation of the film (you can see our review of the British release here). Generally speaking, on the Criterion release the film appears slightly softer and brighter. Interestingly enough, while in select darker sequences clarity tends to be better on the British release, on the Criterion release shadow definition is in fact superior. For example, compare screencapture #8 with screencapture #3 from our review of the British release. Here clarity appears to be better on the British release, but there is in fact more visible information on the Criterion release -- see the wall on the right side of the frame. However, on the left side of the frame the brick wall actually appears better detailed on the British release. Obviously, it is easy to see that there is light black crush on the British release and sharpness levels appear to have been elevated, but the Criterion release also appears marginally softer. Elsewhere, however, some of these discrepancies are reversed. For example, compare screencapture #15 with screencapture #14 from our review of the British release. On the bottom left corner there is more visible information on the British release while on the Criterion release the image appears too dark. Furthermore, the overwhelming amount of the light scratches that are visible on the British release have been either removed or toned down on the Criterion release. Whether the work is as effective as it should have been, however, something that can be debated as at least some of the sporadic softness on the Criterion release can be traced back to the digital cleanup. Grain is visible throughout the entire film, but it does fluctuate. This should not be surprising, however, as it is very easy to see that time has left its mark. Overall image stability is good, but there are sequences where a few frames appear a bit shaky. All in all, I think that the ideal presentation of Odd Man Out most likely should be a hybrid of the British release and Criterion's upcoming release. I like the better balanced and more convincing organic appearance of the Criterion release as it eliminates a lot of the harshness from the British release, but in select areas clarity (and I am not referring to the light sharpening) is in fact better on the British release. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
Dynamic intensity is rather limited, but this should not be surprising considering the age of the film. The dialog is crisp, stable, and easy to follow. William Alwyn's (The Fallen Idol, A Night to Remember) dynamic score also breathes quite well. There is no problematic background hiss, but some extremely light unevenness in the high-frequencies can be felt (it is also present on the British release).
The Third Man is rightfully considered to be Carol Reed's masterpiece, but there are certain aspects of Odd Man Out that are better. William Alwyn's score, for instance, may well be one of the very best ever done for a noir film. Criterion's technical presentation of Odd Man Out is good, but has little in common with Network's presentation of the film. As far as supplemental features are concerned, I think that Criterion's selection is clearly better. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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