THE MOVIE

Some days business is good - and some days it's murder!

Raymond Chandler’s famed "noir" private eye, Philip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) is caught in a deadly case of blackmail. General Sternwood (James Stewart), an aged, wealthy American living in England, is being blackmailed over the antics of his two daughters and hires Marlowe to find the blackmailer.

Marlowe soon finds that the blackmailer’s attempts are half hearted at best and seem to be more connected with the disappearance of the other daughter’s husband, Rusty Regan. Rusty’s wife seems unconcerned with his disappearance, further complicating the mystery.

Only General Sternwood seems concerned as mobsters and hired killers continue to appear in the path of the investigation into the disappearance.

Marlowe travels the seedy underworld of crime beneath old London through a dangerous tangle of murder and suicide and straight into the dark world of gangster, night club owner, Eddie Mars.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

The video on this DVD looks very, very impressive. To tell you the truth I didn’t expect much from this 1.85:1 wide (16x9) transfer but it sure surprised me. It looks a lot younger than it actually is. The image isn’t super sharp but never gets so soft it enters dangerous territory. Colors are old and muted but look right.

There is some aliasing and of course some signs of age but for the most part this transfer is pretty clean. Well done.

Audio:

The audio is a pretty simple affair but that was to be expected for an old, dialogue driven film. Everything you need to hear is right there and thankfully comes across well. There are some syncing issues but these are inherent in the film rather than being a DVD problem. The music is understated and a tad too muted for me but it sounds good. Pretty basic stuff.

THE EXTRAS

No extras at all.

SUMMARY

This is a very enjoyable film noir. This is the type of film that you can just switch on for an easy Sunday afternoons viewing and loose yourself in it. The story is pretty good and the performances are also excellent. While it isn’t really a patch on the early film in terms of class and style it is closer to the book, which is something.

The DVD isn’t great but suits this film perfectly.