One of the most captivating actresses of all time, Marlene Dietrich (Desire, Angel) plays a lusty gypsy in the film that stirred up the censors, Golden Earrings. Escaping from the Nazis, British colonel Ralph Denistoun (Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend, Alias Nick Beal) and his partner arrange to meet in Stuttgart to steal Hitler’s poison gas formula. On the journey, Denistoun meets Lydia (Dietrich), who keeps him out of harm’s way. Only with the help of the extraordinary gypsy woman can he finish the mission that will make him a hero in this tale of espionage and intrigue from Hollywood ace Mitchell Leisen, the outstanding director of Death Takes a Holiday, Hands Across the Table, Easy Living, Midnight, Arise, My Love and No Time for Love.
For thoughts on Golden Earrings, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic here.
Video Quality
Golden Earrings makes its Blu-Ray debut thanks to Kino Classics with a 1080p transfer from what appears to be a well-worn older master. For a film that has never been shown much care or support over the years, this is about what is to be expected without a fresh master. 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. Kino Classics has rescued a film that has not been easy to find for many years, but do not expect the picture quality to be a flawless effort. .
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray comes with a pretty decent DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that serves this movie well for what it is trying to accomplish. This track does 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 Kino Classics have done their best to provide the most stable track possible for this one.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: Film Historian David Del Valle delivers an incredibly informative commentary track in which he discusses the under appreciated career of director Mitchell Leisen, the code messaging in the story, the off-screen dynamic between Marlene Dietrich and Ray Milland, the ways in which Dietrich went “full gypsy” and so much more that makes for an incredibly entertaining track.
- Trailers: The two-minute trailer for Golden Earrings is provided here. There are also trailers provided for Desire, Seven Sinners, The Flame of New Orleans, Arise My Love, The Lost Weekend, So Evil My Love, Death Takes A Holiday and No Time For Love.
Final Thoughts
Golden Earrings is most notable for harnessing the transfixing star power of Marlene Dietrich and Ray Milland. These two give really solid performances in a film that never really establishes itself as something completely essential. Director Mitchell Leisen does inject some subtly subversive elements that make things more interesting for a modern audience, but the movie still hovers at passably entertaining. Kino Classics has released a Blu-Ray featuring an A/V presentation that gets the job done and a really great commentary track. If you are a fan of the talent involved it is worth checking out, but complete newcomers probably can pass this one by.
Golden Earrings 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: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
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