6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.8 |
Many years of living in the Orient has made American surgeon Dr. Dan Maynard bitter, and emotional instability has weakened Tangier-born Rita King. The meet when a night-raid by Shanghai's police chief gathers and inters all westerners in the Waldorf House Hotel under the guardianship of the cold and cruel Major Ling Wu. Rita benefits from the relationship she has with the police, which in turn creates contempt and suspicion among her fellow detainees. Rita's subsequent actions cause a favorable shift in the popular opinion of her, only to be followed by unfortunate circumstances that shake the core of her supporters' trust in her.
Starring: Edmond O'Brien, Ruth Roman, Richard Jaeckel, Barry Kelley, Whit BissellThriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
What is it about Chinese Revolutions and a bunch of international expats holed up in a hotel, or at least something like it? Samuel Bronston’s 1963 epic 55 Days at Peking posited a bunch of folks, including a few disillusioned Americans, trying to weather the storms of the Boxer Revolution in a red velvet draped “compound” where various soap operatic stories played out against the background of an incipient uprising of the natives. Nine years before Bronston’s film, a decidedly less luxe production from the typically meager efforts of Republic Studios offered another group of international misfits reeling from strictures placed upon foreigners in the wake of the Communist Revolution in China which promoted Mao Tse-Tung to power. 1954 was not an especially “popular” year for Communists, at least in the United States, where the public was reeling from news items like the Soviets’ mastery of hydrogen bomb technology and (supposedly) their nefarious incursion into the top echelons of the American government, as alleged by one Senator Joseph McCarthy. Some of that Cold War Era paranoia is amply on display in The Shanghai Story, a fairly turgid potboiler that offers a world weary doctor named Maynard (Edmond O’Brien) and a mysterious woman with an exotic past named Rita King (Ruth Roman), among a gaggle of other types, who have been renditioned to an empty hotel in Shanghai under new roles imposed by the Communist government. Some sneaky spy has been getting information about those nasty Commies out to the world at large, and the powers that be are not at all pleased about it, having rounded up both the usual and unusual suspects in an attempt to ferret out exactly who is involved in international espionage. It’s notable that The Shanghai Story doesn’t really dwell on the mystery of it all (the spy is rather calmly revealed relatively early on), instead focusing on the supposed “human drama” of the individuals having one of those lodging stays which will probably not get many stars on their Trip Advisor reports.
The Shanghai Story is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. As evidenced by a rather heavy layer of grain and an overall soft look, this may have been sourced at least partially from duplicate elements. At times, even midrange shots can appear slightly fuzzy, with objects (including people) not having completely clear delineation (look at screenshot 6 toward the tip of the little girl's nose). At other times, though, both contrast and clarity take incremental but noticeable upticks, though the bulk of this presentation looks fairly mottled due to the very heavy grain field. Elements are in generally okay condition, though there is a fair amount of the typical kinds of age related wear and tear we regularly report about in these older catalog titles, including above average amounts of scratches and (especially) minus density. Some of the film's darkest sequences have slightly inadequate contrast, something that exacerbates the clarity issues which the heavy grain field presents. As is the case with Olive releases, there are no signs of excessive digital intrusion, and so while this shows no signs of any restorative efforts, there's a generally decently organic appearance here.
The Shanghai Story features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix which is slightly shallow sounding, but which offers capable support for the film's dialogue and somewhat overheated score by R. Dale Butts. While the track is a bit flat sounding, there's no real damage to cause any concern or worry. Fidelity is very good, but dynamic range is rather curtailed.
There are no supplements on this Blu-ray disc.
Grand Hotel featured the classic line, "Always the same. People come. People go. Nothing ever happens." Well, that's mostly true of The Shanghai Story as well, except for the fact that these poor people don't go much of anywhere once they're rounded up by the Chinese Communists. Too melodramatic to support the already tenuous exposition of the spy angle, and never energetic enough to support the overly maudlin personal stories of several of the folks ensconced at the New Waldorf House, The Shanghai Story ends up being held hostage to its own unclear ambitions. Performances are generally quite winning, however, though those considering a purchase should take a while to peruse the screenshots accompanying this review.
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