A Life at Stake (1955) {The Film Detective Blu-ray Review}

Reviewed By Jason Lockard

Dame Angela Lansbury is an award winning acting legend! She is still going strong at the time of this writing at the age of 95. It's hard to believe she started her career in film almost 80 years ago with a 'little' film noir called "Gaslight".  

In 1955 she would take the lead in a mostly forgotten film noir entitled "A Life At Stake". Now the great folks at The Film Detective have given this awesome little film a deluxe Blu-ray release from a brand new 4K master.

The film follows an out-of-work architect named Edward Shaw (Keith Andes) who meets a married woman Doris Hillman who just happens to have a business proposition for him. Partner up via her husbands wealth. As time passes by Edward begins to suspect Doris' interest in him is not just financial and may actually be deadly.

As we wrote earlier this is a mostly forgotten film, and that is a shame. Angela Lansbury is great as always and Keith Andes a tremendous alongside her. The whole cast works so well together in a tremendously written dramatic tale. This film runs at a very fast paced 78 minutes.

The film has transferred this new 4K scan of this film noir in 1080p in the original 1.37:1 aspect ratio with a DTS master audio 2.0. There is also an option for English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. I have to say the picture looks pretty amazing! There is only a copy very small imperfections in the picture, but most people won't even notice it. The audio is clear as a bell.

The Film Detective bringing us 4K scan of a classic film noir is not the end of this Blu-ray release, not by a long shot. The Film Detective have added some amazing bonus features. Take a look at what is included in this Blu-ray.

* Audio Commentary by Professor and Film Scholar, Jason A. Ney

* Full color booklet with essay Career at Stake: Angela Lansbury and the Last Days of the B Noir by Professor and Film Scholar, Jason A. Ney

* HOLLYWOOD HITCH-HIKERS: INSIDE THE FILMAKERS an original production by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures

Now the film is an awesome little noir and that is the main event of this release, but these bonus features are stellar. The Audio commentary has so much information You could listen to this one over and over and still hear something you missed before.

The Booklet is a very welcomed addition to any release complete with pictures of the great Angela Lansbury. But probably the best bonus feature is The Hollywood Hitchhikers tracking the career of the great actor, producer and director Ida Lupino.

I really enjoy a great film noir and when they have been restored in 4K giving the best possible picture and audio quality, so much better. The Film Detective deserves a huge thank you from the film noir fans for this release.

So if you love film noirs as much as I do you are going to want to add this Angela Lansbury film noir to your collection. Head over to Amazon.com and get your copy today.

Out of 4 Film Reels (4 Being the Best) The Film Detective's Blu-ray of A Life At Stake receives...