The Family Secret Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

The Family Secret Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 5, 2022

Henry Levin's "The Family Secret" (1951) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by professor and film scholar Jason A. Ney; two short films; and vintage promotional materials for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

How about an urgent medical evaluation? A young man kills his best friend during a silly fight, lies about it, and then nearly succeeds in destroying the lives of a few young girls while fighting an overpowering sense of guilt that is eating him alive. He is surrounded by intelligent people, but no one can recognize the obvious red flags. Why? If he isn’t a classic psychopath on the loose that will inevitably strike again, then he is clearly becoming one.

The young man is played by John Derek and comes from a seemingly perfect suburban family with very powerful friends. On the night of the ‘tragedy’, he reluctantly confesses his crime to his father (Lee J. Cobb), a great attorney with an impeccable reputation, and then makes it clear that he expects to be defended by him. Well, sort of. He changes his mind so often that by the time the District Attorney (Santos Ortega), a big friend of his father, announces that he has the ‘real killer’, it very much begins to look like he will get away with murder and be perfectly happy to see an innocent man sent to the electric chair. But after some quite unexpected complications, the young man’s father agrees to defend the ‘real killer’, while the District Attorney becomes his opponent in the court and vows to make an example of his chosen target.

Director Henry Levine worked with a screenplay that was handed to him by writers James Cavanagh, Francis Cockrell, and Andrew Solt. The original material for the screenplay came from a short story by Marie Baumer, whose writings will soon after be used for various episodes of the classic TV series The Web.

Is it possible that Levine could have delivered a better film if the original material from Baumer’s story was handled by a single writer? Yes, but it is very unlikely that such a better film would have materialized because the crucial arc in the story that shapes its identity would have remained the same. What is the arc that I am referring to? It is a collection of unbelievable events where everyone, but especially the young man’s parents, behaves as if he is just a teenage troublemaker that will learn from his mistake and move on with his life. Here the young man goes through quick cycles where he temporarily becomes a suicidal rebel, a coward willing to run away, a romantic lover, and eventually an adult willing to face the consequences of his actions from the night when he killed his best friend. While these cycles occur, it becomes painfully obvious that he needs an urgent medical evaluation.

But Levine isn’t interested in highlighting the obvious because if he did his film would have immediately ended, or he would have had to drastically alter Baumer’s story. This is the fundamental flaw of this story -- it ignores the obvious so that it can extend the drama for as long as possible, and the more it does, the more ridiculous the drama and the film become.

What is particularly disappointing is that Cobb, one of the great character actors of the post-war era, is right for his part but can’t manage to make a difference. He has the perfect presence and attitude but utters lines that feel so scripted it almost hurts. Can an intelligent and authoritative father and husband like the one he is asked to play suddenly retreat in the shadow of his supposedly only immature son and allow him to continue roaming free after killing another human being? Of course, the answer is no. He has multiple reasons to want to impose his authority, and they are all rational reasons that would help and protect his son even if a medical expert came to the unlikely conclusion that his mental health is perfect.

Derek is miscast and poorly directed. His emotional outbursts, for instance, look entirely unrealistic and frequently quite annoying as well. The worst of his performance is during the second half in a short sequence where he attempts to force himself on the girl he is supposedly falling in love with.

Humphrey Bogart was one of the film's producers. The second producer was Robert Lord, who a year earlier had financed Nicholas Ray's classic film noir In a Lonely Place.

The Family Secret Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Family Secret arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films.

The release is sourced from a decent but often shaky older master that was supplied by Sony Pictures. Indeed, most of the footage tends to have a pretty good organic appearance and holds up well on a big screen, but there are areas with notable density fluctuations that affect delineation and depth as well. The most prominent fluctuations introduce shifts in quality that are impossible to ignore, though they are extremely short and not in any way distracting. The grayscale is very nice. Even during indoor and nighttime footage darker nuances are usually very nicely defined. Grain exposure is good. Some minor inconsistencies can be observed, but I liked how the film looked on my system. Image stability is good. However, some of the density fluctuations I mentioned also introduce momentary shakiness. There are no distracting large debris, cuts, warped or torn frames to report. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Family Secret Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The dialog is always clear and easy to follow. However, if you turn up the volume of your system, you will eventually notice that in a couple of areas some light background hiss tries really hard to make its presence felt. You will not be distracted by it, but when it emerges, you will notice it. Dynamic intensity is good for a film from the early 1950s.

The Family Secret Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by professor and film scholar Jason A. Ney. As usual, Mr. Ney produces an excellent analysis of the film he was asked to -- which apparently was not one he was excited to do -- as well as informative comments about its conception, production, and theatrical release. I am in full agreement with his observations about the main flaws of The Family Father and was glad to hear him cite some of the negative reviews that were written about it because they were spot on as well.

• Image Gallery - a collection of original promotional materials for The Family Secret.

• The Negro Sailor - Henry Levin directed this short film in 1945. Fully remastered. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles. (27 min).

• The Big Moment - Nathan Juran directed this short film in 1954. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles. (26 min).

• Book - limited edition exclusive 120-page book with a new essay by Imogen Sara Smith, extensive archival articles and interviews, new writing on the various short films, and film credits.

The Family Secret Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

How can one look at John Derek's character and have trouble concluding that he isn't a psychopath? Everything he does throughout The Family Secret makes the obvious painfully obvious and yet somehow he emerges a good person because he comes to terms with his guilt. Or does he? Where is the evidence that what he does and say at the end isn't another act? He has been such an unhinged chameleon that any rational person would immediately question his sincerity and insist that he undergoes a very meticulous medical examination. This film is so bad at manipulating that it looks awful even by contemporary Hollywood standards. I had not seen it before and the presence of Lee J. Cobb, one of the great character actors of the post-war era, immediately raised my expectations very high, but less than fifteen minutes after its opening credits disappeared I already knew that it would be an unfortunate misfire. It is included in Indicator/Powerhouse Films' Columbia Noir #5: Humphrey Bogart, a six-disc box set.