Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Guilt of Janet Ames Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 8, 2019

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 another film that’s perhaps questionable as a “real” noir, but which has a number of interesting elements, not the least of which is the chance to see future comedy legend Sid Caesar in an early supporting role. Had the plot been tweaked slightly to put bitter war widow Janet Ames (Rosalind Russell) on a murderous rampage to take the quintet of men she feels was responsible for her late husband’s battle death, the film might have tipped over into true noir status, despite the lack of a blonde femme fatale.

Instead the film kind of wallows in a morass of psychological turmoil, as Janet develops psychosomatic paralysis and is counseled by a guy named Smithfield “Smitty” Cobb (Melvyn Douglas). Of course there’s a connection between Cobb and Janet’s late husband, but the film takes a while for Janet to find out (again, of course), with the middle section of the film rather interestingly structured, as Janet kind of “visits” the lives of the men she feels were responsible for her husband’s death.

There are any number of implausibilities that probably keep The Guilt of Janet Ames from resonating more acutely, including the kind of unexplained “skills” of Smitty which eventually lead to a breakthrough for Janet. The film’s attempt at a fairly traditional happy ending for Janet and Smitty may strike some as a little smarmy, given Janet’s history as a widow and Smitty’s involvement with her late husband.

The Guilt of Janet Ames Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

The Guilt of Janet Ames Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are offered on this release.

The Guilt of Janet Ames Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.