Synopsis
Robert Mitchum is Jeb Rand, and he keeps having memory flashes of an incident from hischildhood. Something happened to kill his family, only he doesn’t know what. He is taken in bythe Callum family, and we find out that Dean Jagger, patriarch of the Callums, has vowed to killevery last Rand on Earth. Mitchum’s estrangement with his foster brother, and his love for fostersister Teresa Wright, only serve to precipitate tragedy and gunplay. The wrap-up to all this is toopat an… convenient, but along the way there is some marvellously moody photography from thegreat James Wong Howe, and a great noir plot.
Audio
Another mislabeled case. The claim that this is 2.0 stereo is nonsense. The sound is mono,and has nothing to be ashamed of. The mono is crisp, clean and warm. Virtually every trace ofstatic has been removed.
Video
The picture is restored, and for the most part is great-looking black-and-white, but there area few problems. The most significant is a vertical band of lighter colour that takes up the centreof the screen. As well, ten minutes in the picture quality deteriorates briefly. The vertical banddoes eventually go away. The format is full frame, modified from 1.37:1, so the cropping isminimal.
Special Features
None.
Closing Thoughts
A great, moody western with a gorgeous look. The total lack of extras is depressing,though.
