7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
An unhinged, deceptively mild-mannered bank robber escapes prison, seeking revenge on the cop who accidentally killed his wife during a gun battle.
Starring: Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell Corey, Alan Hale Jr., Michael PateFilm-Noir | 100% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
It probably goes without saying that police sometimes make mistakes. Our recent cultural history in the United States has been littered with any number of examples where at least some people felt those sworn to uphold justice had in fact not done so, seemingly willfully, at least in some cases. That may be understandable if not always defensible in the jaded 21st century world in which we live, but in 1956, when The Killer is Loose was released, police were still held largely in high regard, especially in film and on television, where they were almost always the unmistakable heroes of the piece (there were certainly exceptions to be sure, but I’m speaking in broad generalities here). That’s one reason why this kind of middling noir has some unexpectedly interesting elements, for the film’s pretty basic plot does in fact hinge at least in part on an unwitting mistake the cops make while trying to bring a bank robber to justice (an early spoiler alert is posted here, and another will follow before the main body of the review, below, just in case). That mistake sets the robber off on a quest for vengeance, and the rest of the film plays out as a cat and mouse game between the culprit and an array of people, including a focal officer of the law, with whom he comes into contact. Briskly directed by genre stalwart Budd Boetticher, who is perhaps better remembered for his programmatic westerns, The Killer is Loose has some exciting moments but is probably a bit too pat to ever work up much angst, though it does offer the rare fifties sight of police making a tragic error which ends up having personal consequences for a detective named Sam Wagner (Joseph Cotten).
The Killer is Loose is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of ClassicFlix with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The film was lensed by ace
cinematographer
Lucien Ballard, incredibly never an Oscar winner despite an incredible career that spanned decades and resulted in any number of classic films (The Wild Bunch). If things are typically noir-ish here, Ballard still lights
things evocatively, and a lot of the location photography is fun, as noted above. The transfer looks a bit dark to me, but that actually reinforces some solid
blacks and well modulated gray scale, though it also tends to make some nighttime and/or dimly lit scenes have transitory issues with shadow detail.
Grain is quite heavy but looks natural, after a pretty smooth looking credits sequence (there's also some very minor wobble during the credits). Fine
detail is quite good in a number of close-ups. While there's nothing major to
complain about in terms of damage, there are occasional minor signs of age related wear and tear. Clarity is generally very good, though occasionally
somewhat variant, especially in what I assume were some second unit location shots (see screenshot 12). Some transitions in and out of optical
dissolves can look a little ragged in passing (see screenshot 19).
Note: I experienced a kind of odd anomaly with this disc. It played fine on my standalone player and my PS3, but my PC disc drive did not
recognize it as a valid disc, and it therefore would not play with PowerDVD.
The Killer is Loose features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track that exhibits a bit of expected boxiness, and which shows extremely minor signs of distortion during the opening credits underscore as well as a couple of subsequent cues, but which is otherwise sufficient to deliver dialogue with no noticeable issues.
There is no supplementary material included on this disc.
The Killer is Loose kind of presages films like Cape Fear, at least in some respects, and I personally wondered how much more effective this film might have been had Cape Fear's nasty villain Robert Mitchum essayed a similar role here. There are occasional moments of angst in the film, with perhaps the single most effective sequence involving Flanders' wife. But even that points out a potential shortcoming that some viewers may experience—the "real" target, Lila Wagner, almost seems like an afterthought. Technical merits encounter occasional hurdles but nothing too serious. Baby Boomers may want to check this out for the supporting cast's pretty regular supply of character actors who were television stalwarts during the 1960s.
1954
1954
Warner Archive Collection
1951
1955
1957
1946
1993
Indicator Series | Limited Edition
1949
Limited Edition of 2000
1963
Limited Edition to 3000
1954
Warner Archive Collection
1944
1946
1954
Hot Spot
1941
1946
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1950
1956
2002
1951
1951