THE DAMNED DON’T CRY (1950) (Warner Archive Blu-ray Review)

THE DAMNED DON’T CRY (1950)

Label: Warner Archive

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 103 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: B&W 1080p HD Full Frame (1.37:1)

Director: Vincent Sherman 

Cast: Joan Crawford, David Brian, Steve Cochran, Kent Smith

In The Damned Don't Cry (1950) notorious Hollywood icon Joan Crawford (Strait-Jacket) plays small town woman Ethel Whitehead who after the accidental death of her six-year old son abandons her go-nowhere husband and the small factory town she grew up in to look for something more than what she has, which is nothing. She starts off small as a counter girl, who is then recruited by lingerie entrepreneur Grady (Hugh Sanders, Storm Warning) with underworld ties to model lingerie by day and making extra cash as an escort by night. WHile doing this she meets modest CPA Martin Blackford (Kent Smith, Cat People), who she romances a tiny but before introducing him to gangster George Castleman (David Brian, The Girl Who Knew Too Much) who heads up a racketeering syndicate. Castleman recognizes Ethel for her beauty but also for her shrewd nature, taking her on as his moll and molding her into a strategic part of his operation. 

When Castleman's West Coast guy Nick Prenta (Steve Cochran, Storm Warning) starts giving him trouble he send's Ethel out west undercover to spy on him, in the guise of wealthy oil heiress named  Lorna Hansen who takes up with Prenta, in an effort to get the dirt how he's skimming money from the syndicate. Things get messy when Ethel/Lorna unexpectedly she develops feelings for the handsome playboy Prenta, and with her, he proposes, and when Castleman realizes he's been betrayed, he's none too happy about.   

Crawford is absolute fire in the role, she'd played gangster molls before but this is one of her best, starting off as a woman with nothing, clawing her way to the top, using men like pawns in chess only to be tripped up unexpectedly by her own emotions, it's great stuff. The onscreen chemistry between her and the three men in this ensemble, (Blackman, Castleman, Prenta), makes for terrific viewing. I also like the structure of the film, opening with the dumping of a body in the desert, the cops start piecing things together, trying to figure out how an heiress (Crawford's Lorna Hansen) who has seemingly disappeared figures into it a mob hit, as either a victim or victimizer - that's the set-up at the top, and then the rest of story is told in flashback, as we see Ethel determinedly climbs from the bottom to the balcony of high society, and see how this all plays out. I thought it was pretty spectacular, this is noir gem to be sure, and it comes highly recommend. 

Audio/Video: The noir thriller debuts on region-free Blu-ray from Warner Archive, this is a new 2023 1080p HD master from 4K scan of Original Nitrate Camera Negative, and it's another knockout monochromatic restoration from the Warner Motion Picture Imaging. The black and white presentation is spectacular with excellent contrast and grayscale, shadows are deep and inky, the grain levels look uniform and the fine detail is very pleasing throughout, offering plenty of texture and fine detail in the close-ups. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles, sounding authentically vintage but free of any age-related issues, and the score from Daniele Amfitheatrof (Major Dundee) is well-represented in the mix. 

Extras include an archival Audio Commentary by Director Vincent Sherman, the 14-min The Crawford Formula: Real To Reel in which director Vincent Sherman and a bevy of fine film historians break the film down, plus a 1951 

Screen Director's Playhouse radio broadcast 4/5/1951 version of the story with Joan Crawford and Frank Lovejoy, plus 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 artwork.

Special Features: 

- Audio Commentary by Director Vincent Sherman 

- Featurette: The Crawford Formula: Real To Reel (13:43) 

- Screen Director's Playhouse radio broadcast 4/5/1951 (59:14) 

- Original Theatrical Trailer (2:12) 

Screenshots from the Warner Archive Blu-ray: