Director Michael Gordon is probably best known by many movie fans for his Doris Day films, Pillow Talk and Move over Darling. But his filmography is a very diverse one. Films including comedy, westerns, film noir and dramas.
Kino Lorber earlier this year released on Blu-ray a great western directed by Michael Gordon and starring Dean Martin and Joey Bishop entitled Texas across the River. You can read the review of that release here. Now it's time for another Gordon classic to shine on Blu-ray. This time it is a 1947 film noir entitled The Web.
Leopold Kroner is released from prison after serving five years for embezzling money from Colby Enterprises. Andrew Colby (Vincent Price) is afraid that Kroner is going to try and kill him, so he hires lawyer Bob Regan (Edmond O'Brien) as a personal bodyguard. Regan hears a gunshot from Colby's study one evening, when he enters the study he finds Kroner there, apparently trying to kill Colby. Regan kills Kroner when he turns around, pointing the gun at him. Was this self defense or something more sinister? You'll have to watch the film to find out.
The screenplay by William Bowers and Bertram Millhauser is from a story by Harry Kurnitz and is a masterful piece of writing. The dialogue is believable and the story moves along at a nice pace. Not to fast and not to slow. It is the perfect 1 hour 27 minute film.
Joining Vincent Price and Edmond O'Brien is Ella Raines, William Bendix, Maria Palmer, John Abbott and more. Everyone does a wonderful job with their roles and Michael Gordon does one of his best jobs in directing this film noir.
Kino Lorber has transferred this film noir on Blu-ray in it's original full screen format 1.37:1 aspect ratio and presented in 1080p with the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. The picture looks sharp as a tack with no damage to the print that I could see.
The Web looks and sound stunning on this Blu-ray release. I remember renting videos as a young child and reading "in glorious black and white". Well, Kino Lorber can boast that with this release of The Web on Blu-ray this picture quality is glorious.
But an absolute magnificent copy of The Web is not all on this release. Kino Lorber included, a brand new audio commentary by Professor and Film Scholar Jason A. Ney, the Theatrical Trailer, as well as additional trailers for other Kino Lorber Blu-ray releases and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. Always a nice bonus.
As I have matured I have learned to love film noirs. Enjoying the dark and moody ambiance of the film. Trying to figure out where the story is going before we get to the end. I enjoy it so much. And now I have a new favorite with this KL Studio Classic release.
If you love film noirs as much as I do you are going to want to check out Kino Lorber's Blu-ray of The Web. You can order a copy for yourself at Amazon.com.
Out of 4 Film reels (4 being the best) Kino Lorber's Blu-ray of The Web receives...
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