Two more early Brit Noirs from Cohen Film Collection, digitized in association with the British Film Institute. In DANCING WITH CRIME (1947), Richard Attenborough and Sheila Sim, married in real life at the time, put themselves in harms way when they go undercover to investigate the murder of a friend with ties to black market racketeers. Watch for Dirk Bogarde and Diana Dors in uncredited roles. A true rarity, William Cameron Menzies’ THE GREEN COCKATOO was completed in 1937, but not released until 1940. It is often cited as one of the earliest of the British Noirs and helped set the stage for the classical period of Brit Noir which flourished in the years following WWII. It’s a taut little thriller based on a Graham Greene story, directed by the American William Cameron Menzies, and featuring a stellar cast and crew. After witnessing the murder of a racketeer, a young woman is pursued by both gangsters and the police. She is aided by a Soho entertainer, who is the brother of the victim.
For thoughts on Dancing With Crime/The Green Cockatoo, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic here.
Video Quality
Dancing With Crime and The Green Cockatoo make their Blu-Ray debut thanks to the Cohen Media Group with brand new 1080p masters from what is purported to be new digital restorations. The two films have different levels of video quality that will be pointed out. The most obvious instance of a new restoration is for Dancing With Crime, and the accompanying trailer on the disc backs this up. Apart from a few of the briefest instances of lesser quality, likely due to the source elements, it is heartening to see this transfer look so spectacular. The gorgeous black-and-white photography sparkles in high definition with natural grain intact. There is a fantastic amount of detail present with nice textures on the clothing and in the background. The new transfer shows off a great amount of depth and enhanced detail within the production design. Black levels are very deep with no trace of black crush or compression artifacts. The contrast is well defined, and there are only occasional nicks and scratches present in a couple of scenes. Cohen Media Group has done a lovely job with this one.
It is less clear cut whether or not The Green Cockatoo has been given a full restoration. There is a pleasing amount of detail present with nice textures on the clothing and within the production design. The transfer shows off some amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. The black-and-white photography looks decent in high definition with thick natural grain throughout. Black levels are pretty weak with very little in the way of fine detail in shadows. The contrast is not that well defined, and the track experiences a consistent amount of flicker and specks of damage throughout. There are also some stray, faint vertical lines that make appearances without ruining the overall aesthetic of the film. The effort is far from unwatchable for a film that has not been the most widely available, but do not expect the picture quality to be a flawless effort.
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray comes with pretty decent DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio dual mono tracks that serve these movies well for what they are trying to accomplish. The tracks do present with a minor amount of age related wear and tear including some faint hissing and crackles that likely date back to the source elements. Dialogue and background noises are represented in pleasing harmony with all competing elements. The music never overpowers the dialogue or other important information, but it does sound a little fragile at its highest peaks. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles included for the feature film. The good folks at Cohen Media Group and Kino Classics have done their best to provide the most stable tracks possible for this release.
Special Features
- Trailer: The minute-long new restoration trailer for Dancing With Crime is provided here.
Final Thoughts
Dancing With Crime and The Green Cockatoo are two lesser-known British film noirs that are each really compelling. Dancing With Crime stands out more thanks to a strong performance from a young Richard Attenborough as he finds himself mixed up in a criminal outfit that builds to a satisfying conclusion. The Green Cockatoo stands on the strength of its narrative alone, which ends up being more than enough as it sets the template for films that would follow in its footsteps. Even if neither of these have been on your radar, you owe it to yourself to seek these out if you love film noir. Cohen Media Group and Kino Lorber have released a Blu-Ray that features a good-to-great A/V presentation and next to nothing in the way of special features. The quality of these films are high enough for you to just be grateful these are available in a pretty solid high definition release. Recommended
Dancing With Crime/The Green Cockatoo is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Cohen Media Group and Kino Lorber have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
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Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.