The Big Heat Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

The Big Heat Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 14, 2014

Fritz Lang's "The Big Heat" (1953) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Wild Side Video. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; video interview with director Martin Scorsese; and video interview with director Michael Mann. The release also arrives with a lavish 208-page book with writings on "The Big Heat" and film noir, film analysis, and archival stills and posters from French actor, writer and film historian Jean Douchet. In English, with optional French subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"Do you remember what he looked like?"

Detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford, 3:10 to Yuma) is sent to investigate the suicide of veteran cop Tom Duncan. He arrives at his home and quickly concludes that the man did indeed take his own life.

Shortly after, however, Bannion is contacted by Lucy Chapman (Dorothy Green, No Time To Be Young), a call girl, who assures him that Duncan, with whom she had an affair, wasn’t thinking of blowing his brains out. Intrigued, Bannion heads back to Duncan’s home where his widow, Bertha (Jeanette Nolan, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), assures him that her husband was unable to cope with the fact that he was terminally ill.

Without a medical report to prove it, Bannion begins asking questions and quickly annoys several very important people. Amongst them are the influential crime boss Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby, Affair in Trinidad), his right-hand man Vince Stone (Lee Marvin, Point Blank) and even the Police Commissioner Higgins (Howard Wendell, How to Murder Your Wife). When Bannion is promptly warned to stop sniffing around and complicating people’s lives but refuses to terminate his investigation, someone plants a bomb in his car.

At a chic nightclub, Bannion then confronts Stone after he hurts an innocent girl. The gangster walks away, but later, after he discovers that Bannion has met his beautiful toy, Debby (Gloria Grahame, In a Lonely Place), he goes berserk and all hell breaks loose.

Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat is rightfully regarded as one of the greatest film noirs ever made. It is remarkably bleak and overflowing with the type of atmosphere that made these genre films special.

At the core of its story is a big and quite dramatic transformation -- Bannion is slowly taken out of his comfort zone and then forced to become exactly like the men he has confronted. And as soon as the transformation is initiated, The Big Heat becomes unusually cynical, openly suggesting that in the real world, where good and bad are engaged in a seemingly never-ending battle for dominance, the process is essentially unavoidable because people with moral values are either forced to abandon them and adopt a new lifestyle or promptly destroyed.

The atmosphere and especially the illuminating cynicism permeating The Big Heat are extremely similar to those of Michael Cimino’s Year of the Dragon. Indeed, if one compares the manner in which women and immigrants are treated in them, and then how both expose the ruthlessness of the worlds their protagonists exist in -- they are are identical nonconformists who gradually discover how hopelessly corrupt everyone around them is -- one would innevitably realize that they are concerned with much bigger issues, many of which are still relevant today.

The cast is fantastic. Ford is predictably spectacular, but the supporting actors are outstanding too. Grahame, in particular, looks astonishing as the ill-treated beauty who decides to teach Marvin’s psychopath a lesson he won’t forget.

The Big Heat was lensed by the great American cinematographer Charles Lang, whose credits also include such classic films as Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole and Some Like It Hot, Anthony Mann's The Man from Laramie, and John Sturges’ Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and The Magnificent Seven.

The Big Heat Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Fritz Lang's The Big Heat arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French label Wild Side Video.

The release uses as a foundation the same restoration of the film that was accessed for the U.S. Blu-ray release. (Unless I am mistaken, it is the one which Martin Scorsese and The Film Foundation and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment initially introduced with the Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics Vol. I DVD box set in 2009). Its basic characteristics are quite similar to those of the high-definition transfer Sony Pictures used for the Italian release of Gilda. Generally speaking, detail and clarity are very good, while contrast levels remain stable throughout the entire film. Color saturation and stability are also good. Perhaps the best news, however, is that there are no traces of problematic degraining and sharpening adjustments. Unsurprisingly, grain is visible and from start to finish the film has a pleasing organic appearance. As it was the case with the release of Gilda, however, there are areas of the film where the grain isn't as well resolved/tight as it should be (see screencapture #17). So, even though there are some inherited source limitations, there is also room for some encoding optimizations. (Exactly the same fluctuations are also present on the U.S. release). Lastly, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review. All in all, The Big Heat could look even better in high-definition, but the current presentation is indeed very pleasing. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

The Big Heat Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Wild Side Video have provided optional French subtitles for the main feature. (You have to use your remote control to turn them off).

Generally speaking depth and clarity are very good. Where music is used to further enhance the tense atmosphere dynamic balance is well managed -- there are no sudden spikes or drops in dynamic activity. Some unevenness is occasionally noticeable, but it is clear that it was not introduced during the remastering of the audio track. The dialog is stable and easy to follow. Some extremely mild hiss occasionally makes its presence felt, but it never becomes distracting. (I would like to mention that a couple of times where newspaper titles are displayed a line of French text also appears. However, the text isn't imposed/forced).

The Big Heat Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bande-annonce - original trailer for Fritz Lang's The Big Heat. In English, with imposed French subtitles. (2 min).

• Entretien avec Martin Scorsese - in this video interview, director Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) discusses the visual style of The Big Heat, Glenn Ford's character transformation, and the evolution of Fritz Lang's directing style (particularly during the '50s). In English, with imposed French subtitles. (6 min).

• Entretien avec Michael Mann - in this video interview, director Michael Mann (Heat, Thief) discusses the expressionistic qualities of The Big Heat, the unique qualities of the female characters, the framing/lensing of different sequences, the cultural, social and economic climate in the United States at the time when the film was shot, some of the similarities between Dave Bannion's world and the city of Chicago (where Michael Mann grew up), etc. In English, with imposed French subtitles. (11 min).

• Book - a lavish 208-page book with writings on The Big Heat and film noir, film analysis, and archival stills and posters from French actor, writer and film historian Jean Douchet. In French.

The Big Heat Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I like this release quite a lot -- Fritz Lang's classic noir film The Big Heat looks good in high-definition and there are two excellent interviews with Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann. The release also comes with an outstanding 208-page book with excellent writings on The Big Heat and film noir as well as plenty of archival stills. A similar release from Sony Pictures most certainly would have been appreciated by noir fans in the U.S. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.