DVD Review Cry of the City DVD Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Cry of the City DVD Review

Robert Siodmak’s Cry of the City is a tough, hard film noir with cops and killers and assorted fringe dwellers all doing what comes naturally whether it be legal or illegal. It’s a grim film with little of cheer or pleasure, and the feeling of lives lived on the edge coming ever closer to their end is unremitting. Beautifully paced, gripping from beginning to end, and with a cast of famous faces and character actors second to none make it a film truly not to be missed.

Studio: Fox

Distributed By: N/A

Video Resolution and Encode: 480I/MPEG-2

Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1

Audio: English 2.0 DD

Subtitles: None

Rating: Not Rated

Run Time: 1 Hr. 35 Min.

Package Includes: DVD

Amaray case

Disc Type: DVD-R

Region: All

Release Date: 10/08/2013

MSRP: $19.98

The Production Rating: 4/5

Shot four times by a police officer whom he killed in a shootout, criminal Marty Rome (Richard Conte) is recovering in a hospital when he’s quizzed about a jewel robbery which he had nothing to do with but is tempted with a bribe of $10,000 for his girl friend (Debra Paget) by the sleazy lawyer (Berry Kroeger) representing the real crooks (if he’ll confess to the crime since he’s going to the electric chair anyway for killing a cop). When Rome ingeniously escapes from hospital lock-up, he goes about locating the stolen jewels so he can use them to garner safe passage out of the country, but he’s got two dogged straight-arrow detectives on his tail: Lieutenant Vito Candella (Victor Mature) and his partner Lieutenant Collins (Fred Clark), and they know his parents (Tito Vuolo, Mimi Aguglia), impressionable younger brother Tony (Tommy Cook), ex-girl friend Brenda (Shelley Winters), and others Marty has used in the past to get him out of jams.Richard Murphy has written a corker of a good screenplay adapted from the novel The Chair for Martin Rome by Henry Edward Helseth, and it’s been staged by director Robert Siodmak in his usual fluid and compelling style without a wasted moment and with action happening with a forceful naturalness that makes this such a striking drama. Marty’s escape from the hospital is done efficiently but with very effective suspense as he encounters several moments where his jig could easily have been up after being discovered. Likewise, later scenes with Hope Emerson as a tough-as-nails masseuse who dickers with Marty over helping him (and a later scene in the subway featuring them both against the police) or Marty’s several encounters with his parents where he returns twice for sanctuary, both times with Vito haunting his steps looking for him, are just as meticulously staged and shot. If stray bullets often find a convenient target or the police manage to locate strangers in the night with little difficulty, well, these are tropes of the trade and are easily forgiven with the relentless cat-and-mouse central story taking over so forcefully.Victor Mature has never been better as the driven detective trying to keep the streets clean, but the script goes light on preaching his sainthood and rather shows us his passion for the job and for his city. Richard Conte gives a very charismatic performance, subtle without the braying cockiness that might have been found in a 1930s crime thriller like Manhattan Melodrama or Angels with Dirty Faces, and his and Mature’s final face-off in church with fresh-faced Debra Paget finally seeing her boy friend for what he really is makes for a very memorable moment in the movie. Of the supporting players, Fred Clark is surprisingly good on the right side of the law for a change, and Shelley Winters in an early role is likewise wonderful as she continues letting Marty use her. Mimi Aguglia as Marty’s mother, Tommy Cook as Marty’s brother, Berry Kroeger as the calculating lawyer, Betty Garde as a helpful nurse, and Konstantin Shayne as an immigrant doctor drawn into Marty’s orbit along with the aforementioned Hope Emerson all abet the drama with superlative performances.

Video Rating: 4/5 3D Rating: NA

The film is presented in its theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37:1. Aside from one early sequence where Debra Paget’s Teena comes to Marty’s bedside that is filled with dust speckles that fairly shimmer, this is a beautiful transfer rich in inky blacks and crisp whites and with contrast dialed in with consistent precision. There are occasional other small blips of debris here and there, but this transfer has seen some loving care. The film has been divided into chapters every ten minutes so there are ten chapters here.

Audio Rating: 4/5

Like almost all of the Fox Cinema Archive titles, the volume level of the Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound mix has been set too high and must be reduced to prevent distortion and possible damage to the equipment. Alfred Newman’s familiar “Street Scene” theme and his other musical themes mix quite nicely with the well-recorded dialogue and sound effects making for an effective mono soundtrack very representative of its era.

Special Features Rating: 1/5

Theatrical Trailer (2:33)

Overall Rating: 4/5

One of the better entries in the Fox Cinema Archive series, Cry of the City is well worth a look, and film noir fans who have not already added it to their collections will definitely want to do so. Recommended!

Reviewed By: Matt Hough

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[Robin9]

Well done: a brilliant assessment of this film. The only addition I would make is that when Martin Rome escapes from prison, Alfred Newman makes a major contribution during that long walk down the corridor. I regard Cry Of The City as one of the great masterworks of crime melodrama and I'venever understood why it is not ranked alongside other masterworks like Out of ThePast. Victor Mature and Richard Conte are both excellent. Conte was one of thoserare actors, like Stephen McNally, who could persuasively portray both thoroughlylikable characters and deeply villainous ones.I already have a pretty good German DVD of this film, but in view of your commentsI think I'll buy this DVD-R too as it seems that Fox may have done some work on theelements. Ultimately, of course, this great movie should be handed over to Shawn Belston and his colleagues for preparation for a Blu-ray release.

 

[Robin9]

I apologise for the appalling lay-out of my comments above. Not my fault, I assure everyone. HTF really need to provide an edit facility for those adding comments to reviews.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Fox Connect is having a 50% of Flash Sale today, so I was able to pick this up for $9.99. The code is PUMPKIN, today only.

EDIT: I spoke too soon. The Flash Sale actually is good through 11/8/14.

 

[David_B_K]

Fox Connect is having a 50% of Flash Sale today, so I was able to pick this up for $9.99. The code is PUMPKIN, today only.

EDIT: I spoke too soon. The Flash Sale actually is good through 11/8/14.

Dang, I wish I'd read this review before doing a "pumpkin" order with Fox!