Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Out of the Blue Blu-ray Movie Review

Greenwich Village on Fire.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 12, 2019

Out of the Blue is a film that struggles mightily to attain a farcical ambience, with only fitful laughs resulting. That aspect actually brought to mind the recently reviewed Tel Aviv on Fire, a film which attempted to make comedic hay out of the epochal Arab-Israeli conflict, to similarly fitful results. There’s nothing quite as serious underpinning Out of the Blue, a film which boils down to a dispute between neighbors nonetheless, though everything is placed within the context of a serial murderer marauding through post-World War II Greenwich Village, which certainly would seem to be pretty far from the expected shores of traditional humor. If Out of the Blue never completely registers in the laugh department, it’s rather interesting for at least a couple of reasons, at least for those who like to read credits and/or delve into the biographies of stars. In the “below the line” department, Out of the Blue was co-written by Vera Caspary (helping to adapt her own story), and that in and of itself is a rather fascinating data point, since in 1947, when Out of the Blue was released, Caspary was probably still experiencing the veritable afterglow of what is arguably the best remembered film based on a Caspary opus, Laura. (With regard to that film, it's perhaps instructive to remember that while the basic plot dealt with a supposed murder mystery, there were at least hints of comedy courtesy of such characters as the inimitable Waldo Lydecker.) Two other names that pass by quickly in the opening credits roll may spark a little further investigation as well: Ern Westmore, who was one of the make-up artists, is one of the lesser remembered of the legendary Westmore clan, and was evidently Perc Westmore's twin; and Carmen Dragon, who contributed the music, was rather well known in his heyday, but attained a new notoriety later in life as the father of Daryl Dragon, the "Captain" of Captain and Tennille. But it's probably one of the film's actual stars who may provide the biggest dose of Hollywood intrigue.

Though a number of her film appearances remain uncredited, Carole Landis managed to crank out well over fifty films in a career that stretched for barely a decade, before an event that has probably become her most famous “accomplishment”: her tragic suicide at age 29 in 1948 (making Out of the Blue one of her last three film roles), reportedly the result of an affair with Rex Harrison that Landis realized was never going to lead to marriage. (Landis’ actual marriages — and there are several, including a quick annulment and remarriage to the same guy — are fascinating in and of themselves.) While Landis was marketed as yet another “blonde bombshell” (before that term became associated with folks like Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield), here perhaps unexpectedly she’s cast in Out of the Blue as a harridan housewife named Mae Earthleigh, whose sole purpose in life seems to be henpecking her frequently addled husband Arthur (George Brent).

Mae is outraged that the Earthleighs’ 10th floor apartment neighbor is womanizer and artist David Galleo (Turhan Bey), whose dog Rabelais keeps jumping onto the Earthleighs’ balcony from next door to bury his bones in Mae’s zinnia plantings. Mae insists that Arthur threaten David about the dog, which then becomes a running plot point. In the meantime, a whole separate unfolding story deals with David romancing a woman named Deborah Tyler (Virginia Mayo, in a role some might think should have arguably gone to Landis), who shows up unannounced at David’s apartment to suggest David allow her to breed Rabelais with her prize German shepherd. David of course has a wholly different kind of breeding on his mind, and invites Deborah to model for him in exchange for “rights” to Rabelais.

Mixed into this already kind of odd stew are two other subplots, one (used mostly for brief interstitials) dealing with two elderly spinsters who live above and to the side of both the Earthleighs and David, and who keep a sharp eye on all of the proceedings, and another, more central, story featuring Ann Dvorak as an interior designer named Olive Jensen whom Arthur meets at a nightclub that he visits after Mae takes off to spend time with her sister in another town. This whole angle is one of Out of the Blue's oddest elements for a couple of reasons, including kind of bizarre character traits for Olive, who more or less gloms on to Arthur and just starts staying at his apartment. Olive also suffers from something akin to narcolepsy (perhaps aided and abetted by way too much alcohol), something that again rather weirdly plays into things.

Had Out of the Blue built to some kind of manic frequency, it might have provided more solid laughs. The whole thing seems slightly off center a lot of the time, with Dvorak's over the top sensibilities not melding especially well with a kind of flustered characterization offered by Brent (donning "Cary Grant Bringing Up Baby glasses"). Bey is supposed to be an irresistible gigolo, but as he often offered in more villainous roles in some of this 1940s "exotica" pictures, he has an almost inherent smarminess that may make Mayo's supposed interest in him questionable. The film ends up with all gender roles and relationships properly "defined" by the standards of the era, but the film kind of curiously decides to just jettison Olive after she's provided most of the supposed comedy.

Out of the Blue Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: ClassicFlix provided a check disc for purposes of this review, and will be sending a completed version later. As always, if I notice any differences between the two, I will post an update to this review at that time.

Out of the Blue is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of ClassicFlix with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. While certainly more than watchable and generally supportive of good detail levels, this shows some more consistent wear and tear than some of the other restorations we've seen from ClassicFlix, with a number of scratches and other blemishes still fairly evident. Clarity is somewhat variable (including the Eagle Lion masthead at the very start of the film, which looks a bit cloudy), though generally detail levels are quite good on things like some of the ornate patterns on costumes that are worn by Mayo, Dvorak and even the elderly spinsters upstairs. There are some minor variances in contrast which can affect black levels, but on the whole this is another nice looking transfer that preserves an organically resolving grain field, but which might have benefited from more clean up.

Out of the Blue Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Out of the Blue features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix which can't quite escape the inherent boxiness of its era but which still provides rather nice support for both Carmen Dragon's score and a lovely interlude by Hadda Brooks that takes place at the nightclub where Arthur and Olive meet. Dialogue is rendered cleanly throughout the presentation, and I noticed no problematic dropouts or other major damage.

Out of the Blue Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only bonus features on this disc are a collection of trailers for other ClassicFlix releases. As usual with my reviews, I don't consider trailers for other releases to be a "scoreable" supplement.

Out of the Blue Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I kind of love how what I assume is some of the key marketing art for this film features Virginia Mayo "diving" out toward the audience like some kind of nascent Esther Williams, when there's nary a synchronized swimming sequence in this film. Maybe that would have helped, actually, since a lot of other equally odd material seems to have been thrown at the veritable wall to see what might stick. It's bittersweet to see Landis so late in her career, and perhaps especially odd to see her in a role like this. This does certainly feature a kind of outré cast, and as such may be of interest to some 1940s film fans. Technical merits are generally solid for those considering a purchase.