The Secret Ways Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Secret Ways Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 16, 2020

Phil Karlson's "The Secret Ways" (1961) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include remastered vintage trailer and exclusive new audio commentary by critics Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell . In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

You can't just walk away, Mr. Reynolds

There is a pretty big disconnect between the events that shook Hungary in 1956 and what is portrayed in Phil Karlson’s film The Secret Ways. This is unfortunate because this particular time period is fascinating and, in many ways, simply perfect for a classic Cold War spy thriller.

So, what happened in 1956?

To understand what happened in 1956 one actually needs to go back to the negotiations at the Yalta Conference of 1945, when the Allies effectively surrendered Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union. During the negotiations, Stalin did not agree to return the Polish territories that were annexed by the Kremlin in 1939 because in the past they were repeatedly used by Germany as a pathway to his homeland, but agreed to allow Poland and the rest of the liberated states to hold democratic elections and choose their leadership. However, Stalin’s true intentions were quite different. As soon as an agreement was signed, the Soviets used different tactics to crush the unfriendly Polish opposition, and then in 1947 the Polish communists, under Kremlin’s direction, took control of the country and formed a government. Exactly the same scenario was then replicated in the rest of the liberated states, Hungary included, and the Soviet Union took control of Eastern Europe.

With Western Europe and America unwilling to challenge the new status quo, it was up to local patriots, many of whom had previously fought the German invaders, to try and bring down their pro-Kremlin communist governments and restore their independence. Even though there were many other attempts before it, the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 was the first national attempt to reject communist rule in post-WW2 Europe. Of course, it was doomed to fail for two very simple reasons: First, when the map of Europe was officially redrawn at the Yalta Conference, under Stalin’s direction the friendly communist governments immediately began disarming their citizens. An exception was made only for active military personnel and select state officials, which essentially meant that only the communists and their lackeys were allowed to retain their arms. This made it extremely easy for the local governments to weed out ‘radical elements’ that questioned their authority. Second, fearing a new confrontation with Stalin, Western Europe and America were willing to provide only ideological support, so the patriot groups and movements in Eastern Europe were left on their own. With one side having arms and the other side only their determination to live free or die, death for the latter was the guaranteed outcome whenever the two confronted each other. Predictably, shortly after the Hungarian Uprising was initiated, the local communist government allowed Soviet tanks to enter Budapest and then provided reinforcements that wiped out the people that had gone out on the streets. (A little over a decade later, the second such national attempt to reject communist rule, the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, was crushed in the exact same manner).

The events in Karlson’s film take place sometime after the big bloodbath in Budapest. American mercenary Michael Reynolds (Richard Widmark) arrives in Zurich and meets a shady businessman who offers him a sizeable chunk of money to enter Soviet-occupied Budapest and help Prof. Jancsi (Walter Rilla), a prominent resistance leader, escape to the West. Reynolds reluctantly agrees and then begins tracking down Prof. Jancsi's daughter, Julia (Sonja Ziemann), who is somewhere in Vienna and living under an alias. Through Julia, Reynolds plans to establish contact with Prof. Jancsi and then figure out a plan to get him out of Hungary. After playing detective for a couple of days and getting beat up by some local characters, Reynolds discovers Julia, but she isn’t happy that her father had forced her to leave her homeland and vows to use his mission to reunite with him. Despite his protests, Reynolds then crosses the border as a famous American journalist who intends to do a great deal of research on communist prosperity, accompanied by a female associate from Vienna who is fluent in Hungarian. They meet Prof. Jancsi, but a series of unexpected events seriously complicate Reynolds’ mission.

The original material comes from Alistair MacLean’s novel The Last Frontier, but it is very easy to tell that Karlson had complete control over it and it is his interpretation of it that is at the heart of the film. There is nothing particularly wrong with this aside from the fact that Karlson sees the Hungarian Uprising as one big and quite exotic event, which immediately makes his film completely unrealistic. For example, in Vienna and Budapest Widmark plays a sharp-tongued American detective who roams freely and then easily connects crucial dots that allow him to uncover deadly truths, which is both amusing and funny to behold considering the fact that these cities were notorious spy nests that had long histories of ‘losing’ individuals exactly like him, and especially after the Hungarian Uprising. (In 2020, Vienna actually remains such a deadly city. Read why and how modern spies use it here). Also, in the second half, even the remaining bits of Cold War realism disappear after Karlson ramps up the action and conveniently transforms the communists into clueless amateurs who don’t mind being cheated over and over again. It is a needed, functional transformation, but these are not the communists that stayed in power for decades and exterminated millions of their own brothers and sisters.

The Secret Ways Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Secret Ways arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a good but slightly uneven new 2K master. The basics are all solid -- delineation, clarity, and depth range from good to very good. There are some areas with minor density fluctuations that can impact depth, but they are not introduced by problematic digital work. These are the type of fluctuations that materialize because of unique stylistic choices and location identities. For example, some can be observed during the darker outdoor footage -- like the bridge sequence where Michael Reynolds is warned to stay away from Pror. Jancsi's daughter -- but indoor footage with special lighting can produce them as well. There are no traces of problematic digital work and grain exposure is good. Grain tightness can be better, but not by a lot and as it is perfectly fine as it is. Image stability is good. Some minor scratches and marks remain, which means that the film was not fully restored, but there are no distracting debris, cuts, warped or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Secret Ways Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit). Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is stable and clear. It has good depth as well. However, there are a few spots here and there where it becomes just slightly buzzy. I noticed the effect only because I had the volume turned up rather substantially, so my guess is that most viewers probably won't notice its existence if they view the film as they usually do. There are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in our review.

The Secret Ways Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a remastered vintage trailer for The Secret Ways. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Commentary - in this new audio commentary, critics Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell offer a predictably informative and entertaining analysis of The Secret Ways, and discuss its production, Alistair MacLean's novel, the careers of its stars, the period in which the film was conceived, etc. The commentary was recorded exclusively for Kino Lorber.

• Additional Trailers -
  
  1. Time Limit
  2. Madigan
  3. Diabolically Yours
  4. 99 River Street
  5. Hornets' Nest
  6. The Satan Bug
  7. When Eight Bells Toll
  8. Breakheart Pass
  9. Force 10 from Navarone
  10. River of Death

The Secret Ways Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I enjoyed The Secret Ways because Richard Widmark is always entertaining, but his American mercenary looks as legit in Soviet-occupied Budapest as Toshiro Mifune's samurai does amongst the gunslingers in Red Sun. So, once you accept that the film's reality is manufactured entirely by Phil Karlson's imagination, and more importantly are fine with it, you will probably have a pretty good time with it. Kino Lorber's recent release of The Secret Ways is sourced from a good exclusive 2K master. RECOMMENDED.