Force of Evil

Abraham Polonsky's Force of Evil (1948) is one of the finest movies of the 1940s and one of the most beautiful, troubling, and haunting movies ever made. Martin Scorsese is one of its many notable admirers in the film community. Not only is the movie one of the best in the Artisan library, but it's one of the most fascinating, with many imminent blacklistees in its cast and crew, as well as the presence of future directors Don Weis and Robert Aldrich. The full-screen transfer (1.33:1) is impeccable, with true blacks that have their own peculiar negative glow. The detail in the images is extraordinary, even in the medium shots -- you can even make out the fabric in the collar of the shirt that John Garfield is wearing in the police station scene at 26 minutes in; the final shoot-out in the darkened office looks as good as it ever did in a theater off a 35 mm print (and that's really good); and the cab ride at 28 minutes in is possibly the best-looking scene in a black-and-white film-to-DVD transfer ever. The quality of this DVD puts the old Republic/Pioneer laserdisc to shame -- even the audio is mastered better, with richer, more detailed playback on the audio, and David Raksin's score never sounded better, although the overall volume is very slightly low. The 82-minute movie has been given a generous 14 chapters, but there are no extras.