The Last Warning Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The Last Warning Blu-ray Movie Review

A spooky haunted house gem

The Last Warning (1928) is an enormously entertaining silent film which marked the final production of the great filmmaker Paul Leni (The Man Who Laughs). It was produced during a time period of seismic shifts occurring from Hollywood movie studios as the majors began to move away from the creation of silent films for talkie productions. The silent classic is a boisterously creative experience which blends together the macabre with the supernatural. The film also features some memorable performances by Hollywood legends Laura La Plante (The Cat and the Canary, Show Boat) and Montagu Love (The Adventures of Robin Hood).

During a performance of a successful Broadway production, the audience attending the live play finds themselves in for a gigantic surprise: a man bursts out in front of them with a decidedly dramatic declaration that actor “John Woodford is dead!” and everything and everyone at the performance is flung into a state of total chaos. Detectives are brought in to investigate the actor's death as a possible murder and the cast and crew are brought together to discuss the strange death and the disappearance of the body.

The mystery endures and several years after the performance led to the unsolved murder a big-shot Hollywood producer decides it's his duty to convince the original cast to return to the same theater and re-stage the play. As the production goes underway once more, it becomes apparent that the spooky theater is like a haunted house full of surprises and mysterious occurrences at every turn: creepy spiders, eyes-in-walls, and ghostly appearances. The Last Warning plays out like a house of horror experience which one can expect to enjoy every Halloween.

"Did you remember to turn off the oven?"

Although the film is predominately a horror-thriller (which feels perfectly spooky) the film stands out from many other horror silent films produced in that director Leni balanced out the genre sensibilities with a comedic style. The Last Warning is seriously funny at times and the charming quirkiness of the film makes the experience more entertaining. Take, for an example, a laugh-out-loud sequence in which a lady is clearly embarrassed by her fart (but it turns out to just be a water cooler running behind her). There are even some quirky dance scenes that feel downright unusual in this type of genre picture.

The filmmaking feels ahead of its time. The technical aspects of this film stand out prominently with the creative use of the camera helping to create a more exciting experience. Leni frequently uses fast jump-cuts which are far more advanced than one would expect to find in a silent horror production. During all of the action scenes and much of the nail-biting suspense, the excellent wizardly of the camera lends to a more invigorating style. Throughout the entire film the excellent cinematography lensed from the great Hal Mohr (Phantom of the Opera, A Midsummer Night's Dream) enhances the mood and tone.

Though this release of the film does not contain the original score composed by Joseph Cherniavsky the new score composed by Arthur Barrow is absolutely terrific. The rhythm and energy of the film score creates a great atmosphere that can't be shaken off with much ease. With nearly 90 minutes of original music (given that the silent film is almost predominately accompanied by music cues except in a few rare instances at some brief interludes) the score helps to carry the storytelling through to the end.

Another reason the film has managed to continue to leave a lasting impression on audiences even after so many years is the superb art direction overseen by the silent-film great Charles D. Hall (City Lights, Modern Times, Bride of Frankenstein). Combined with the intelligence and wit which is apparent in every scene of Leni's firm direction, fans of classic horror films will find The Last Warning to be a great silent classic that is well worth discovery or reacquaintance. Don't miss it.

The Last Warning Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Last Warning arrives on Blu-ray with a generally strong presentation remastered in 4K. The film has received some noteworthy restoration efforts which have led to a quality presentation of the film. Although remastered in 4K resolution, the transfer still does show some wear to the print utilized and the transfer is not as impressive as the stunning effort done on Flicker Alley's The Man Who Laughs restoration (released simultaneously).

To explore these print deficiencies, take (for example) screenshot #14: on the right side of the image there is a warped black line which is visible across the side of the screen. These types of defects are sprinkled throughout the film. Looking at screenshot #17 one can notice thin black lines and tiny scratches on the presentation. In comparison to the nearly flawless transfer of The Man Who Laughs, The Last Warning simply isn't as impressive looking.

Having said that, the transfer still presents an excellent 4K scan which is no doubt the best transfer the film has ever received on home media. Given the age and quality of the source materials which were utilized to create the presentation it's still rather astonishing that the image quality can look so good.

The transfer was created using the best elements available as gathered from a worldwide endeavor by Universal Studios as part of their classic film restoration initiative. For the source material utilized, the studio used two primary sources for the presentation: Cinematheque francaise as well as the Packard Humanities Institute Collection (which was sourced from the UCLA Film & Television archives). Careful care was placed on removing many instances of print damage and to reduce scratches.

The Last Warning Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes an impressive 24 bit high-resolution lossless audio presentation. The audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. The track is excellent throughout with great clarity. The original score composed for the release sounds astonishing here. While there are moments in the presentation where I felt the score could have used a bit more "punch" and bass, the audio does a superb job of reproducing the music-only track with quality precision. This new score truly sounds terrific and it's so much nicer to hear a smooth audio presentation accompanying a silent film classic than something scratchy and lacking in high fidelity.

This release only contains the newly commissioned score and no alternative tracks are provided.

The Last Warning Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

A 23 page booklet featuring an excerpt from an essay on The Last Warning written by film historian John Soister, an essay about the score by Arthur Barrow, high quality photographs connected to the film, cast & crew credits, and notes on the Flicker Alley release.

Paul Leni and The Last Warning (HD, 9 min. 54 sec.) is a visual essay created on the production of the classic silent film. It's a educational and enjoyable featurette which contains excellent voice-over narration full of insights regarding the production.

Rare Image Gallery includes an assortment of amazing quality scans featuring production stills, behind the scenes production photographs, posters from around the world, and trade newspaper advertisements promoting the release of The Last Warning.

The Last Warning Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Classic film enthusiasts with an appreciation for supernatural-horror productions will find The Last Warning to be a true gem of the silent film era that cannot go ignored. The camera techniques utilized for the film feel so far ahead of their time that one can't help but become enthralled by Leni's directorial vision. The style explored is enormously creative and impressive with fascinating imagery that is much more imaginative than many horror films produced today. The Blu-ray features a 4K restoration and a excellent high resolution audio presentation which help to make the release an easy recommendation.