7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A pickpocket unwittingly lifts a message destined for enemy agents and becomes a target for a Communist spy ring.
Starring: Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter, Murvyn Vye, Richard KileyFilm-Noir | 100% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
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 | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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".
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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).
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.
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.
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