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Cry of the City
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - British Film Institute Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (14th August 2016). |
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The Film
 “Cry of the City” (1948) Arrested for the killing of a police officer, the seriously wounded petty criminal Martin Rome (played by Richard Conte) is recovering in the hospital. Lieutenant Candella (played by Victor Mature) is watching over him as the police have questions for Rome about a related crime dealing with jewel theft. In addition, the sleazy lawyer Niles (played by Berry Kroeger) is looking to find a way to help Rome, but has ulterior motives to help a more powerful client to silence Rome. Rome does not necessarily care for the police or for the lawyer, but he does have heart toward his family and for the girl he loves Teena (played by Debra Paget). But when he learns that both the police and the lawyer are searching for his girl for information, he plans for his escape… Based on the novel “The Chair for Martin Rome” by Henry Edward Helseth, the film adaptation ”Cry of the City” was produced by Twentieth Century Fox in 1948. The hard boiled crime fiction genre was a popular form of entertainment both in literature and in film in the WWII and post-war years, and Twentieth Century Fox had a handful of successful hits such as “The House on 92nd Street” (1945), “Kiss of Death” (1947), “Call Northside 777” (1948), and “The Street with No Name” (1948), all hits with audiences and critics as well. Adding to realism, films started to shoot on location rather than in Hollywood studios, such as Universal’s “The Naked City” (1946), being shot completely on location on the streets of New York City, and Fox’s “Boomerang!” in Bridgeport, Connecticut (where the true events took place). ”Cry of the City” also followed that trend with scenes shot in New York City - though not entirely as the misleading theatrical trailer would suggest. Richard Murphy was the credited screenwriter who wrote “Boomerang!” the year before, and famed screenwriter Ben Hecht who had writing credits in almost every important film since the 1930s onward was an uncredited writer. As opposed to going with in-house directors, Fox borrowed director Robert Siodmak from Universal for the project. German born Siodmak’s credits include the similarly themed hard boiled classics such as “The Killers” (1946) and “The Spiral Staircase” (1946), and also with horror with the underrated “Son of Dracula” (1943) and the Technicolor cult favorite “Cobra Woman” (1944). The film has all the elements of a hard boiled crime story - or “film noir” as it was coined years later in France. The violence, the use of light and shadows, the femme fatale, double crossing, criminals and the law enforcement, the gritty cityscape - “Cry of the City” hits all the punches. Robert Siodmak’s direction is quite exceptional with the pacing of the film - drawn out and suspenseful in scenes while fast paced and powerful in action scenes. The scene of Rome’s prison escape is extremely intense with the use of suspenseful music and the orchestrated slow pace, while the scene of the subway station is an amazing buildup to a shockingly surprising shooting to cap it. There are quite a few allegories of Christianity in the film embedded with the Italian upbringing of the two main characters. Teena is like a Virgin Mary character both in the way she is lit, framed, and especially the scene at the church in which she is wearing a shawl. The subway scene in which the officer is shot is like an image of a fallen angel. There is one particular scene in which Martin Rome is framed together with a portrait of Jesus behind him, and he is posed in a very similar fashion to the portrait’s figure. The final confrontation at the church is another one to add to the underlying theme. One thing that sets it apart from many others is the fact that the two main characters are on the opposite sides of the law - the police lieutenant Candella and the man on the run Rome. More common was the main character being the cop while the criminal was usually the supporting character who stole the show. This was a contrast to the 1930s in which gangster films where the bad guy leads were the focus such as “Angels with Dirty Faces” (1938), “Scarface” (1932), and “Public Enemy” (1931). ”Cry of the City” is like a precursor to “Heat” (1995) with the cop and the criminal going head to head not only as the characters in the film but also for equal billing. Victor Mature) plays one his better screen performances as the tough cop with a heart who doesn’t succumb to violence. Richard Conte as the slick lowlife cop killer who shows street smarts and a heart for his dear girl is another excellent performance in his lengthy filmography. Rather than a simple interrogation/chase story, the two have the same background - the Italian American upbringing, growing up in New York, having family and friend connections in the neighborhood, with one becoming a criminal and one becoming part of the law. Rome may not have respect for the law, but he tries to be a good son to his mother and a role model for his younger brothers. He has his heart set on the young Teena, doing anything he can to protect her. Lt. Candella has an understanding and a way with speaking with Rome. He also has a connection of speaking with Rome’s parents who trust him as a cop and a friend, though Rome’s younger siblings have trust issues with the law as they look up to the older brother on the run. While being a cop he has responsibility to the side of the law, but he also has a personal responsibility as a man of the streets who grew up with people like Martin and the Rome family. Of the supporting performances, Berry Kroeger playing the lawyer is a great role with every scene he is in starts with a comforting helpful presence but eventually turning toward maliciousness and blackmail. Shelley Winters seems like the typical femme-fatale seen in film noir, though it should be noted that she isn’t the one that people should be looking out for. Instead, Hope Emerson is the real femme-fatale which is an unusual but welcome choice - she is not the slender and sexy dame commonly seen, but is much bigger and much older than the norm giving a bit of a surprise. Her casting may have gone against the norm, but there were other odd casting choices that didn’t make much sense. Teena being played by the 14 year old Debra Paget is an odd choice considering Martin being in his 30s. Conte was 38 at the time which would have been legally questionable. Is that why he was trying to hide his relationship to her? Conte’s characters siblings - Tony was played by Tommy Cook who was 17 at the time and his younger brother and sister (which I cannot find the info on who the actors were) were extremely young. Granted it was possible, but Mama Rome played by Mimi Aguguila and Papa Rome played by Tito Vuolo were 66 and 50 years old respectively at the time. Believable looking as Martin’s parents, but Mama seemed like a grandma to the youngest elementary school aged children. The age factor seemed like something the casting director didn’t care about too much. When discussing 1940s film noir, “Cry of the City” rarely gets mentioned. It doesn’t have the same stature of Siodmak’s Universal films or with other Fox noirs of the same period. It is a mystery as it is incredibly well made with the acting, directing, the music, and the writing, but it didn’t have the shocking sadistic nature of “Kiss of Death”, the gritty realism of “The Naked City”, or the anti-hero badass main lead such as “The Maltese Falcon”. The film has been available in various countries on DVD in less than stellar quality editions and Fox in the US finally released it on 2013 on DVD only in their burned-on-demand service. Although it was slapped on a DVD-R in the US, it was in fact remastered in HD by Fox and now in 2016, the BFI in the UK and Kino Lorber in the US are releasing the film on Blu-ray giving new life and new recognition to the underseen and underappreciated film. Note this is a region B Blu-ray which can only be played back on region B and region free Blu-ray players
Video
The BFI presents the film in 1080p in the original aspect ratio of 1.37:1 in the AVC MPEG-4 codec. BFI’s transfer comes from Twentieth Century Fox’s high definition master which was previously used for the 2013 US DVD. In comparison the BFI disc proves much better, having slightly more information in the frame - as the DVD was in 1.33:1 standard TV ratio and the Blu-ray is in a slightly wider original theatrical 1.37:1 ratio. The black and white image has been digitally cleaned and remastered, with scratches and specs removed, image mostly stabilized, and light/dark fluctuations minimized. Grain is always visible and depending on scenes looking very heavy and other scenes with less. The image is sharp in most scenes but there are moments especially with outdoor scenes in which the image looks weaker, though most likely due to the conditions when filming. There are some scenes with examples of wobbly picture, but it’s very minimal and must be staring very hard at the edges of frames to notice. Overall it is a good transfer - much better than the shoddy DVD releases in the past, but it certainly could have been better. The film’s runtime is 95:15.
Audio
English LPCM 1.0 The original mono soundtrack is offered in lossless mono and is very good. The score by Alfred Newman sounds great, dialogue sounds very good, and hisses and pops have been completely eliminated. It’s not a track that will blow you away but it certainly is a good remastering of the original sound. There are optional English HoH subtitles in a white font. The subtitles are easy to read and well timed, but I did find an instance in which “Martin” was subtitled as “Marlin”. When did he become a sea creature?
Extras
Audio commentary by Adrian Martin Newly recorded for this release, Martin provides an excellent overview of the film with many fascinating details. He talks about each of the actors and crew, the original novelist and the book, plus deconstructs details of specific scenes in this non-stop essay. Martin’s commentaries for BFI’s “Bande a part” and Eureka’s “Man with a Movie Camera” were already highlights for 2016 disc releases, and this commentary adds one more to his great resume. Strangely, this commentary is not switchable on the fly so remote options for switching to the main audio and turning on subtitles are disabled which is a strange choice. I personally like to have the audio commentary on with the English subtitles of the main feature while taking notes (yes, I do that!) and with this disc disabling the option, it was not possible to do. in English LPCM 2.0 with no subtitles "Adrian Wootton on Cry of the City" featurette (26:16) Critic and chief executive of Film London Adrian Wootton gives his thoughts on the film and highly praises it. He talks about Mature’s performance being one of his best and far superior to his films of the later years, the amazing performance by Conte, Siodmak’s direction for the genre, and much more. in 1080p, in 1.78:1, English LPCM 2.0 with no subtitles Theatrical Trailer (2:29) Shot on the streets of New York? Really? Well the trailer seems to say that it was entirely a New York production, but that’s stretching the fact. Although it is a 1080p transfer this clearly comes from a standard definition source. in upscaled 1080p, in 1.33:1, English LPCM 1.0 with no subtitles Booklet Included in the booklet is a spoiler heavy essay by Frank Krutnik - head of film at the University of Sussex, a cast & crew listing, special features credits, about the transfer, acknowledgements, and stills. The supplements are pretty basic but this is miles ahead of the previous DVD releases of the past from various countries. Strangely this is not a dual format edition but it is Blu-ray only, even though BFI previously released the film on DVD in 2007. The DVD edition has not been upgraded and is a poor soft transfer from an analog source. Kino Lorber will release the film in the United States on Blu-ray in September 2016 and it will have a differing commentary by “noirchaeologist” Eddie Muller. Update: The BFI did in fact upgrade their older DVD the same time the Blu-ray was issued. Specs for the reissued BFI DVD can be found on our DVD page for "Cry of the City".
Overall
“Cry of the City” is an excellent Hollywood studio film noir that has been neglected for far too long. Very glad to see the film upgraded to Blu-ray by BFI in a very good transfer and with good informative extras. Absolutely recommended.
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