7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
An art publisher insinuates himself into the mouldering mansion of the centenarian lover of a renowned but long-dead poet in order to find his lost love letters.
Starring: Robert Cummings, Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead, Joan Lorring, Eduardo CiannelliDrama | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Baby Boomers who harbor nostalgic memories of cozying up in the fluorescent glow of their families’ black and white televisions in the sixties on Sunday nights to catch the CBS schedule may have some dim vestiges of one Martin Gabel residing somewhere in the darkest recesses of their synapses. While Gabel had at least a notable if not especially illustrious acting career (including a stint with Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater), for Boomers he was best known for being “Mr. Arlene Francis”, the spouse of the popular panelist on CBS’ long running nighttime game show What’s My Line? Francis was another celebrity whom Boomers just kind of accepted for being some kind of star due to her ubiquitous television presence, though few in that generation (or indeed even older ones) probably knew much about her pre-game show career. But the situation was probably even more marked with Gabel, a small, bookish man with huge horned rim glasses who would occasionally show up beside his wife on What’s My Line? to guess various contestants’ unusual occupations. Gabel’s film career wasn’t especially illustrious, though he managed to score a couple of memorable supporting bits in films as disparate as Deadline U.S.A. and Marnie. In 1947 Gabel was still probably best known for his radio work, but he segued into the film business in two different capacities on films linked by appearances by Susan Hayward and the production imprimatur of Walter Wanger. Gabel served as Associate Producer on Smash Up: The Story of a Woman, a film which garnered Hayward an Academy Award nomination as a singer undergoing psychological problems, a role purportedly based on the life of Bing Crosby’s first wife, but which has certain parallels with a then more recent headline making story, the precipitous decline and institutionalization of Frances Farmer, an actress with whom Hayward herself had worked on the 1941 proto-noir Among the Living. Perhaps a bit more surprisingly, Gabel served as director (his only time in this particular capacity) of The Lost Moment, a kind of Rebecca-esque Gothic psychological thriller with Hayward in a decidedly Mrs. Danvers like role (at least some of the time—more about that in a moment). The Lost Moment was based on a Henry James novella called The Aspern Papers, a kind of suspense ridden romance that itself was based on a long ago romance between Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife's stepsister Claire Clairmont.
The Lost Moment is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. While this isn't quite at the level of the best black and white releases of this vintage we've seen from Olive, on the whole it offers a more than satisfying viewing experience. The elements have their requisite share of age related issues, including a few rather bad scratches and a couple of emulsion problems (typically on the right side of the frame). Contrast is also just slightly variable at times, though generally speaking is nicely crisp. Clarity is also somewhat variable, with some midrange and close-ups looking really good (including with well above average fine detail), but at other times being noticeably softer. As with virtually all Olive releases of catalog titles, there appears to have been no major restorative work done nor any digital manipulation of the image.
While The Lost Moment's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix is a bit on the shallow side, it offers a rather nicely detailed accounting of the film's dialogue and (especially) the extremely effective score by Russian born Daniele Amfitheatrof. Amfitheatrof utilizes a lot of spooky sounding choral cues which add inimitably to the film's moody ambience, and those cues sound surprisingly spry here. Aside from a somewhat clipped high end and minimal hiss, there's really nothing here to worry about.
There are no supplements offered on this Blu-ray disc, per Olive's usual practice.
The Lost Moment may ultimately only have a tangential relationship to its Henry James source material, but it turns out to be a rather effective piece that certainly offers a great chance for Hayward to strut her talents as a sort of quasi-dual character. The production design is also very evocative, making the expansive Bordereau mansion a real character in the film. If Cummings is his typically bland self, the supporting cast is very colorful, and The Lost Moment deserves to be found by a new generation of film fan. Recommended.
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