6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Rosalind Russell stars in this complex psychological drama about a woman whose husband is killed in World War II while saving the lives of five comrades. She sets out for some sort of revenge, but when she is struck by a truck and paralyzed, a boozy reporter (Melvyn Douglas) thinks she can walk again and uses psychology to help her. But what she also doesn’t know is — he’s one of the five men on her list! Richly photographed in a gauzy style by cinematographer Joseph Walker to heighten the dreamlike quality of the story, with excellent support by Sid Caesar, Betsy Blair, Nina Foch.
Starring: Rosalind Russell, Melvyn Douglas, Sid Caesar, Betsy Blair, Nina FochDrama | 100% |
Romance | 28% |
Mystery | 16% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is available as part of
Noir Archive - Volume 1: 1944-1954.
While the frequently questionable “expertise” of Wikipedia asserts that film noir lasted from the early 1920s until the late 1950s, my
hunch
is at least some fans of film history would tend to proscribe the idiom’s heyday to a probably smaller window of time beginning at some
point in the
1940s and then extending into some other point in the 1950s. If that proscription is accepted, it might then be arguable that there was
no
better purveyor of film noir than Columbia Pictures during this period. While many of the undisputed classics of film noir came
from other studios, as
in the case of Paramount’s Double Indemnity
(released
on Blu-ray through Universal, due to the vagaries of film catalogs changing hands), or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s The Postman Always Rings Twice (released on Blu-ray through
Warner Brothers, due to — well, you get the idea), Columbia Pictures managed to churn out a rather significant amount of noir offerings,
albeit often in what would probably be termed the “B-movie” category. Kit Parker Films and Mill Creek Entertainment have now assembled nine of
these rather interesting
Columbia offerings in one three disc package, and for noir fans, there are at least a couple of rather notable films in this first collection (it
looks like Noir Archive Volume 2: 1954-
1956 is due in a few months), as well as some other outings which frankly might be best categorized as oddities.
The Guilt of Janet Ames is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment and Kit Parker Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. There's some intermittent damage and instability noticeable during the credits, but the most problematic moment in this transfer begins at around 3:32, where some vertical instability lasts on and off for the next couple of minutes, with the frame kind of "jumping" up and down a bit. Once this kind of rough opening is over with, though, the rest of the transfer looks generally very good, though this is another offering in this set that looked just slightly too dark to my eyes, so that blacks crush pretty regularly. The film also utilizes a bunch of quasi-dream sequences, when Janet "visits" the men on her list, and several of those are intentionally soft, with diffusion filters. There are a few moments of variable contrast and brightness, as well as typical signs of age related wear and tear, including speckling and dirt. Detail levels are generally excellent, helped by a prevalence of extreme close-ups. My score is 3.25.
The Guilt of Janet Ames features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track which capably supports a pretty talky enterprise. George Duning's score also sounds full bodied. There are some "silent" pauses here where background hiss becomes more evident, but there's really no damage of any kind to report.
No supplements are offered on this release.
The Guilt of Janet Ames might be more appropriately categorized as what was once called a "woman's picture", and it tries to build to an emotional catharsis that some may find problematic simply due to the way the film presents the histories of the two focal characters. After a somewhat rough opening, technical merits improve, for those considering a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1944
1952
1954
1977
1949
1950
2012
2019
2010
Limited Edition to 3000
1959
Fox Studio Classics
1957
1974
Warner Archive Collection
1967
2022
1946
The Young Lovers
1949
1940
Warner Archive Collection
1966
1963
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1959