Saigon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Saigon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 12, 2024

Leslie Fenton's "Saigon" (1947) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by critics Lee Gambin and Elissa Rose and vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The presence of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake instantly gives Saigon a stellar image, which just as quickly raises expectations pretty high. Before Saigon, the two had made three big films together, one of which is the classic The Blue Dahlia. On paper, Saigon sounds impressive, too. The Far East, a risky job, a beauty on the run, shady characters trying to claim $500,000 stolen from somewhere. There is a lot of potential here. And yet, Saigon is a largely forgotten film.

Why?

The short answer is that it does not meet expectations. The longer answer is that Ladd and Lake do not disappoint, but its story does. It is not a bad story, but it is not scripted well and definitely not filmed right. I will explain exactly why, but first here is a quick summation of it:

Sometime after the end of WWII. In Shanghai, shady businessman Alex Maris (Morris Carnovsky) hires army friends Larry Briggs (Ladd), Mike Perry (Douglas Dick), and Pete Rocco (Wally Cassell) to fly a plane to Saigon. Maris will pay them $10,000 if the plane takes off and lands at its final destination on time. But at the departure point Maris has specified the friends greet Susan Cleaver (Lake), a stunning beauty who introduces herself as his secretary, and even though she urges them to wait for him, loud gunshots from a nearby location convince them to get on the plane and take off without him. Several hours later, a faulty engine forces Briggs to land the plane in a massive swamp not too far away from Saigon.

After the outsiders check into a lousy hotel in Saigon, Briggs and Cleaver repeatedly clash over the next phase of their journey, and as Perry begins to fall in love with Cleaver, Briggs discovers in her bag $500,000. At the same time, police inspector Keon (Luther Adler), who appears to know plenty about Cleaver’s secret fortune, begins sniffing around, forcing Briggs to improvise and risk getting everyone thrown in jail.

The drama and style of Saigon are extremely similar to that of another largely forgotten film with two great leads, Singapore. Both films were released at the same time, which was in the summer of 1947. These films have some unmistakable noirish qualities, but they are essentially light variations of the iconic Casablanca that were conceived to be just as, and possibly even more, effective as exotic crime melodramas. (This was not a uniquely American trend. Many such films were made in Europe too, and well into the 1950s and 1960s. French helmer Bernard Borderie's Poison Ivy, for instance, very effectively mixes elements of film noir and exotic action, and is quite similar to Saigon).

Despite quickly establishing a proper genre identity, however, Saigon noticeably begins to stutter almost immediately after Ladd accepts the well-paid job. It happens because of structural issues. For example, the romance between Dick and Lake receives plenty of attention and is used as a pretext to bring closer Ladd and Lake, but this trick does not work because the drama surrounding the small fortune constantly overshadows it. For the trick to work, more time with superior material should have been dedicated to the evolution of Ladd and Lake’s relationship. Also, for a while Saigon creates the impression that it expects its audience to care a lot about Dick’s fate, but he is abruptly downgraded to a secondary character whose misery evolves into a conventional cinematic ornamentation. As a result, despite hosting plenty of good acting, Saigon produces a series of oddly structured and stylistically incompatible developments, which make its otherwise good story appear quite weak.

Leslie Fenton shot Saigon with Oscar-nominated cinematographer John F. Seitz, whose credits include such masterpieces as Sullivan's Travels, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, and Sunset Boulevard.

Saigon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.38:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Saigon arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a new 2K master, and it is very easy to tell. The entire film produces appropriately fresh visuals with a strong, often very attractive appearance. However, there are many visuals that reveal inconsistencies and fluctuations that affect density levels, delineation clarity, and depth. The most obvious ones may create the impression that 2K master is a reconstruction job. I do not think it is. I think that some of the areas have not aged particularly well and proper restoration work was needed to get them to look better. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. The grayscale is very good, but in a few areas it is impacted by the aging I mentioned. Image stability is good. Various white nicks, small blemishes, and black spots can be seen, but there are no large cuts, warped or torn frames to report. (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).

Saigon 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.

All exchanges are easy to follow. However, there are multiple areas where the audio becomes quite thin and can sound even unusually compressed. I suspect that time is again responsible for the fluctuations, just as it is for the unevenness in the video department. The fluctuations are never distracting, but they certainly make it easy to conclude that Saigon is a very old film.

Saigon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for Saigon. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Lee Gambin and Elissa Rose.

Saigon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake made several films together. However, only four of these films treat them as their undisputed stars -- The Glass Key, This Gun for Hire, The Blue Dahlia, and Saigon. The fourth is the weakest one, but not because Ladd and Lake badly mishandle their characters. Saigon is directed by Leslie Fenton, who was a good actor but not a good director, which is the main reason the sum of its parts is quite underwhelming. If you are a fan of Ladd and Lake, you should not ignore it, but do not approach it expecting to discover a gem that has been unjustly ignored over the years. There are plenty of very good reasons Saigon has stayed in the shadow of the other three big films Ladd and Lake made together. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release is sourced from a somewhat uneven but still quite nice new 2K master.