THE OTTO PREMINGER FILM NOIR COLLECTION [1945 / 1949 / 1950 / 2015] [Limited Edition 3 Disc Set] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] Otto Preminger is one of the Most Influential “Film Noir” Directors in Hollywood!
This essential collection brings together three of acclaimed director Otto Preminger's greatest films for the first time on Blu-ray, delivering a unique combination of intrigue, moral ambiguity and stylish Black-and-White photography, which truly defines this much loved “Film Noir” genre.
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‘FALLEN ANGEL’ [1945] An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews) wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric Stanton falls for the lovely waitress Stella [Linda Darnell], Eric Stanton also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman named June Mills Stanton [Alice Faye]. Since Stella isn't interested in Eric Stanton unless he has money, the lovelorn guy comes up with a scheme to win her over, and it involves June Mills Stanton. Before long, murder works its way into this passionate love triangle.
FILM FACT: The source of the film ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ was the Marty Holland novel of the same name. Marty Holland also wrote another story that was adapted for the “film noir” screen, ‘The File on Thelma Jordon’ [1949]. According to the British Film Institute, "Hardly anything is known about Marty Holland except that, he, was a she called Mary, who wrote two or three best-selling pulp novels and then in 1949 — to all intents and purposes — vanished, there being no further record of her at all." The filming locations were in Orange, California.
Cast: Alice Faye, Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Charles Bickford, Anne Revere, Bruce Cabot, John Carradine, Percy Kilbride, Dorothy Adams (uncredited), Robert Adler (uncredited), Matthew 'Stymie' Beard (uncredited), Betty Boyd (uncredited), Chet Brandenburg (uncredited), Paul E. Burns (uncredited), Chick Collins (uncredited), Jimmy Conlin (uncredited), Franklyn Farnum (uncredited), Gus Glassmire (uncredited), William Haade (uncredited), Dick Haymes (JukeBox Vocalist) (uncredited), Olin Howland (uncredited), Adele Jergens (uncredited), Tiny Jones (uncredited), J. Farrell MacDonald (uncredited), George Magrill (uncredited), Leila McIntyre (uncredited), Mira McKinney (uncredited), Frank McLure (uncredited), Dave Morris (uncredited), Horace Murphy (uncredited), William H. O'Brien (uncredited), Frank O'Connor (uncredited), Broderick O'Farrell (uncredited), Garry Owen (uncredited), Paul Palmer (uncredited), Harry Strang (uncredited), Brick Sullivan (uncredited), Hal Taggart (uncredited), Hal Taliaferro (uncredited), Max Wagner (uncredited) and Martha Wentworth (uncredited)
Director: Otto Preminger
Producer: Otto Preminger
Screenplay: Harry Kleiner (screenplay) and Marty Holland (novel)
Composer: David Raksin
Cinematography: Joseph LaShelle, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
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‘WHIRLPOOL’ [1949] Plagued by an overwhelming urge to shoplift, Ann Sutton [Gene Tierney] is helped out of a tight spot by David Korvo [José Ferrer]. Unfortunately for Ann Sutton, David Korvo is a conniving hypnotist who draws her into a web of deception and murder through his mind-altering abilities and frames her for his misdeeds. While Ann's psychiatrist husband, Dr. William Sutton [Richard Conte], believes that his wife didn't commit the crimes, David Korvo's devious scheme makes proving her innocence quite difficult.
Cast: Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer, Charles Bickford, Barbara O'Neil, Eduard Franz, Constance Collier, Fortunio Bonanova, Beau Anderson (uncredited), Myrtle Anderson (uncredited), Gail Bonney (uncredited), Lovyss Bradley (uncredited), Margaret Brayton (uncredited), Sue Carlton (uncredited), Ruth Clifford (uncredited), Clancy Cooper (uncredited), Oliver Cross (uncredited), Joan Dix (uncredited), Lawrence Dobkin (uncredited), Johnny Duncan (uncredited), Eddie Dunn (uncredited), Jay Eaton (uncredited), Charles Flynn (uncredited), Sally Forrest (uncredited), Robert Foulk (uncredited), Robert Garvin (uncredited), Alex Gerry (uncredited), Bruce Hamilton (uncredited), Phyllis Hill (uncredited), Mauritz Hugo (uncredited), Ted Jordan (uncredited), Larry Keating (uncredited), Ruth Lee (uncredited), Ian MacDonald (uncredited), Joyce Mackenzie (uncredited), Harold Miller (uncredited), Roger Moore (uncredited), Howard Negley (uncredited), Wanda Perry (uncredited), Anitra Sparrow (uncredited), Randy Stuart (uncredited), John Trebach (uncredited), Nancy Valentine (uncredited), Jane Van Duser (uncredited), Lillian West (uncredited), Helen Westcott (uncredited), Mack Williams (uncredited), Shirley Witkin (uncredited) and Margaret Zane (uncredited)
Director: Otto Preminger
Producer: Otto Preminger
Screenplay: Andrew Solt (screenplay), Ben Hecht (screenplay) and Guy Endore (novel)
Composer: David Raksin
Cinematography: Arthur Charles Miller, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
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‘WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS’ [1950] Ashamed that his father lived a life of crime, hard-boiled New York City cop Detective Sgt. Mark Dixon [Dana Andrews] has a reputation for being too tough on criminals. So when Detective Sgt. Mark Dixon unintentionally kills a murder suspect during a routine questioning; he hides the fact from the department and tries to pin the killing on his nemesis, notorious gangster Tommy Scalise [Gary Merrill]. The snag in the cop's plan comes when his boss wrongly accuses the father of Detective Sgt. Mark Dixon's love interest, Morgan Taylor-Paine [Gene Tierney], of the murder.
FILM FACT: ‘WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS’ is the last film that Otto Preminger would make as a director-for-hire for Twentieth Century Fox in the 1940s. The film was primarily shot on a studio set, but the filmmakers also shot a few scenes at actual New York City locations.
Cast: Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill, Bert Freed, Tom Tully, Karl Malden, Ruth Donnelly, Craig Stevens, Fred Aldrich (uncredited), Don Appell (uncredited), Tony Barr (uncredited), Eddie Borden (uncredited), Neville Brand (uncredited), Barry Brooks (uncredited), Ralph Brooks (uncredited), Oleg Cassini (uncredited), John Close (uncredited), Tom Coleman (uncredited), Clancy Cooper (uncredited), John Daheim (uncredited), Sayre Dearing (uncredited), Bob Evans (uncredited), Charles Flynn (uncredited), Robert Foulk (uncredited), Anthony George (uncredited), Joseph Granby (uncredited), Chuck Hamilton (uncredited), Kathleen Hughes (uncredited), Lou Krugman (uncredited), Louise Lane (uncredited), Carl M. Leviness (uncredited), Louise Lorimer (uncredited), Herbert Lytton (uncredited), Ian MacDonald (uncredited), John Marshall (uncredited), John McGuire (uncredited), David McMahon (uncredited), Eda Reiss Merin (uncredited), Grayce Mills (uncredited), Lou Nova (uncredited), Peggy O'Connor (uncredited), Robert Patten (uncredited), 'Snub' Pollard (uncredited), Stephen Roberts (uncredited), Lester Sharpe (uncredited), Robert F. Simon (uncredited), Wanda Smith (uncredited), Ray Spiker (uncredited), Bert Stevens (uncredited), Clarence Straight (uncredited), Charles Tannen (voice) (uncredited), Shirley Tegge (uncredited), Larry Thompson (uncredited), John Trebach (uncredited), Phil Tully (uncredited), Harry von Zell (uncredited), Duke Watson (uncredited), Chili Williams (uncredited), Mack Williams (uncredited), Robert B. Williams (uncredited) and David Wolfe (uncredited)
Director: Otto Preminger
Producers: Otto Preminger and Frank P. Rosenberg
Screenplay: Ben Hecht (screenplay), Frank P. Rosenberg (adaptation), Robert E. Kent (adaptation), Victor Trivas (adaptation) and William L. Stuart (novel)
Composer: Cyril J. Mockridge
Cinematography: Joseph LaShelle, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
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Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 291 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 3
Studio: 20th Century Fox / British Film Institute
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: While Otto Preminger’s name may not carry quite the same cachet as the likes of Billy Wilder or Howard Hawks these days, Otto Preminger stands alongside them as one of the most influential Hollywood directors of the 1940s and 1950s. And although he worked across various genres over the course of five decades, he remains famous for his pioneering crime dramas and three of which are collected together in this beautiful British Film Institute boxset.
‘FALLEN ANGEL’ [1945] stars Dana Andrews as Eric Stanton who is a destitute huckster, a down-on-his-luck drifter, gets pulled off a bus in the hamlet of Walton because he does not have the $2.25 extra fare to take him to San Francisco, who becomes romantically involved with two women, only to end up a prime suspect when one of them is murdered. Eric Stanton is a down-on-his-luck drifter and, sadly, not the risqué comic artist of the same name who shared a studio with Steve Ditko, who winds up in the smallest of small town America only to fall for Stella [Linda Darnell], the town’s tough-but-alluring waitress. By law, every American town was required to have a tough-but-alluring waitress until 1961 and, prone to mixing with the wrong sorts, they nearly always met a sticky end. Stella is no exception and Eric Stanton becomes suspect number one. Will he solve the case? Well he’s rather busy chasing after the local rich girl too but you never know. ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ is actually a splendid piece of “film noir” and the hopelessness of the location really adds to the dourness of it all. Bonus for the sci-fi/horror fan, because there’s a dodgy séance act in town played by Olin Howland (the old guy in ‘Them!’ and ‘The Blob’) and John Carradine (far better cast here than he ever was as Bela Lugosi’s eventual replacement in Universal Pictures later Dracula-outings). Although ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ is in one sense a murder mystery, it is perhaps more melodrama the “film noir.” Centred as it is on Eric Stanton’s relationship with the two women, his cynicism is ultimately transformed into romance, signalled in the line of verse from which the film takes its title: “Then love alone can make the fallen angel rise.” Typically, Otto Preminger affected not to remember the film: “I still cannot recall the ending!” However, even if less well known than some of his other films from this period, ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ demonstrates all of the director’s intelligence, control and stylishness. Running Time: 97 minutes
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‘WHIRLPOOL’ [1949] mixes together “film noir,” melodrama and 'dime-store Freud' with its story of a troubled socialite Ann Sutton [Gene Tierney] whose kleptomania makes her a prime target for the machinations of a sinister hypnotist David Korvo [José Ferrer]. Ann Sutton is the posh wife of a psychoanalyst Dr. William Sutton [Richard Conte] who having too much time on her hands, also steals stuff from department stores. In the intriguing opening she’s arrested for shoplifting but the apparently heroic David Korvo steps in to save the day. As it happens, he’s also a hypnotist and of course he is, so he offers to cure Ann Sutton of her kleptomania. But why are other socialites who’ve crossed his path so keen to warn Ann Sutton off him? Then one winds up strangled with Ann Sutton’s scarf. Oh dear. Arguably ‘WHIRLPOOL’ isn’t really “film noir” at all, just a thriller with a mental illness/hypnotism twist which at least makes fairly interesting viewing at times. While it’s the weakest here, it is still pretty solid and José Ferrer does a really excellent job of stealing the show. But Orson Welles called the film the “dollar-book Freud,” where the film neatly links love and money in offering and explanation of Ann Sutton’s unhappiness. Ann Sutton started stealing because her father denied her love; her husband has reproduced the same behaviour. The creaky melodramatics of the story may lack conviction. But the blatant false premise of a happy ending cannot paper over the yawing cracks which the film has revealed beneath the glossy surface of her bourgeois marriage. But despite this I still feel Otto Preminger did a brilliant job in steering the film in the right direction, which I thoroughly enjoyed throughout the film and kept you guessing right through to the very end of the film. Running Time: 97 minutes
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‘WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS’ [1950] has been proclaimed as the last, and the best, in which reunites Otto Preminger with Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney. This brutish and atmospheric film tells the story of a weather-beaten Detective Sgt. Mark Dixon [Dana Andrews] of the 16th Precinct in New York City, who accidentally kills a two-bit gambler during a scuffle, only to fall in love with a woman Morgan Taylor-Paine [Gene Tierney] who is the daughter of the man the police think responsible. We are back on firmer “film noir” ground here with a probably-tougher-than-he-should-be 16th Precinct where Detective Sgt. Mark Dixon accidentally killing a not-actually-guilty suspect Ken Paine [Craig Stevens] in a murder case. Turns out the suspect had a silver plate in his head from an old war wound and was a decorated hero. Has anyone said “oh dear” yet? As this is “film noir,” Craig Stevens does the entirely stupid and dumps the body in the river while trying to blame it on another probably guilty suspect in the case he was investigating. Then Craig Stevens tops it all by falling in love with the war veteran’s estranged wife Morgan Taylor-Paine [Gene Tierney], which some might say, “Oh for heaven’s sake.” Actually, this one’s a real gem. With lots of dark stuff with its glimpses of the New York underworld and its contagious violence that even drives our hero who is, like all good “film noir” heroes, that is doomed from the outset. Joseph LaShelle’s cinematography, that reveals shards of light reflected off-wet sidewalks, lends to seedy noir glamour to the run-down lodging houses, cheap cafés and night-time exteriors, especially a scene at the end in which Detective Sgt. Mark Dixon, bruised from a beating, traps his assailant in a lift in a multi-storey car park, provides a swift but satisfying climax to the action and the film. Running Time: 94 minutes
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Blu-ray Image Quality – While there's no indication that this set is based on new restorations rather than older off-the-shelf 2K masters, the upgrade from earlier inferior DVD releases is a massive improvement. The trio of films are presented in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio and an equally impressive 1080p encoded quality images and especially exhibit improved contrast, clarity and stability, resulting in much stronger blacks, whites and greyscale shades, as well as the expected increase in detailing. Many scenes in all three films transpire to show the night scenes or in dingy interiors, with top-notch shadow delineation keeps all the details discernible, while background elements, such as faded wallpaper, also show up well. Otto Preminger employs several tight close-ups, showcasing all the actors in all three films, especially showing the toughness and mental stress, and all are razor sharp and suitable for framing. In some of the films, sure, the rear projection work is more noticeable because of the heightened clarity, but that's a small price to pay for such a perfectly restored picture in all three films. “Film noir” is such an artistic genre; it requires an exceptional image for one to fully appreciate the films you view. The transfers in all of the films meet and exceed all the qualifications and bring all three films to life like never before and so well done the British Film Institute. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – All three feature films present you with exceptional clean and clear 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio soundtracks. While dialogue is easy to discern, the main beneficiaries of the audio upgrades are the terrific and exceptional atmospheric music scores composers David Raksin for the films ‘Fallen Angel’ and ‘Whirlpool,’ and Cyril J. Mockridge [‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’]. The audio with these Blu-ray discs are most of the time also crisp, well-modulated, and totally free of any such age-related imperfections as hiss, pops, and crackles, but sadly about the half way point ‘Whirlpool’ you got a load thump noise with a real change and the lip-sync went off kilter slightly, but soon rectified itself. The ambient street noises is subtly enhances the narrative, while distinct accents like sirens, fisticuffs, gunfire, ringing phones, and distant trolley bells punctuate numerous scenes. Most of the audio with the three films is so tightly integrated into the film's fabric we rarely notice it, and that's just as it should be. Though far from flashy, these audio tracks heighten the story’s subtleties and contribute to a surprisingly immersive experience all round and have certainly been enhanced for these Blu-ray disc releases, so well done the British Film Institute for your sterling professional work.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Theatrical Trailer [1945] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:23] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘FALLEN ANGEL.’ Despite a slightly grainy image, this is a very nice drama filled trailer for this superb and brilliant dramatic Otto Preminger “film noir.”
Theatrical Trailer [1950] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:37] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘WHIRLPOOL.’ Despite sadly again a very grainy print quality, it still has a great presentation of another Otto Preminger dramatic “film noir.”
Theatrical Trailer [1950] [480i] [1.37:1] [1:45] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS.’ Once again the quality of this image is slightly grainy, but despite this, it is still another brilliant presentation of a brilliant Otto Preminger “film noir” trailer.
Audio Commentary for the film ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ [1945] by Film Scholar and Critic Adrian Martin: This audio commentary by Australian film and arts critic Adrian Martin and was originally produced in 2009 for the Australian DVD edition of ‘FALLEN ANGEL.’ Here we get introduced to Adrian Martin from the Antipodean Continent; talking about the 20th Century Fox film ‘FALLEN ANGEL.’ Which we are informed was made at the end of 1945 and also talks about the certain style of the direct Otto Preminger who always like to start off all his films in a unique and different style to make them more interesting to what other directors like to do. Adrian talks about how Otto Preminger likes the work that Saul Bass does with the Titles of his films, which you hear Otto Preminger talk about in The Guardian Lecture: Otto Preminger interviewed by Joan Bakewell that follows this. Adrian Martin goes into great detail about Otto Preminger’s style of camera technique of framing the scene and the actors, to get it looking in a certain way. Adrian also talks about Otto Preminger’s style of script and especially on this film he hired a young guy that no one in Hollywood would employ and eventually because of this film and went onto a big career in doing other screenplays for very famous films. As we go through this film, Adrian points out the famous Otto Preminger close-up techniques of the actors, as well as portraying the sexuality between two actors on the screen, which he had a great battle with the American censors, in which he always won his case and that is why Otto Preminger became a great and brilliant director because of his unique style and stance again the Hollywood system and always pushing the boundaries to bring America into the modern world and in wanting to bring in the French “New Wave” style of filming. Now we get to the final “Play Out” as Adrian calls it, where we finally get to see who really murdered Stella, the dark-haired trifle blousy waitress, which again shows us why Otto Preminger is the ultimate brilliant professional “film noir” director, in guiding us in one sort of direction, but get distracted on the way in not knowing who the killer is, but you on the way think you know who is the real killer, and that is again why I feel Otto Preminger has got to be one of the greatest film director of all time, who is up there with the greatest other film directors who were around in this period of time. Anyway, all in all Adrian Martin does a really excellent job guiding us through the film ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ and it is definitely one you should not miss, as Adrian Martin is really fascinating to listen to.
Audio Commentary for the film ‘WHIRLPOOL’ [1950] by Film Scholar and Critic Adrian Martin: This audio commentary by Australian film and arts critic Adrian Martin and was originally produced in 2009 for the Australian DVD edition of ‘WHIRLPOOL.’ Once again we have the Australian Film Scholar and Critic Adrian Martin guiding us through another film of Otto Preminger entitled ‘WHIRLPOOL,’ which we are informed was produced at the end of 1949 and Adrian points out that Otto Preminger always like to start new film in a different way to make them more interesting to view, and especially the way this film starts, in making you feel it is just a normal set up of a woman doing her shopping, but of course suddenly it goes off in another tangent in turning out to be a much more serious scenario, and of course when the character actor José Ferrer makes an appearance on the scene, then we really get into something with a much more intriguing scenario and we then start to go on a rollercoaster emotional ride, with so many twists and turns, to the point you do not know who is telling the truth and also who is not telling the truth. Adrian talks about the actor Richard Conte, who in previous films his characters have been in other “film noir” crime films, and especially Gangster genre films and having Otto Preminger cast him in the film ‘WHIRLPOOL’ was thought to be a very brave decision, because his character in not sleazy, but more upper middle class kind of image, and Adrian feels that is why Otto Preminger took a chance to make his character totally different, compared to his previous films. Adrian also talks about the genre of this film and the modern look at psychoanalyst, which Adrian actually calls “Pop Psychoanalyst” and of course eventually in modern times now becomes part of people’s everyday lives especially in America, and that is why Otto Preminger decided to make this film as he knew this would happen a lot in the future, but also especially as Otto Preminger was born in Vienna, which is the home of Sigmund Freud and how he was the master of finding out about peoples deep seated foibles. After Gene Tierney was hypnotised by José Ferrer and falls asleep on the bed and you see Richard Conte starts to undo his wife’s robe, and of course this is where the censors put the boot in and you see that part of the film fade to black. When we see Gene Tierney steals her husband’s two 78rpm phonograph records and plants them in the house of the murdered woman, and Adrian feels this is where we are seeing the real “film noir” genre of Otto Preminger in full flight. Adrian talks about a brilliant book that came out by a French author entitled “The Dictionary of Cinema” and does a long analyse of Otto Preminger films like ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ and ‘WHIRLPOOL’ and takes an depth of the characters in those films, where the author states, “the characters in these films are like an aquarium, like they are moving underwater, are the still but dangerous waters of life, of the world, that are presented with the hard clarity of an aquarium and with the light of an aquarium also, that gives such a beautiful image, which captures a lot of what Otto Preminger is all about, in both style and content.” As we near the end of the film ‘WHIRLPOOL’ where we see Gene Tierney, Richard Conte and Charles Bickford go back to the house of the murdered woman, and we find Gene Tierney married Richard Conte, because he was like her father figure and cannot understand why she married him and of course we eventually see why Gene Tierney became a kleptomaniac, we also see again why Otto Preminger loves to build up the tension with the climax of his films, which his brilliant cinematography scenes, especially are the dramatic angled shots. Now we are in the final straight of ‘WHIRLPOOL,’ where Otto Preminger likes to end his films very quickly, but as the film comes to an end, Adrian Martin wants to read a French critic’s comment on the film ‘LAURA,’ where he states, “when we see the crazy things happening in the film ‘LAURA,’ we say to ourselves, the cinema truly is a beautiful invention.” Which of course sums up what I feel about the director Otto Preminger and so ends another brilliant audio commentary by Adrian martin and again this particular audio commentary is not to be missed.
Audio Commentary for the film ‘WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS’ [1950] by Film Scholar and Critic Adrian Martin: This audio commentary by Australian film and arts critic Adrian Martin and was newly recorded in 2015. Here for the third and final time is Adrian Martin from “Down Under” doing his special insightful audio commentary on the film ‘WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS.’ Adrian talks about the film being a stylised presentation, but we have an intriguing mix of material of shots and elements, with the start of the film where you see the shot of two policemen in their police car, that was obviously was shot in the studio film lot. But Adrian feels this film has a dream like feel to it and also feels this film has a few elements that in the film ‘LAURA,’ which had glamour and style, whereas this film is much more gritty style realism, but the style of the cinematography is still very similar in style. Adrian also feels the character of Dana Andrews is similar in character of Clint Eastwood in the ‘Dirty Harry’ film, where both characters likes to take the law into their own hands, which of course leads to many problems of their own doing, but of course both character actors enjoys and loves the limelight in getting the results out of the criminal in their own sadistic style of meeting out violence. When we get to the scene of the gambling den, and we get the first introduction to the Gene Tierney’s character in the film, who of course appeared in the film ‘LAURA.’ Adrian wants us to take notice of Otto Preminger’s particular style throughout this film, which his way of staging certain scenes, by using wide open frames, often packing a lot of people into certain shots, with no subjective point of view, shots at all, and he uses a lot of different levels and heights of people’s bodies in certain positions, especially who is standing and who is sitting etc., and is very confident in what he wants to achieve. Adrian talks about the character in the film where Dana Andrews knocks the man out and without realising at the time he has killed him and now the film takes a much more sinister direction and this is where the “film noir” really comes into its own, where Dana Andrews goes into great length in covering up his crime and especially how he needs to get rid of the body and of course it is his own secret and is also allowing us to know the secret, which in turn has the film go into three act play scenario, which in turn really puts the stamp on making it an Otto Preminger film of a true “film noir” style compared to other directors style of films. On top of that Adrian mentions this French critic who says, “this film explores the neurotic fringes of passion in a tense and confined world, where passion is all the way of excessive, disruptive and untimely destructive,” he also says that this film and other “film noir” films have a set triangle setting, which although you do not know at the start of the film, but by three quarters of a way through the film you start to see it start to happen. Adrian points out the dynamics that happens throughout the film, especially with all the smoking you see the actors perform, and when the characters smoke cigarettes or share cigarettes, there is a whole range of things going on, maybe a spark of happening between all the characters in the film. There is also at the same time a power play scenario going on with authority and the police. But as we get about half way through the film, you can also sense the noose tightening around Dana Andrews’s neck as he gets out of his depth. This of course leads us to the final end of the film, when it is revealed to the character actors that he was the one who accidently killed the guy, and of course with other directors he would have been allowed to get away with the murder, but of course with Otto Preminger decides to end the film in a different way. But as the minutes moves to the finale of the film, Adrian quotes something from Michael Weinberger the film critic when he says, “Where The Sidewalk Ends is a film that gives the measure of the disenchantment of an era, in this chilling film Otto Preminger creates with perfect precision of his characters, hounded by their need for the truth, that is forever an illusion.” So ends another very insightful audio commentary by Adrian martin that is a definite one to listen to and of course the final of the trio that I have enjoyed to listen to and if you want to hear someone who knows his insight of Otto Preminger the director and his knowledge of his films, then Adrian Martin and his brilliant audio commentary is not to be missed and is definitely a five star rating for all three audio commentaries.
Special Feature: The Guardian Lecture: Otto Preminger interviewed by Joan Bakewell [Audio only with still images] [1972] [1080p] [76:05] Otto Preminger the director talks about his life and career in film in this extensive onstage discussion and interview with a very young English journalist and television presenter Joan Bakewell. It was recorded at the national Film Theatre on 3rd December, 1972. As the interview proceeds we get lots of lovely back-and-white images from different films directed by Otto Preminger in the form of a slide show. As the interview proceeds Joan Bakewell asks lots of very informal and personal probing questions. Otto Preminger talks about his early career where at the age of 19 years of age gave up temporarily a career in acting and wanted instead to pursue a career as a director. Otto Preminger talks about leaving Austria three years before Adolph Hitler came to power and that a lot of Austrians still today have a lot of anti-sematic attitude and feels they will never change. When Otto Preminger went to Hollywood and signed up to direct some films for 20th Century Fox, but had a big falling out with Darryl F. Zanuck, and then moved back to New York, but while there pursued a career in directing plays, especially “Margin of Error,” and an assistant to Darryl F. Zanuck saw the play and because of this was invited back to Hollywood to direct the film ‘Margin of Error,’ and would only do so as the director and was granted that wish. Then Otto Preminger went onto great heights with the success of the film ‘LAURA,’ but when Darryl F. Zanuck saw the film he hated it, went onto to re-write the ending, saw it and hated it, and reverted back to the original film and of course it became a massive world-wide box office success. Otto Preminger hates and detests “Sneak Preview” audiences as they all think they are professional critics, so prefers only to have just the paying public to see his films. We get a brief talk about his very kind thoughts about Marilyn Monroe and why he signed up Frank Sinatra to be in his film ‘The Man With The Golden Arm.’ We also get to hear some very interesting questions from the audience, but we also hear some really dumb questions from the audience, but what I liked about Otto Preminger is his brilliant intelligent replies back to the audience and especially some of the even cleverer sarcastic replies back. I also felt Joan Bakewell asked some really ridiculous and very embarrassing questions towards Otto Preminger and what was also brilliant is his replies back and how he put the interviewer in her place in making her feel very stupid, but despite this, the whole audio session was totally brilliant and was a joy to hear this brilliant and intelligent Otto Preminger, who I could have listened to a lot longer.
BONUS: Beautiful designed and printed 18 page illustrated booklet with different essays by Edward Buscombe entitled “The Otto Preminger Film Noir Collection.” It includes essays on the following films: ‘FALLEN ANGEL’ [1945], ‘WHIRLPOOL’ [1950] and ‘WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS’ [1950]. It also includes “Special Features;” “About the Transfer” and “Acknowledgments.”
Finally, ‘THE OTTO PREMINGER FILM NOIR COLLECTION’ British Film Institute Blu-ray release is a “film noir” buffs delight. The dark concrete, the rain, the streets, the shadows, the cry of a restless city that is always on the move and yet never getting anywhere. All you need now is a detective in a fedora and a long coat, spending the last drag of a cigarette before that effortless cool flick of the fingers. All in all you have some brilliant and powerful Otto Preminger “film noir” classics that are all present and correct, so well done the British Film Institute for presenting us with something totally unique and really special for your visual and audio experiences. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
