BORDER INCIDENT (1949)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 95 Minutes 33 Seconds
Audio: English DTS HD-MA Dual-Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Full Frame (1.37:1)
Director: Anthony Mann
Audio/Video: Border Incident (1949) arrives on Blu-ray from WAC in 1080p HD Master sourced from a 2023 4K scan of best preservation elements. The black and white image looks fantastic, grain looks organic, grayscale and contrast are quite pleasing and the deep blacks look terrific, highlighting the excellent work of cinematographer John Alton (The Amazing Mr. X) which has a heavy noir-influenced style. Audio comes by way of uncompressed English DTS-HD MA dual-mono 2.0 with optional English subtitles. Dialogue sounds terrific, there are no issues with age-related source issues, and the moody and brassy score by André Previn (Dead Ringer) sounds pretty great, adding a lot of tension to this thriller. Extras are archival and carried over from the 2017 Warner DVD, these include an Audio Commentary by Dana Polin, plus a 2-min Trailer.
The single disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster artwork.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Dana Polin
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2:24)
Audio: English DTS HD-MA Dual-Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Full Frame (1.37:1)
Director: Anthony Mann
Cast: Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, James Mitchell, Howard Da Silva
The Anthony Mann (The Naked Spur) directed Border Incident (1949) is a border-thriller about illegal immigration in the Southwest. In it Mexican and American federal agents Pablo Rodriguez (Ricardo Montalbán, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan) and American investigator Jack Bearnes (George Murphy, Battleground) are agents from each side of the Mexico-California border, each working undercover to catch the crooks who exploit "braceros", the hardworking ranch hands desperate to make a few American dollars working on farms in the U.S.. Rodriguez goes undercover in Mexico as a worker looking to get across the border illegally, while Bearnes works the U.S. side masquerading as an ex-con selling phony blank immigration papers. Eventually their paths cross at the the property of a crooked cutthroat American rancher named Owen Parkson (Howard Da Silva, 1776), who along with his henchmen Jeff Amboy (Charles McGraw, The Birds) and Clayton (Arthur Hunnicut, Cat Ballou), Cuchillo (Alfonso Bedoya, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) and Zopilote (Arnold Moss, Reign of Terror) are at the heart of the illegal smuggling operation in Coachella Valley, CA.. Eventually Parkson gets wise to the agents in his midst and proves just how cutthroat he really is, willing to cold-bloodily commit mass murder to avoid being caught by the feds.
The flick is gorgeously shot by John Alton who captures the hardscrabble beauty and terror of the dusty Southwest desert with hard lit noir lensing. Montalbán and Murphy are phenomenal, with the latter getting a gruesome death by way of a bulldozer towing one of those bladed lift disc harrows - there's no gore, but it's all alluded to with tense camerawork, a powerful score and a terrific nail-biting performance from Murphy that had me on the edge of my seat. The film opens with a cold-blooded scene of bandits robbing and murdering illegal farm workers attempting to cross back into Mexico through a darkened canyon, and dumping their bodies in a quicksand pit. Appropriately the film ends in the same canyon on the dead of night with some fantastic action, including a fight in that quicksand pit, it's the forties so any flick shot in the desert or the jungle seemingly had to have quicksand it somewhere. I was pleasantly surprised just how hard this thriller went, this hard-nosed noir-styled thriller is quite a gem and I would highly recommend it to any lover of vintage noir and thrillers.
The Anthony Mann (The Naked Spur) directed Border Incident (1949) is a border-thriller about illegal immigration in the Southwest. In it Mexican and American federal agents Pablo Rodriguez (Ricardo Montalbán, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan) and American investigator Jack Bearnes (George Murphy, Battleground) are agents from each side of the Mexico-California border, each working undercover to catch the crooks who exploit "braceros", the hardworking ranch hands desperate to make a few American dollars working on farms in the U.S.. Rodriguez goes undercover in Mexico as a worker looking to get across the border illegally, while Bearnes works the U.S. side masquerading as an ex-con selling phony blank immigration papers. Eventually their paths cross at the the property of a crooked cutthroat American rancher named Owen Parkson (Howard Da Silva, 1776), who along with his henchmen Jeff Amboy (Charles McGraw, The Birds) and Clayton (Arthur Hunnicut, Cat Ballou), Cuchillo (Alfonso Bedoya, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) and Zopilote (Arnold Moss, Reign of Terror) are at the heart of the illegal smuggling operation in Coachella Valley, CA.. Eventually Parkson gets wise to the agents in his midst and proves just how cutthroat he really is, willing to cold-bloodily commit mass murder to avoid being caught by the feds.
The flick is gorgeously shot by John Alton who captures the hardscrabble beauty and terror of the dusty Southwest desert with hard lit noir lensing. Montalbán and Murphy are phenomenal, with the latter getting a gruesome death by way of a bulldozer towing one of those bladed lift disc harrows - there's no gore, but it's all alluded to with tense camerawork, a powerful score and a terrific nail-biting performance from Murphy that had me on the edge of my seat. The film opens with a cold-blooded scene of bandits robbing and murdering illegal farm workers attempting to cross back into Mexico through a darkened canyon, and dumping their bodies in a quicksand pit. Appropriately the film ends in the same canyon on the dead of night with some fantastic action, including a fight in that quicksand pit, it's the forties so any flick shot in the desert or the jungle seemingly had to have quicksand it somewhere. I was pleasantly surprised just how hard this thriller went, this hard-nosed noir-styled thriller is quite a gem and I would highly recommend it to any lover of vintage noir and thrillers.
Audio/Video: Border Incident (1949) arrives on Blu-ray from WAC in 1080p HD Master sourced from a 2023 4K scan of best preservation elements. The black and white image looks fantastic, grain looks organic, grayscale and contrast are quite pleasing and the deep blacks look terrific, highlighting the excellent work of cinematographer John Alton (The Amazing Mr. X) which has a heavy noir-influenced style. Audio comes by way of uncompressed English DTS-HD MA dual-mono 2.0 with optional English subtitles. Dialogue sounds terrific, there are no issues with age-related source issues, and the moody and brassy score by André Previn (Dead Ringer) sounds pretty great, adding a lot of tension to this thriller. Extras are archival and carried over from the 2017 Warner DVD, these include an Audio Commentary by Dana Polin, plus a 2-min Trailer.
The single disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster artwork.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Dana Polin
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2:24)
Screenshots from the Warner Archive Blu-ray Review:
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