Violent Saturday Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Violent Saturday Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 18, 2014

Richard Fleischer's "Violent Saturday" (1955) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include a conversation with director William Friedkin and an in-depth look at the film with director/writer Nicolas Saada. The release also arrives with a 32-page illustrated booklet featuring Adam Batty's essay "Violent Saturday", original campaign book, and technical credits. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"Keep your hands where we can see them..."

Heist films typically tell stories about bad guys trying to steal something and good guys trying to stop or catch them. The direction these films would follow is almost always very easy to guess.

Richard Fleischer’s Violent Saturday is a heist film, but trying to guess where the film wants to go, and how, isn’t easy. In fact, it is not even easy to tell if there are any truly good guys in it - at least not for a while.

The film is set in the small town of Bradenville, a quiet place where the rich and the poor have learned to coexist without constantly targeting each other. There is an obvious distance between the two and both sides do their best to maintain it. Unsurprisingly, life in Bradenville has a familiar rhythm.

A lot changes when a group of traveling gangsters decides to rob the town’s only bank. They check in the local hotel and immediately begin scouting the area. While gathering the information they need, the gangsters meet some of the town’s residents - a wealthy alcoholic whose wife is having an affair with a single man, a married bank manager obsessed with a stunningly beautiful nurse, a middle-aged man whose son is seriously disappointed that he isn’t a war veteran like most other fathers in the town, and a quiet but seriously frustrated librarian who owes a lot of money to the bank.

Eventually, the gangsters rob the bank and head to an Amish farm just outside of Bradenville to exchange the car they’ve used with a truck. But the owner of the car, whom they’ve taken as a hostage, forces them to change their plans.

Structurally, Violent Saturday reminds of Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing. The narrative is fractured into various episodes, each following a different character before, during, and after the heist. Like The Killing, Violent Saturday also maintains a notably steady tempo, the type some documentary films favor.

Unlike Kubrick, however, Fleischer does not seem too interested in the mechanics of the heist. The preparations and consequently the execution of what is supposedly a perfect robbery plan are used only as a foundation for excellent character studies. This surprising approach transforms Violent Saturday into a crime drama with very unique social undertones.

Shot in lush CinemaScope, Violent Saturday often looks spectacular. There are terrific panoramic shots boasting incredibly rich and sharp colors throughout the entire film. On the other hand, close-ups are virtually non-existent. Even some of the more intimate scenes are framed in a manner that allows one to see a wide range of objects. The film was lensed by cinematographer Charles Clarke (Henry Koster’s Stars and Stripes Forever, Nunnally Johnson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit).

The cast is diverse and impressive. Victor Mature is outstanding as the owner of the car the gangsters use during the heist. Tommy Noonan, a great but forgotten actor, plays the obsessed bank manager. Lee Marvin is the sadistic gangster Dill, while J. Carrol Naish is his partner Chapman. Ernest Borgnine is Stadt, the Amish owner of the farm where the gangsters arrive to exchange their car.

Violent Saturday Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.55:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Richard Fleischer's Violent Saturday arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment.

The high-definition transfer has been struck from the same master the folks at French label Carlotta Films accessed when they prepared their Blu-ray release of Violent Saturday in 2013. Unsurprisingly, the film looks very beautiful in high-definition. Because Violent Saturday was shot in CinemaScope, from start to finish detail and clarity are outstanding. The daylight footage, in particular, looks gorgeous (see screencapture #2). Colors are rich, stable, and exceptionally well saturated. Contrast levels remain stable throughout the entire film. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening corrections. Unsurprisingly, when projected the film has a solid organic appearance. Lastly, the compression and encoding are excellent. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Violent Saturday Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0. For the record, Eureka Entertainment have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, the appear inside the image frame.

I prefer the 2.0 track -- I also viewed the French release with the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track -- but you should experiment with the 4.0 track. During the shootouts at the Amish farm there is clearly additional separation and dynamic movement is elevated. As far as clarity and sharpness are concerned, however, both tracks deliver the same quality. The dialog is always crisp, stable, clean, and easy to follow. Also, there are no pops, cracks, hiss, audio dropouts or distortions to report in this review.

Violent Saturday Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Richard Fleischer, Storyteller - in this video piece, director William Friedkin (The Exorcist) discusses the unique qualities of Violent Saturday, the structure of its narrative, the CinemaScope process, Richard Fleischer's body of work, etc. The same video piece also appears on Carlotta Films' release of Violent Saturday. In English, not subtitled. (21 min).

• Melodrame policier - an in-depth look at Richard Fleischer's Violent Saturday. Produced by director/writer Nicolas Saada (Arsène Lupin 3D) for Allerton Films. The same video piece also appears on Carlotta Films' release of Violent Saturday. In French, with optional English subtitles (28 min).

• Booklet - 32-page illustrated booklet featuring Adam Batty's essay Violent Saturday, original campaign book, and technical credits.

Violent Saturday Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Eureka Entertainment's new Blu-ray release of Richard Fleischer's stylish gangster film Violent Saturday is every bit as impressive as the one French label Carlotta Films produced last year. It uses as a foundation the same beautiful restoration of the film and has the same excellent supplemental features that were included on the French release. Needless to say, if you don't yet have Violent Saturday in your library, it is time to pre-order your copy. I guarantee you will like the film and the technical presentation. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.