- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
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- Real Name
- Robert Harris
There are times when you know a film very well.
You get a copy on DVD, and can just feel how great it would look on Blu-ray, but you just know that isn't going to happen.
That's precisely what did happened with the new Twilight Time release of Fritz Lang's The Big Heat.
While this is getting into the late noir period (1953), it's prime Lang and prime Lang.
That would be Fritz directing, and Charles behind the camera. If the name Charles Lang doesn't sound familiar, and it may not, a quick look at his CV tells the following story.
Started behind the camera in 1923, and took the lead as cinematographer three years later.
What films did he shoot that you might recognize?
A Farewell to Arms, Devi land the Deep, She Done Him Wrong, Death Takes a Holiday, Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Peter Ibbetson, Desire, The Uninvited, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, It Should Happen to You, Sabina, The Long Gray Line, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Some Like It Hot, The Magnificent Seven, One-Eyed Jacks, How the West Was Won, Charade, Wait Until Dark, et al...
All of which means that The Big Heat should look good.
It looks extraordinary.
Rich, black blacks, perfect shadow detail, great grain structure. It's all there.
Audio is uncompressed mono and fine. It was rumored that the original mix was three-track stereo, which does not survive, but I've not been able to confirm that fact.
The Big Heat is true, heavy-hitting film noir, and one of Fritz Lang's best films.
As an aside, so that it need not be asked...
Yes. Jocelyn Brando was Marlon's older sister.
A gorgeous Blu-ray.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
You get a copy on DVD, and can just feel how great it would look on Blu-ray, but you just know that isn't going to happen.
That's precisely what did happened with the new Twilight Time release of Fritz Lang's The Big Heat.
While this is getting into the late noir period (1953), it's prime Lang and prime Lang.
That would be Fritz directing, and Charles behind the camera. If the name Charles Lang doesn't sound familiar, and it may not, a quick look at his CV tells the following story.
Started behind the camera in 1923, and took the lead as cinematographer three years later.
What films did he shoot that you might recognize?
A Farewell to Arms, Devi land the Deep, She Done Him Wrong, Death Takes a Holiday, Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Peter Ibbetson, Desire, The Uninvited, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, It Should Happen to You, Sabina, The Long Gray Line, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Some Like It Hot, The Magnificent Seven, One-Eyed Jacks, How the West Was Won, Charade, Wait Until Dark, et al...
All of which means that The Big Heat should look good.
It looks extraordinary.
Rich, black blacks, perfect shadow detail, great grain structure. It's all there.
Audio is uncompressed mono and fine. It was rumored that the original mix was three-track stereo, which does not survive, but I've not been able to confirm that fact.
The Big Heat is true, heavy-hitting film noir, and one of Fritz Lang's best films.
As an aside, so that it need not be asked...
Yes. Jocelyn Brando was Marlon's older sister.
A gorgeous Blu-ray.
Highly Recommended.
RAH