Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Pickup on South Street Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 16, 2021

Sam Fuller's "Pickup on South Street" (1953) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include two archival programs with the director; new interview with critic Imogen Sara Smith; vintage trailer for the film; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Skip

In an overcrowded subway, arrogant thief Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark, The Trap, Yellow Sky) snatches the purse of naive ex-prostitute Candy (Jean Peters, Viva Zapata!, Niagara), who is on her way to deliver a stolen microfilm with some government secrets to her shady boyfriend Joey (Richard Kiley, The Sniper). This confuses FBI agent Zara (Willis B. Bouchey, The Big Heat), who has been tailing her, and forces him to seek the assistance of Captain Tiger (Murvyn Vye, River of No Return), who promptly summons his invaluable informer Moe (Thelma Ritter, All About Eve, Pillow Talk), a bubbly lady who knows all the top cannons in the city. Moe then tells Captain Tiger and Zara that Skip has Candy’s purse.

The cops track down Skip, but decide to wait until Candy gets the microfilm from him and hands it to Joey so that they can arrest him. Shortly after, Candy meets Skip and falls madly in love with him. Assuming that Candy is acting up so that she can get the microfilm and get paid big bucks for her services, Skip rejects her. But when Joey beats her up, something inside him snaps and he vows to make him suffer.

There are a number of observations in the film that are clearly meant to raise awareness of the dangers of the Red Menace that sound awfully silly now. It is true that they make the film look rather exotic, but the loose sense of paranoia clearly hurts its credibility.

Thankfully, Sam Fuller’s adaptation of Dwight Taylor’s story also leaves plenty of room for old-fashioned noir realism. Skip is a genuinely unsympathetic thief who could not care less about communist spies and patriots who are willing to die for their country. All he wants is to get paid and then go some place quiet and enjoy life. If Candy truly loves him, she can be part of his plan, but it won’t be the end of the world if he had to dump her and walk away alone.

Moe, the informer, also prefers cash to friendship, and patriotism means nothing to her. She is alone in a jungle where cash is king. So, the more she can get for her services, the better.

Candy is also out to get paid -- at least until she meets Skip. Then she is forced to improvise and make sure that she pleases her “old lady” and saves the man she has fallen in love with. It isn’t easy because Skip does not trust her and the cops know that she isn’t as innocent as she looks.

The film can be very cynical and at times seriously intimidating. For example, the sequence in which Joey goes berserk and hurts Candy is quite difficult to watch. Also, there is something rather disturbing in the manner in which the cops profile Skip. The few things they say and the quick decisions they make reveal that anyone can become a target if they decide that they need one.

The leads are outstanding. Widmark is as electrifying as he is in Jules Dassin’s Night and the City and Elia Kazan’s Panic in the Streets. Peters looks appropriately intense at first and brittle after she decides to help the thief. Ritter is unforgettable as the bubbly but jaded stoolie.

Joseph McDonald’s (My Darling Clementine) superb lensing gives the film a lush noir appearance that at times makes it look a lot more elegant than it was probably intended to be. The few sequences in which Candy visits Skip’s place, in particular, look superb.

The film’s dramatic score was created by Oscar-winning composer Leigh Harline (Pinocchio, Johnny Come Lately).

Pickup on South Street Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Pickup on South Street arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet that is provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on an Oxberry film scanner from a 35mm negative at Cineric in New York. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm optical soundtrack negative by Audio Mechanics in Burbank, California."

This film was restored in 4K by Twentieth Century Fox quite some time ago, but it is only now that a U.S. label is bringing the restoration to Blu-ray. In the United Kingdom, Eureka Entertainment introduced the restoration on Blu-ray in 2015, and we reviewed its release here.

I viewed Criterion's upcoming release last night and earlier today did some quick comparisons with the Region-B release. The only minor discrepancy that I could spot was in the gamma settings, though I had to go back and forth a couple of times on my monitor because my system would make automatic adjustments. On the Region-B release the gamma settings are slightly elevated, while on the Criterion release they are set properly.

Excluding a few minor density fluctuations, the film looks very fresh and healthy, and when projected it boasts an overall very strong organic appearance. As you could probably tell from the screencaptures that are included with our review, it has a particularly impressive grayscale that allows various shades and nuances to create plenty of terrific visuals contrasts (see examples in screencaptures #2, 3, and 22). There are a couple of places where I can tell that some very careful noise/grain management work was done to rebalance the visuals, but you should not worry about visual anomalies. Grain is very nicely exposed and resolved. (It has that fantastic tightness that only very high-quality 4K makeovers produce). Image stability is excellent. The entire film looks spotless as well. My score is 4.75/5.00. (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).

Pickup on South Street Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit). Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

There are no technical issues to report in our review. As I mentioned in our review of the Region-B release of Pickup on South Street, it is immediately obvious that the audio has been fully remastered because there are absolutely no traces of aging. Clarity, sharpness, depth, and dynamic intensity are as good as you can expect them to be in a film from the early 1950s.

Pickup on South Street Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Samuel Fuller - in this archival interview, Sam Fuller explains why a good director should have "a feeling of visual emotion... pinpoint an emotion and milk it" when shooting a great film and how he should control the "power of the camera", and discusses his relationship with Darryl F. Zanuck, the conception of Pickup on South Street, and the "horrible characters" that make the film so fascinating to behold. The interview was conducted by film critic Richard Schickel in Paris in 1989. In English, not subtitled. (20 min).

• Imogen Sara Smith - in this new program, critic Imogen Sara Smith discusses the production of Pickup on South Street as well as the careers of its director and stars. The program was produced for Criterion in 2021. In English, not subtitled. (36 min).

• Cinema cinemas - in this archival French TV program, Sam Fuller explains how different sequences from Pickup on South Street were shot. The program was produced by Andre S. Labarthe and Dominique Rahourdin. It originally aired on December 1, 1982. In English, with printed yellow French subtitles. (12 min).

• Hollywood Radio Theater - presented here is a radio adaptation of Pickup on South Street that aired on June 21, 1954, on Hollywood Radio Theater (the Armed Forces Radio Service version of Lux Radio Theatre). The broadcast features Thelma Ritter reprising her role as Moe, as well as Terry Moore as Candy and Stephen McNally as Skip McCoy. In English, not subtitled. (53 min).

• Trailers - a collection of trailers for various films directed by Sam Fuller.
  
  1. Fixed Bayonets!
  2. Park Row
  3. Pickup on South Street
  4. Hell and High Water
  5. House of Bamboo
  6. China Gate
  7. Run of the Arrow
  8. Forty Guns
  9. Verboten!
  10. The Crimson Kimono
  11. Underworld U.S.A.
  12. Merrill's Marauders
  13. Shock Corridor
  14. The Naked Kiss
  15. The Big Red One
  16. White Dog

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Angelica Jade Bastién and a chapter from Fuller's posthumously published 2002 autobiography A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking, as well as technical credits.

Pickup on South Street Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

An arrogant thief accidentally steals a microfilm with some government secrets and then gets involved with federal agents, communist spies and a bubbly stoolie in Sam Fuller's intense thriller Pickup on South Street. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release is sourced from an excellent 4K restoration that was prepared by the folks at Twentieth Century Fox. It has a decent selection of bonus features as well, but considering that film noir expert Eddie Muller has started recording audio commentaries again, I think that it is a missed opportunity not to have him share his thoughts on this classic genre film. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.