ACT OF VIOLENCE (1948)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 82 Minutes 35 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: B&W 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh
In the noir-thriller Act of Violence Frank Enley (Van Heflin, Possessed) is a well- respected businessman of good character in the small California town of Santa Lisa, where he and his wife Edith (Janet Leigh, Touch of Evil) have a young baby. He seems to have a charmed life, but one day when he discovers that a man with a limp named Joe (Robert Ryan, The Boy with Green Hair) is looking for him, and his demeanor changes drastically. We know Joe is stalking Frank with the intent to kill him, why exactly we do not know, but we do initially learn that it stems from an event that occurred during WWII, when they were both imprisoned at Nazi prison camp, and a certain betrayal that occurred there, and apparently Joe is pretty sore about it. In an attempt to evade his dogged pursuer Frank leaves town and heads to a convention in L.A. where Joe catches up to him, but Frank further evades him by sucker punching him. Afterward Frank gets good and drunk and encounters a weary hooker with a heart named Pat (Mary Astor, The Maltese Falcon), she in introduces him a slimy lawyer named Gavery (Caged) in an effort to get him out of his pickle, resulting in a transaction being made with a thug for hire named Johnny (Berry Kroeger, Nightmare in Wax), which sets up a tragic series of events that carry the film to it's close.
In the noir-thriller Act of Violence Frank Enley (Van Heflin, Possessed) is a well- respected businessman of good character in the small California town of Santa Lisa, where he and his wife Edith (Janet Leigh, Touch of Evil) have a young baby. He seems to have a charmed life, but one day when he discovers that a man with a limp named Joe (Robert Ryan, The Boy with Green Hair) is looking for him, and his demeanor changes drastically. We know Joe is stalking Frank with the intent to kill him, why exactly we do not know, but we do initially learn that it stems from an event that occurred during WWII, when they were both imprisoned at Nazi prison camp, and a certain betrayal that occurred there, and apparently Joe is pretty sore about it. In an attempt to evade his dogged pursuer Frank leaves town and heads to a convention in L.A. where Joe catches up to him, but Frank further evades him by sucker punching him. Afterward Frank gets good and drunk and encounters a weary hooker with a heart named Pat (Mary Astor, The Maltese Falcon), she in introduces him a slimy lawyer named Gavery (Caged) in an effort to get him out of his pickle, resulting in a transaction being made with a thug for hire named Johnny (Berry Kroeger, Nightmare in Wax), which sets up a tragic series of events that carry the film to it's close.
As Frank's life quickly begins to unravels his wife who is unaware of the full story struggles to understands what's happening, meanwhile Joe's girlfriend Ann (Phyllis Thaxter, Superman), in the know but equally frustrated, travels 3,000 miles to stop him from throwing away his life on a quest for vengeance, but her pleas seem to fall on deaf ears.
I was hooked from the get-go with this noir thriller, a terrific set-up that throws you right into it, you're not sure what this vendetta is at first, but it's intense stuff chock full of shadowy noir atmosphere, sleazy underworld characters, tension, suspense and it's incredibly well-acted by the two leads, both Joe as the unflappable stalker bent on revenge, and Frank as a seemingly good guy with a past that has come back to murder him, and that big bad secret at the heart of it all is a doozy! I also loved the cat and mouse encounters between the two, early on Frank is able to almost supernaturally evade Joe several times, which makes it quite a nail-biter. The finale that is both punctuated by violence and fiery but somehow doesn't quite live up to the phenomenal first half, but still a top-notch noir gem.
Audio/Video: Act of Violence (1948) arrives on Blu-ray from Warner Archive in 1080p HD framed in 1.37:1 fullscreen The image is sourced from a 4K scan of the best possible preservation elements. This largely looks terrific with deep blacks, intact film grain, and solid grayscale, though you can tell that some elements were better than others, whatever the source, where some compressions comes into plays in the darkened edges of the film, but it was quite minor and not ruinous. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. Like the source it is not immaculate, there's a light bed of hiss in spots, but again it's not ruinous, dialogue and the moody score by Bronislau Kaper (Them!) sounds just fine to these ears, zero complaints.
Extras include an archival Audio Commentary by film historian Dr. Drew Casper; the 5-min archival "Act of Violence: Dealing with the Devil" featurette featuring clips of Oliver Stone, Alain Silver, Christopher Coppola, Glenn Erickson, and Richard Schickel discussing the merits of the film, plus a pair of Classic Cartoons by way of the 7-min Goggle Fishing Bear and the 7-min The Shell-Shocked Egg - the first one being the superior toon with Barney Bear on an underwater adventure that includes an encounter with a grumpy shark. The disc extras are buttoned-up with the 2-min Original Theatrical Trailer. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster which is also features on the Blu-ray disc artwork.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by film historian Dr. Drew Casper
- "Act of Violence: Dealing with the Devil" - featurette (5:08)
- Classic Cartoons: Goggle Fishing Bear (7:21) and The Shell-Shocked Egg (6:50)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2:27)
Buy it:
Moviezyng - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order!
Physical Media Land - use code: MOVIEDEAL at checkout to get 5% off your entire order!
