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D.O.A.Rating:
Release Date: 06 September, 2001 Retail Price: $14.95 OUR Price: $13.46 You SAVE: $1.49! Cast: Complete Cast (6 total) |
D.O.A. Reviews
SO THIS IS FILM NOIR...
Rarely, at my age, does a 5-star drama get past me that has been out for 57 years. Well this one did. Seeing it for the first time last week was a rare, refreshing treat.
After reading many of the fine reviews here, I became intrigued with what was described by many reviewers as "a strange noise", "whistle", or "music", every time Frank Bigelow [Edmond O'Brien] saw an attractive woman. I watched it alone, with my spouse, and with my daughter, and we all found it rather unsettling when indeed the strange music, like whistling glissandos, followed Frank Bigelow's stare toward young females in San Francisco. We believe that the strange sound was to show the contrast between Bigelow's original demeanor of just another "typical" guy out for some capricious fun in San Francisco and the one we saw later in the movie. Once he knew he was a walking dead man, this "glissando effect" was abruptly absent to show his new outlook and his maniacal focus on discovering who in fact had killed him. That's right, "who HAD killed him". That is what the movie is about -- Frank Bigelow's investigation of his own murder.
WOW!
Once the happy-go-lucky scenes passed early in the film, the scenes became very intense and the movie's pace really booked! Sub-plots and new co-stars like Luther Adler and Neville Brand were introduced and given three-dimensional characterizations through action, which is something to see. Edmond O'Brien very believably depicted a man who became strengthened by his freedom of fear of death, which made him into an almost-irresistible force. He was certainly a far cry from the milquetoast accountant out to sow a few wild oats during a trip to San Francisco before getting married as which he began the film. All of this intrigue happened in only 83 minutes. I have watched D.O.A. five times in the last 4 days. The only modern film that compares is "Point Blank" with Lee Marvin from 1967.
This DVD played without fault but had NO features whatsoever, but for $6.98 through Amazon that was more than I expected.
A fast paced classic crime noir film!
This review is for the 2003 Alpha Video DVD.
This basic synopsis of D.O.A. is that an accountant, Frank Bigelow (Edmund O'Brien), decides to leave town for a week and go to San Francisco for a vacation. He leaves behind his clinging girlfriend/secretary (Pamela Britton) and gets involved with a wild group of men and women at his hotel and they later go out on the town. For a reason that is not initially obvious, someone poisons Bigelow's drink with a fatal toxin, and he finds out that he only has a short time to live. So he uses that precious time to figure who murdered him.
This noir film is fast paced with a lot happening over a very short period of time. Some of the scenes aren't pulled off convincingly, but it is still entertaining. This film was made in 1950 and was later remade in 1988 starring Dennis Quaid. If you enjoy late '40's and early '50's noir crime dramas, you will not be disappointed with this film. It's a good movie, but by no means a great one.
As for the DVD, my issue was released by Alpha Video, who has a notorious reputation for poor picture quality DVDs. Of the 20 or so different DVDs that I've viewed from Alpha, this is the best I've seen, but it still has some minor problems. Tiny spots of wear can be seen intermittently throughout the film, and there are two short sequences where noticeable film scratches can be seen for about 4-5 seconds in each segment. Also, the DVD transfer is not as sharp compared to one from a major studio and the last 10 minutes of the film does not look as focused as the prior 73 minutes. But overall, it is still very worthy of viewing and the sound is satisfactory.
Movie: B
DVD Quality: C+
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