Buyer beware. Image Entertainment/Dark City has used the exact same print of this film as was used for the budget-line DVD from Alpha Video/Gotham Distribution. The picture quality is so bad, it's virtually unwatchable. Right from the start, the picture is jittery, as if it's running in a broken projector. Everything is out of focus -- this must be a fifth or sixth generation print, not even close to broadcast quality. The picture is littered with grain, specks, scratches, you name it. Several nighttime scenes are absolutely pitch-black -- you can't see anything at all on the screen. And there are so many missing frames that the movie keeps lurching forward like a bad japanese animation film.This is the first release in Image Entertainment's "Dark City" series. I hope it's also the last. Image Entertainment has done a huge disservice to film noir fans. Instead of hunting down a better source print (or at least a second print to provide the missing frames) and doing even a halfway decent restoration job, Image presents a DVD that is no better than the budget-priced Alpha release, even though the Image release costs much more. Fans of old movies who are accustomed to the superior restoration work that's been done on DVD's from companies like Warner and Columbia, will be sorely disappointed by the inferior quality of this release. "Too Late For Tears," while not a classic, is a better than average example of 40's film noir. It deserves better treatment than this -- and DVD buyers deserve more respect. I for one will never buy another DVD from Image Entertainment.
Great Film Noir - Terrible DVD Transfer
David Forehand's review is perfectly stated, and I cannot add anything more to it, other than I would give this film only 4 stars due to the terrible quality of the DVD transfer. The copy I watched is produced by Alpha Video Recorders, and is the very worst I have seen.
But the film noir is terrific, and I am glad to have been able to see it, even though the transfer is so bad. If this is the only way we can get this 1949 classic, then it is worth the low cost of the film.
Too late?
This film SOUNDS like a good noir but is weak all round. Definitely NOT a classic or even close.
I like Lizabeth Scott but I believe (after purchasing and viewing this DVD from Alpha-Video) that she needs a firm hand in direction. The director, Byron Haskin was mostly known for Special Effects although he directed "War Of The Worlds", and did a good job, but most of his other films he directed are forgettable. The rear panel credits him as "responsible for such classics as" "Arsenic And Old Lace", "Passage To Marseilles" & "They Drive By Night" for which he performed ONLY Special Effects.
If you like Lizabeth Scott I would recommend "Dead Reckoning" and "The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers".
I don't expect the greatest from Alpha-Video (oldies.com) because they transfer whatever they can get their hands on from Public Domain. Sometimes, as with "The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers", you get an "A" film with fairly good visual and sound quality overall, and sometimes you get barely acceptable. If you're expecting a hidden gem such as Edgar Ulmer's "Detour", you may be disappointed.
"The Chase" is probably one of the strangest film noirs you're ever likely to see.
An out of work, but honest WWII veteran, Chuck Scott (Robert Cummings), happens upon a lost wallet. When he returns it to the wealthy owner, one Eddie Roman, Scott is given a job as chauffer by way of reward. But not all is as it seems with Scott's new benefactor. Roman is a vicious gangster, and a heartless control freak on top of that. When Roman's abused wife turns to the innocent Scott for help, they plan an escape to Havana. The vengeful Roman organizes some payback, and soon Scott is framed for murder. Along the way, there's a dream sequence that adds a real twist to the familiar plot.
"The Chase" has gotten the reputation for being somewhat of a cult classic, but I'm not sure how much of that... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robert Cummings - Michèle Morgan Director(s): Arthur Ripley DVD Release Date: Released the 22 July 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $7.98 Your Price: $7.98YOU SAVE $0!
Buy it
"Crime of Passion" is a solid basic film noir. It lacks much of the dark exteriors, night shots, strange camera angles and gloomy interiors of a complete noir film but this is still the real thing. Barbara Stanwyck is a successful newspaper columnist in San Francisco. She impulsively marries an L.A. cop, Sterling Hayden. The suddenness of the marriage might signal some future "problems". The newlyweds settle down to a neat little suburban house, which would appear right at home on an "Ozzie and Harriet" set. Hayden is happy as a clam but not the Mrs! She wants more! She quickly becomes bored with the stilted little dinner parties and catty gossip of the other police wives. Who could blame her! Then Stanwyck over reaches! She has an affair with her hubby's boss. The intent was getting him... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Barbara Stanwyck - Sterling Hayden Director(s): Gerd Oswald DVD Release Date: Released the 02 December 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $14.95 Your Price: $13.46YOU SAVE $1.49!
Buy it
The synopsis of this film is that a beautiful singer Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling) is separated from her alcoholic husband Martin Blair (Dan Duryea) and refuses to even let him visit her in her swanky high-rise apartment. This depresses Martin so much that he goes on a major bender, but on that same night Mavis is discovered murdered in her apartment by man named Kirk Bennett (John Phillips). While in the apartment, Bennett realizes that someone else is in the apartment, possibly the murderer, but somehow this person slips past Bennett. For some reason Bennett decides not to call the police but instead flees the scene of the crime but is seen by Mavis's maid. The police come to Bennett's home and break the news to his wife... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Dan Duryea - June Vincent - Peter Lorre Director(s): Roy William Neill DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $13.48YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
Samuel Fuller's "Pickup on South Street" is easily one of his better films and as cynical and tough as crime dramas got in the 50's. Richard Widmark is excellent as a cocky pickpocket who swipes the wallet of sexy Jean Peters that contains microfilm of government secrets to be delivered to a Communist agency. Peters is unaware of the Communist angle and is only doing a "job" for her slimy ex-boyfriend Richard Kiley (who's also excellent). Getting mixed up in the mess to get back the microfilm is street peddler/police informant Thelma Ritter who sells information to whoever wants to buy it. The film is gritty and unsentimental and none of the characters are saints. New York City is depicted as a tough place to survive especially on the dirty waterfront where Skip McCoy (Widmark) lives and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Richard Widmark - Jean Peters Director(s): Samuel Fuller DVD Release Date: Released the 17 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $29.95 Your Price: $26.06YOU SAVE $3.89!
Buy it
By turns hard-nosed and ribald, They Drive by Night smashes through a vintage Warner Bros. yarn about truck drivers, the Depression, and one duplicitous dame. The opening reels are a forceful look at the dangerous lives of independent truckers (George Raft and Humphrey Bogart as brothers--Bogie in the supporting role, though he would soon eclipse Raft in Hollywood), battling the system and the economy. The final section veers into a less exciting murder frame-up, but Ida Lupino is so delicious as the Black Widow, it works. The robust humor of director Raoul Walsh dominates the film, with some truly hilarious double entendres aimed at outfoxing the censors. At the center of many such one-liners is Ann Sheridan, as a waitress who slings more than hash. It's close to being a classic,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): George Raft - Humphrey Bogart Director(s): Raoul Walsh DVD Release Date: Released the 04 November 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $17.98YOU SAVE $2!
Buy it
