Underworld Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Underworld Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 26, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg.

Whether fairly or unfairly, Josef von Sternberg is probably best remembered for his collaborations with Marlene Dietrich, and in fact Criterion itself has celebrated that partnership with their excellent release Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood. That very partnership may have led some film fans to assume that von Sternberg, like Dietrich, was a German emigré, but as one of the supplements on the set currently under discussion gets into, von Sternberg was actually born Jonas Sternberg in Vienna, moving to the United States with his family when he was still a tot. The “Josef”, and, later, the “von”, were added at later dates, perhaps in an attempt by either (von) Sternberg himself or those wanting to help his career to make him seem more “exotic” somehow (there’s some indication that the “von” addition may have been inspired by Erich von Stroheim). This same supplement details von Sternberg’s early career in the film industry, which included everything from being a “go fer” to editing before von Sternberg finally kind of almost stumbled into a directing career with his self funded The Salvation Hunters, which this supplement goes on to describe as one of the first supposedly mainstream “Art Films”. Von Sternberg had a kind of rocky first few years as a supposed wunderkind, with a proposed film starring Mary Pickford and then another evidently completed film done for Charlie Chaplin never really seeing the light of day (the supplement makes a passing case that the Chaplin film may be lying around in someone’s vault somewhere and that a hunt for it should be undertaken). Those stumbling blocks may have played into the decision by Paramount's legendary B.P. Schulberg to offer von Sternberg a job not as a director (at least initially), but as more of a jack of all trades assigned to clean up various productions which the studio deemed were in trouble for one reason or another. Von Stroheim's success with regard to Children of Divorce in particular finally gave him the opportunity to start directing for Paramount, and the films in this set are among his early silents for the studio.

Warner Brothers may be the studio most linked to the so-called “gangster movie” in the general public consciousness, at least during the relatively early talkie period, but Paramount was there first, or at least before, as evidenced by Underworld, von Sternberg’s first “official” directorial assignment for the studio. The result is a rather feral offering that includes both a kind of nascent turf war between gangsters as well as the ever popular romantic triangle. George Bancroft portrays gangster “Bull” Weed, who feuds with rival “Buck” Mulligan (Fred Kohler), but who also has to contend with the fact that one of his acolytes, “Rolls Royce” Wensel (Clive Brook) falls for Weed’s moll “Feather” McCoy (Evelyn Brent). (As might already be apparent, nicknames are de rigeur in this tale.)

Quite interestingly, Paramount wasn’t quite sure what they had on their hands when Underworld wrapped, and it may have seemed for a moment that von Sternberg had experienced his third and final strike in the film industry, but then evidently quite unexpectedly Underworld became an almost immediate sensation when it was released, with people insisting that theaters stay open past their announced closing times in order to fit in more screenings. It may be hard for jaded modern eyes to completely understand that reaction, since at least some of Underworld will seem relatively tame to contemporary viewers, but the film has a really almost manic energy, especially with regard to Bancroft’s performance. The film also has some almost Abstract Expressionist moments, especially in a cacophonous party scene.

Underworld Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All of the presentations included in 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.33:1. The expansive insert booklet included in this set lumps all three together in their informational page devoted to the transfers, with the following verbiage:

All three films are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. These high definition digital transfers were created on a Spirit HD DataCine, with density correction done on a da Vinci 2K. Underworld's transfer was created from a 35 mm fine grain positive, The Last Command's from a 35 mm duplicate negative, and The Docks of New York's from a 35 mm fine grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for flicker and small dirt.

Underworld, like the two other films in this set, often shows pretty significant damage despite whatever restoration efforts were made. There are numerous scratches nicks and occasional emulsion bubbles that can be spotted, and so my 3.5 score is at least partially due to me wanting to set appropriate expectations. That said, for anyone who has been a fan of sometimes pretty ragged looking silent films in high definition, this presentation offers some agreeable detail levels in close-ups and a generally very persuasive accounting of grain, as well as generally fluid motion. Things are never "sharp" in the contemporary sense of the word, nor should they be, and there are variances even within the "clarity" that is offered, but contrast is solid overall, and black levels consistently deep. There is some noticeable lateral wobble during a couple of opening text cards which give some history on von Sternberg and this film, and there are occasional moments of instability, as at circa 1:01:18 during a prison scene where the image jumps a bit vertically from frame to frame.

Underworld Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

All three films included in this set feature two different musical soundtracks delivered via LPCM 2.0 tracks. All three films feature scores by the reliable Robert Israel, with two of the three, Underworld and The Last Command , also featuring a score by the Alloy Orchestra, and the third, The Docks of New York, also featuring a score by Donald Sosin. As mentioned in the Supplements section of the overarching 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg Blu-ray review, there are some interesting comments by the composers included in the insert booklet which may be of some interest to fans. The Israel scores are inventive orchestral pieces, often quite boisterous. The Alloy Orchestra scores are a bit more experimental in nature, but are often surprisingly similar to Israel's in terms of orchestration and even general musical ideas presented. The Sosin score is more of a piano based work and also features a vocal by Joanna Seaton. Fidelity is fine and problem free throughout all scores, with a nicely burnished tone in the orchestral offerings and a slightly bright but never really brittle ambience to the piano based score. I noticed no issues whatsoever with regard to distortion, dropouts or other damage.

Underworld Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Underworld: How it Came to Be (1080p; 36:22) is a really interesting 2010 video essay by Janet Bergstrom which just as accurately could have been titled Josef von Sternberg: How He Came to Be.

Underworld Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Underworld is a fascinating early entry in the "gangster film" genre, and it's elevated by a really intense performance by George Bancroft. The film is almost always stylish, and it has some surprisingly violent flourishes along the way. Video is certainly watchable but fans should be aware there's still quite a bit of damage even after whatever restoration gauntlet this was put through. Audio is great and the supplement very interesting. Recommended.