Ride the Pink Horse Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Ride the Pink Horse Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 25, 2015

Robert Montgomery's "Ride the Pink Horse" (1947) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include a new video interview with writer Imogen Sara Smith; Lux Radio Theater radio adaptation of the film; and exclusive new audio commentary by film noir scholars Alain Silver and James Ursini. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring filmmaker Michael Almereyda's essay "Bad Luck All Around". In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The wounded man

It is fiesta time and the typically sleepy New Mexican town of San Pablo has come alive. The bars, the restaurants and the few hotels are full of people who can hardly wait for the festivities to begin.

But Gagin (Robert Montgomery, Here Comes Mr. Jordan), a former GI with an attitude, could not care less about the fiesta. He has come to San Pablo to meet Frank Hugo (Fred Clark, Sunset Boulevard), the slightly deaf goon that killed Shorty, his best pal. A few months earlier Gagin would have probably tried to avenge Shorty’s death, but now he just wants the goon to give him a cut of the money he kept for himself. And with the valuable document he has in his pocket, Gagin is convinced that it is only a matter of time before he forces him to do so.

While waiting in a local hotel for Frank and his boys to appear, Gagin is approached by Bill Retz (Art Smith, Letter from an Unknown Woman), a veteran FBI agent who has been following the goon for some time. The agent attempts to convince Gagen to give him the document so that the government can prosecute Frank, but he refuses to cooperate and quickly disappears in a shady part of the town.

In front of a cheap bar Gagin meets Pila (Wanda Hendrix, The Admiral Was a Lady), a beautiful Indian girl, who chooses to follow him around even though she senses that he isn’t in town to have a good time. Gagin also befriends Pancho (Thomas Gomez, Key Largo), the bubbly owner of an ancient carousel, who offers him his bed after the two get seriously drunk.

Eventually, Gagin meets Frank in his hotel room and they agree to do the exchange. Gagin is told to wait for his money to be delivered in San Pablo, but after he leaves the hotel Frank sends a few of his boys to get the document and get rid of its owner.

Based on Dorothy B. Hughes’ novel, with a script from the great Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer, Ride the Pink Horse is a strange hybrid of a film. Its visual style and attitude certainly make it easy to describe as film noir, but its social awareness and specifically the types of contrasts that it focuses on suggest that its genre identity is a lot more complex.

There are two key clashes in the film. The first and obvious one is between the cynical GI and the goon who has killed his friend. These are men who know each other well and understand that by the time the fiesta is over one of them will be declared a winner. What remains to be seen is only whether the loser will die or be cheated and forced to leave the town with his tail between his legs.

The second clash is between two very different cultures -- that of the gringos and that of the locals. There are fascinating contrasts between them that are effectively enhanced by Hecht and Lederer’s excellent script. When the GI first enters the town, his cockiness and seemingly endless cynical remarks make him almost impossible to like. But the man feels comfortable in his skin, and the more he interacts with the people around him, the clearer it becomes why -- his ignorance and sense of superiority are deeply ingrained. The carousel owner and the beautiful girl could not be any more different. They are poor but sincere, curious but respectable.

The novel’s finale is apparently different, but the film is still very effective.

The film was lensed by Oscar winning cinematographer Russell Metty, whose specific fondness of silhouette shots emerged during his work with Orson Welles on The Magnificent Ambersons and The Stranger. The soundtrack was created by Frank Skinner (Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows, Magnificent Obsession).

Ride the Pink Horse Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Robert Montgomery's Ride the Pink Horse arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on a Lasergraphics film scanner from a 35mm nitrate fine-grain and a safety duplicate negative at Metropolis Post in New York. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI's DRS and Pixel Farm's PFClean, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain, and noise management.

Colorist: Lee Kline.
Film scanning: Metropolis Post, New York."

The high-definition transfer is excellent. Indeed, excluding a few extremely small density fluctuations the film looks wonderfully lush and very healthy. Contrast levels are also well balanced and stable. There are no traces of problematic sharpening and degraining corrections. There are a few areas with very small grain fluctuations -- which are not a byproduct of poor digital work -- but a layer of light grain can be seen throughout the entire film. Naturally, detail, image depth, and fluidity are very pleasing (you can see how convincing image depth is even during the darker footage in screencaptures #1 and 5). Overall image stability is excellent. Lastly, large debris, cuts, damage marks, and stains have been removed as best as possible. The only visible traces of wear remain in a few specific shots where it is easy to see that complete repair would not have made a drastic difference (you can see an example on the right side of the frame in screencapture #9). All in all, this is a wonderful technical presentation of Ride the Pink Horse that makes it very easy to appreciate the vision of the film's creator. (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).

Ride the Pink Horse Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0 (with a few very small portions of Spanish which are intentionally left without English subtitles). For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. (When Spanish is spoken and the subtitles are turned on, the text is in Spanish).

It is very easy to tell that the audio has been carefully cleaned up and stabilized. The high-frequencies, in particular, are very well balanced and there are no distortions. There is no problematic background hiss either. Depth and clarity are very good, but rather predictably the range of nuanced dynamics is limited. The dialog is stable and easy to follow.

Ride the Pink Horse Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• In Lonely Places - in this new video interview, Imogen Sara Smith, author of In Lonely Places: Film Beyond the City, discusses the specific qualities that define film noir and explains what makes Robert Montgomery's Ride the Pink Horse a special film. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in November 2014. In English, not subtitled. (20 min, 1080p).

• Radio Adaptation - this Lux Radio Theater radio adaptation of Robert Montgomery's Ride the Pink Horse was broadcast on December 8, 1947. It features Robert Montgomery, Wanda Hendrix, and Thomas Gomez reprising their roles in the film. In English, not subtitled. (60 min, 1080p).

• Commentary - in this audio commentary, film noir scholars Alain Silver and James Ursini, discuss some of the notable differences between Dorothy B. Hughes' novel and Robert Montgomery's film (with some excellent comments about the drastically different endings), Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer's script, cinematographer Russell Metty's fondness of silhouette shots (which emerged during his work with Orson Welles on The Magnificent Ambersons and The Stranger), how the symbolism and the key relationships from the novel have evolved in the film, the Hollywood-esque flavor that was introduced in the film, the Spanish dialog (which isn't translated), the cynicism in the film, etc. The commentary was recorded exclusively for Criterion in November 2014.

• Leaflet - illustrated leaflet featuring Michael Almereyda's essay "Bad Luck All Around". (The author's most recent film, Experimenter: The Stanley Milgram Story, premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival).

Ride the Pink Horse Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For a long period of time Robert Montgomery's Ride the Pink Horse was very difficult to see, but thanks to Criterion finally there will be a legit release that does the film justice. There is a lot to like in the film, but I personally think that it works as well as it does because Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer's script is absolutely phenomenal. Do not miss it, folks. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.