Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Outside the Law Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 6, 2022

Jack Arnold's "Outside the Law" (1956) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include an exclusive new audio commentary by film historian Richard Harlan Smith as well as vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Our guy is on the other side. We bust him now.

Very little of the drama that you will witness in Jack Arnold’s Outside the Law would have materialized in the real world. In fact, the crucial relationship that makes it possible instantly would have been flagged by someone of authority as extremely problematic. To be perfectly clear, the complex police operation still could have been greenlighted, but the key figures in it would have been different. Why I am taking the time to point this out? Because Outside the Law actually works pretty hard to convince that the situations that are chronicled in it are entirely legit.

Berlin, 1946. On a dark and gloomy night, corporal Harry Craven (Stuart Wade) is gunned down while dealing with some shady characters. A few months later, his good pal corporal Johnny Salvo (Ray Danton) is brought back to the United States and offered a deal. If he helps the authorities break an international ring of counterfeiters that Craven was reportedly involved with, his long record would be wiped clean and citizenship reinstated. Chief Agent Alec Conrad (Onslow Stevens), Salvo’s father, will oversee the entire operation. Salvo reluctantly agrees and shortly after enters the dangerous underworld in which his former pal supposedly made ends meet. While looking for information to identify the key parties directing the counterfeiters, Salvo begins a romantic relationship with Craven’s widow, Maria (Leigh Snowden), whose unwillingness to help him get to her husband’s killers puzzles him.

Outside the Law is the only film in the Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema V box set that actually qualifies to be profiled as a legitimate film noir. It sees crime from the same angle the conventional film noirs do and treats darkness, actual and psychological, as a key component of its drama.

A very typical for the genre sense of fatalism becomes quite prominent after Craven begins his mission as well, though it does not shape up the film’s identity. Rather, it is used to make the audience better grasp the true nature of the risky situations Craven and some of the agents around him encounter. However, even though its management is one of the film’s greatest strengths, it is what makes it vulnerable to criticism. For example, there is an emotional element in the father-son relationship which in the real world instantly would have been deemed problematic by senior investigators, so the emphasis on authenticity that emerges with the fatalism quickly begins to look a bit odd. On top of this, once the operation’s main targets are identified, Craven is given the freedom to evaluate situations and improvise as if he is an experienced agent as well.

Grant Williams, who is best known for his terrific performance in Arnold’s classic mind-bender The Incredible Shrinking Man, plays a very obnoxious goon named Scott Carey who together with his ‘associates’ gives Craven a serious beating. Carey is an important character and what he does and the reasons why he does it make perfect sense, but much of his intensity seems a bit odd as well. It is because Arnold places the spotlight on the mechanics of the procedures that the cops and counterfeiters are engaged in, not their attitudes, posture, and mannerisms.

Arnold used the services of cinematographer Irving Glassberg, who in addition to film noirs lensed a number of popular westerns, such as Bend of the River, Backlash, Kansas Raiders, and The Duel at Silver Creek.

Outside the Law Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Outside the Law arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a wonderful organic master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. I don't know when this master was prepared, but it is very healthy and has the type of consistent strengths that were not common during the DVD era. Regardless, as far as I am concerned the age of the master is actually irrelevant.

Delineation, clarity, and depth are either very good or excellent. A few small density fluctuations become noticeable as the film progresses, but they are actually inherited, not a byproduct of some poor digital corrections. Grain is nicely exposed and evenly distributed, and in a few daylight sequences looks really, really good. The master is wonderfully graded as well. In fact, it is a lot better graded than some of the recent 2K masters that the folks at Kino Lorber have used for various catalog releases. The grayscale supports strong but not overdone blacks as well as wonderful ranges of healthy grays and whites. Image stability is very good. Finally, I did not see any annoying age-related imperfections to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Outside the Law 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.

I did not encounter any technical flaws to report in our review. On my system the audio sounded very clear, clean, stable, and nicely balanced. As mentioned in the video section, at some point Outside the Law was remastered and the folks that did the work made sure that the audio sounds as good as it can. Is there any room for meaningful improvements? I don't think so.

Outside the Law Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - film historian Richard Harlan Smith has recorded a number of audio commentaries for Kino Lorber releases, so if you have listened to a few of them you will know what to expect from his commentary for Outside the Law. There is an abundance of interesting information about the production of the film, Jack Arnold's career, the work that various cast members did (including supporting actors who are not easily recognizable) in the film industry, the film's genre identity and film noir's evolution, etc. It is a very nice commentary that is worth listening to in its entirety.

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for Outside the Law. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

Outside the Law Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jack Arnold left a very diverse body of genre films that share a common quality -- in all of them there is a great emphasis on detail. In the very best, like The Incredible Shrinking Man and No Name on the Bullet, there is usually a great deal of intelligent symbolism that keeps them relevant as well. Outside the Law is a fine film noir, but its take on the mechanics of police detective work is a bit too loose for my taste. Obviously, this isn't exactly a rare occurrence in film noir, but there is plenty of material in Outside the Law that was clearly shot to convince that it is reflective of a reality most people are unfamiliar with. I still like the film quite a lot, but I think that with a few minor adjustments it could have been a lot easier to place next to Jules Dassin's The Naked City and Edward Dmytryk's The Sniper. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from a very fine organic master that was supplied by Universal Pictures and features an excellent exclusive new audio commentary by Richard Harlan Smith. It is included in Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema V, a three-disc box set. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.