He couldn’t stop himself from committing—The Crime of the Century! Director William Beaudine (The Old Fashioned Way, The Ape Man) crafts a clever whodunit about Dr. Emil Brandt, a hypnotist who bursts into a police station and confesses to a murder. The only problem is, the murder he’s confessed to hasn’t happened yet—although stolen money and dead bodies soon turn up. A wisecracking reporter tries to unravel the mystery by staying one step ahead of the cops. Based on Walter Maria Espe’s play The Grootman Case, this Pre-Code classic is packed with a star-studded cast that includes Jean Hersholt (13 Washington Square, Heidi), Wynne Gibson (Night After Night, Her Bodyguard), Stuart Erwin (Before Dawn, Our Town) and Frances Dee (Little Women, I Walked with a Zombie).
For thoughts on The Crime Of The Century, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic here.
Video Quality
The Crime Of The Century 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 is pushing 90 years old, this is about what is to be expected without a fresh master. The black-and-white photography looks decent in high definition with thick natural grain throughout. 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. 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 done a service by unearthing this lesser known film, but do not expect the picture quality to be a revelation.
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray comes with a solid DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that serves this movie well considering its place in early sound recording. Dialogue and background noises are represented in pleasing harmony with all competing elements. 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. 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: Author/Film Historian Lee Gambin and Costume Historian Elissa McKenchnie delivers a very entertaining and informative commentary track in which they discuss how the costumes served as a shorthand for some character development, how German characters were influenced by the time period in which they film was made, the supernatural influences on the script, the careers of the performers, and much more that adds to the enjoyment of this film.
- Trailers: There are trailers provided for Murder!, Supernatural, Four Frightened People, The General Died At Dawn and The Mad Doctor.
Final Thoughts
The Crime Of The Century is an unassuming little drama which never really establishes itself as anything special. The core mystery is enjoyable enough, but the execution leaves something to be desired. The performances are solid across the board even if some characters can be a bit grating. One positive to note is the merciful runtime which ensures you do not waste your time on too much extraneous material. Kino Classics has released a Blu-Ray with a passable A/V presentation and an informative commentary track. Fans of the genre may find this to be a decent time-waster, but it is not worth going out of your way to obtain.
The Crime Of The Century 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.
