The Big Heat (1953)

Vince Stone: Hey, that's nice perfume!
Debby Marsh: Something new. It attracts mosquitoes and repels men.
Vince Stone: It doesn't work that way with me.
Debby Marsh: It's not supposed to.
[She gives him a teasing kiss]

Fritz Lang, who is well known for such classics as the silent films Metropolis and Spione (Spies) through to the talkie era of M (his first talkie film) to Scarlet Street and Man Hunt directed 42 movies and needless to say, you don’t get to direct that many films if you’re a dud.  This fella, who fled Germany at the rise of Nazi power, had a fantastic attention to detail and has pumped out a lot of hits that remain very solid to this day.  The film for today is one of those currently rated at 100% at www.rottentomatoes.com and let me say now up front, that its certainly worthy of such a rating!  

Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford), a Detective in the Police force, investigates what would appear to be the suicide of a cop.  It all seems to be an open and shut case but questions start getting asked when a friend of the dead cop gives information that is contrary to what his wife revealed and as further questions are asked, the witness also gets murdered which instead of silencing the matter causes Dave to dig deeper even though he gets told to stop the investigation by his boss.  Ignoring the warnings, he continues to probe even up to crime boss Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby) and his brutal and heavy handed thug Vince Stone (a young Lee Marvin whose brutality is similar to the 1964 version of The Killers).  Vince’s girlfriend Debby Marsh (Gloria Grahame) see’s the integrity in Dave and begins to like and trust him but that gets her in hot water as they try to tackle the crime syndicate.  

The film is brutal and the characters are tough and brazen with the actors doing a wonderfully convincing job in portraying their characters.  The story is engaging and keeps you in and wanting more when the film has ended.  It reeks of quality from start to finish which, no doubt, is the reason why it is still so well respected 63 years after it was made. This is a film that will fulfill your film noir craving with ease.

The DVD used for the review was imported from the UK for about $13 Aussie bucks and is a complete bargain. There was a limited (only 3000) Bluray release of the film by Twilight Time in the USA but they quickly sold out and they have since done another limited release but again it will end up cost about $50 Aussie bucks to import it from the U.S..  There is a Spanish version of the Bluray available and a wonderful looking French edition which comes with a DVD and Bluray along with a 160-page book on the film but unless you read/understand french the extras and book will be little more than eye-candy.  The DVD reviewed comes with no extras (some of the other editions mentioned above have extras mostly in the form of interviews, notes or a commentary) and is shown in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio with good sharpness and contrast whilst retaining the film grain.  The Bluray would trump the DVD especially on larger screens but it comes at a steep cost for Aussies.

Overall I couldn’t recommend this film more and it gets full marks.  There are few movies that reach this status and is a good example of why older movies deserve much more attention than they currently get.  Do yourself a favour and give this one a whirl.

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