The Sin of Nora Moran Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

The Sin of Nora Moran Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 29, 2020

One of the pleasures of the gargantuan Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection released relatively recently by Severin Films was the contribution in the form of several supplements including some great commentaries from erstwhile Adamson partner Samuel M. Sherman. Sherman’s history is fascinating in its own regard, albeit arguably in somewhat lower echelons of the movie industry than higher profile types, but among Sherman’s credits is a rather strong connection to The Sin of Nora Moran and its star Zita Johann. Sherman is on hand here with what amounts to an audio supplement (playing to scenes from the film and a late Sherman directed effort called Raiders of the Living Dead, which offered Johann her last screen role, along with stills) where he describes how he kind of stumbled upon The Sin of Nora Moran decades ago and ultimately became friends with Johann. Sherman perhaps unwisely decided to retitle The Sin of Nora Moran as Voice from the Grave when he achieved ownership and was trying to package it with what was one of his stocks in trade, namely horror films, for television broadcast, but otherwise Sherman’s attempts to curate and then restore The Sin of Nora Moran should certainly be appreciated by fans of relatively early talkie pre-code cinema.

The Sin of Nora Moran is an exercise in brevity, with a running time of only a bit more than an hour, and as such, some may feel sections are underdeveloped, though others may see the screenplay by W. Maxwell Goodhue (adapting his own story) and Frances Hyland as a veritable model of quick, incisive delivery. That’s evident from the very first scene, which manages to divulge a whole glut of information without much actual exposition. A woman named Edith Crawford (Claire Du Brey) plops a series of love letters down on the desk of a guy named John Grant (Alan Dinehart), and within just a minute or two it’s revealed that Crawford and Grant are brother and sister, Grant is a District Attorney, and Crawford’s husband Dick (Paul Cavanagh) is Governor. Dick was also the recipient of the unsigned love letters, which has obviously greatly troubled Edith. John kind of unwittingly divulges that he’s known about the affair, and when Edith demands to know who the “other woman” is, John initially demurs, before finally agreeing, which sets the film out on an almost hallucinatory set of flashbacks.

A quick look at a newspaper headline that John shows Edith before the flashbacks start kind of gives away the end, or more appropriately, Nora’s end, since she was evidently convicted of murder and consigned to the electric chair. How she got into that predicament is an obviously tragic tale that sees a girl and then later a woman who seemed to be buffeted regularly by the winds of fate. Nora (Zita Johann) has had the odds stacked against her seemingly from childhood, and when as a young woman she seems to be on the brink of making something of herself, including getting herself a job in a traveling circus as the assistant of lion tamer Paulino (John Miljan), a happy ending seems to be finally due.

Instead, Nora finds herself a pawn in a kind of unwitting ménage à trois involving herself, Paulino and the governor, a situation which ends in tragedy. That leads to Nora’s eventual imprisonment and “appointment” with the electric chair. It’s all rather sordid on its face, but the film is structurally rather unique, drifting in and out of flashbacks (at times told from different people’s perspectives) in such a weird, dreamlike way that it almost becomes hard to differentiate what’s happening when and whether or not Nora is “dreaming” (courtesy of a sedative she’s given) or actually remembering things from her past.

The Sin of Nora Moran is structurally and stylistically rather innovative, and Johann is impressive in the role, which makes one wonder why she didn't have a longer film career (something that was evidently due at least in part to her own wishes). The film also has a couple of kind of interesting "backstage" elements. One of these, an uncredited early score by Heinz Roemheld, is mentioned by Sherman in the supplement on this disc, but one of the reasons The Sin of Nora Moran is remembered today, if it's remembered at all, that is, is due to its iconic key art by Alberto Vargas, who of course would go on to create the memorable "Vargas girls" of pin-up poster fame.

The Sin of Nora Moran Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Sin of Nora Moran is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Film Detective with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. The front cover of this release touts that it is "restored in 4K from the original 35mm camera negative", but there's a kind of curious elision in the supplement with Samuel Sherman where he first talks about obtaining a print (which is described as the "only" print) back in the 1960s, but he later talks about the negative being restored in conjunction with UCLA. Mr. Sherman also provides some written background in the insert booklet where he clarifies obtaining the negative many years later. While this is certainly a commendable restoration, those coming to this film have to bear in mind it is basically one long optical, with a series of nonstop dissolves in and out of various scenes, and as such there's quite a bit of "baked in" damage that evidently was not easily fixable. Therefore, especially during some of the transitions you can spot damage and dirt. There are occasional slight frame jumps as well, perhaps due to inartful edits. Also probably because of the opticals, and what I'm assuming were varying "bumps in" and "bumps out", clarity and grain structure can ebb and flow. All of this said, this features some nice detail levels, with generally good contrast and nicely resolved grain (again, somewhat variable in both cases due to the ubiquity of opticals). Black levels in a really interesting late sequence where Nora and other characters are kind of "lost in space" are nicely deep. There are some occasional density and brightness fluctuations, not all of which seem traceable to any opticals.

Note: This may have just been one of those inexplicable "ghosts in the machine," but I had a hard time getting this to load properly on more than one of my standalone players. Even when I did get it to load I kind of oddly got recurrent "play" icons on the Main Menu even though I wasn't doing anything.

The Sin of Nora Moran Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Sin of Nora Moran features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that is obviously a product of its era, with a thin, boxy sound that doesn't really afflict dialogue all that much, but which can tend to make the Heinz Roemheld musical elements sound a bit shallow at times. There's really not any damage per se in the forms of outright distortion or dropouts, but the track is kind of tinny sounding, though certainly listenable and absolutely clear in terms of dialogue. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Sin of Nora Moran Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Mysterious Life of Zita Johann (1080p; 17:19) may not actually live up to its title, in that there's not much mystery involved, but this is a rather sweet reminiscence by Samuel Sherman, who gets into his history with both the film and Zita Johann.

The Sin of Nora Moran Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Sin of Nora Moran is a really interesting film from any number of angles, and it certainly provides Zita Johann with a showcase for her talents. The film's quick pace may leave some wanting more, but this is a great example of "no frills" storytelling with just a hint of the outré poking around the edges due to the whole circus performer aspect. The restoration undertaken in conjunction with UCLA is commendable, though expectations probably need to be tempered somewhat by a realization that the film has pretty much nonstop opticals. The soundtrack is listenable but certainly is a product of its era. The supplement featuring Samuel Sherman's reminiscences is appreciated. Recommended.