Walk a Crooked Mile Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Walk a Crooked Mile Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 12, 2021

Gordon Douglas' "Walk a Crooked Mile" (1948) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage promotional materials; two archival shorts; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

In a tough spot

It was an unusual experience viewing Gordon Douglas’ film Walk a Crooked Mile because just forty-eight hours ago news broke out that a U.S. Navy engineer and his wife were arrested for “selling nuclear sub secrets” to an unknown foreign power. According to preliminary reports, FBI agents posing as foreign spies had the couple engaged since December 2000 and were able to gather plenty of crucial evidence about their activities and contacts while top-secret information was being sold to them. At the right time, the couple was arrested and charged with “conspiracy and communication of restricted data”. (See news report here).

Douglas’ film is about an almost identical situation. It is set a few years after the end of WWII and follows closely a complex operation to nab an elusive traitor working in an atomic plant in Southern California who has begun transferring nuclear secrets to a communist nation. The FBI has identified the ‘leak’ and portions of the route that is being used to transport the secrets to their final destination, but is still missing crucial information that can expose all of the parties that are involved in the scheme. With time running out -- the secrets that are being transferred are part of a big project whose completion is expected to dramatically alter the defense capabilities of the U.S. military -- FBI agent Dan O’Hara (Dennis O’Keefe) and Scotland Yard investigator Scotty Grayson (Louis Hayward) enter the atomic plant and with the assistance of its director begin monitoring a very small group of scientists that could be behind the leak.

But progress is so slow that eventually O’Hara and Grayson are forced to abandon classic procedures and begin improvising. As potential suspects are identified and a particular communist cell’s activities linked to the leak, O’Hara and Grayson finally come closer to the elusive traitor. However, when a decision is made to place Grayson in the basement of the nuclear plant where laundry is being processed so that he can determine whether this might be the route the traitor is using to get the secrets out of it, a series of unexpected developments threaten to collapse the entire operation.

Even with some of the dry narration and the few short melodramatic statements that pop up at the end, this film is very effective because it spends a great deal of time on the exact procedures that FBI agents would use to track down a high-profile traitor whose actions are driven by a political ideology. Obviously, some of the descriptions that are being used in the discussions that emerge in different phases of the operation are somewhat dated, but the logic behind them is still solid. In fact, it is fairly easy to conclude that it is the same logic that was used to determine the proper strategy to nab the U.S. navy engineer and his wife earlier this year.

The film’s pragmatism does not demean its noirish ambience. On the contrary, once the communist cell is infiltrated it actually helps it flourish even better. A couple of sequences where it is revealed precisely how the traitor has been outsmarting the security protocol in the nuclear plant effectively legitimize all of the paranoia that is used as a foundation for the noirish ambience.

George Bruce adapted an original story by Bertram Millhauser, who had previously worked with Robert Siodmak on the excellent thriller The Suspect.

The film utilizes some pretty good footage from old San Francisco as well as downtown Los Angeles. Douglas used the services of cinematographer George Robinson, who is probably best known for his contributions to some of the classic Universal monster films, like House of Dracula and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.

Walk a Crooked Mile Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Walk a Crooked Mile arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films.

The entire film looks really good in high-definition. It has been fully remastered by the folks at Sony Pictures and excluding a few minor density fluctuations and shaky darker nuances this will likely be its definitive presentation. Indeed, delineation, clarity and depth are already very good. On a larger screen the fluidity of the visuals looks solid as well. Grain exposure is very nice too, though there are a few areas where it is rather easy to tell that time has left its mark and therefore it is impossible to maintain proper consistency. There are no traces of problematic digital work. Image stability is very good. Lastly, the entire film looks very healthy. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Walk a Crooked Mile Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless audio track is excellent. The narration and dialog are very clear, sharp, and stable. I expected to hear rather substantial fluctuations in terms of dynamic intensity/stability because of the documentary nature of some footage, but everything sounded great. Obviously, when the film was remastered by the folks at Sony Pictures, the audio was properly transferred and its native qualities are retained as best as possible.

Walk a Crooked Mile Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Routine Job: A Story of Scotland Yard (1946) - a short about the procedures and methods used by Scotland Yard investigators when pursuing carjackers. Directed by Gilbert Gunn. Fully remastered. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles. (23 min).

• The March of Time: Policeman's Holiday (1949) - a pretty interesting short about Scotland Yard's practices and their influence on the work being done by FBI agents on the other side of the Atlantic. Fully remastered. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles. (23 min).

• Image Gallery - a collection of vintage promotional materials for Walk a Crooked Mile.

• Dunked in the Deep (1949) - a short film featuring the three stooges. Directed and produced by Jules White. Fully remastered. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles. (17 min).

• Book - a limited edition exclusive 120-page book with new essays by Beth Ann Gallagher, Bob Herzberg, Sophie Monks Kaufman, Omar Ahmed, Jen Johans, and Monica Castillo, archival articles and interviews, and film credits.

Walk a Crooked Mile Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While the technology used by FBI agents is obviously very, very different now, I am quite certain that the core logic behind their methods and procedures is identical to the one that is revealed in Gordon Douglas' film Walk a Crooked Mile. Also, I can't see how the film can be considered paranoid when we are currently getting news reports about FBI operations targeting the same type of people that Dennis O'Keefe and Louis Hayward's characters are tracking down in it. Strange times? Not really. The game of espionage and the parties that become involved in it have always been the same. This release is sourced from an older but very strong remaster that was prepared by Sony Pictures. It is included in Indicator/Powerhouse Films' Columbia Noir #4 box set. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.