One of the earliest and quirkiest Hollywood ventures of groundbreaking filmmaker Fritz Lang (Metropolis, Scarlet Street, Human Desire), You and Me is a romantic comedy-drama that packs a punch of social commentary through the hard-boiled love story of a hard-luck couple. Sylvia Sidney (Fury, You Only Live Once) and George Raft (Spawn of the North, Some Like It Hot) star as two former convicts who find honest work in a department store and love in one another—until a dark secret from the past threatens to drive them apart. With dazzling montages and choral sequences that marry the director’s German Expressionist technique to Kurt Weill’s music, You and Me overflows with sheer cinematic joy. Featuring Barton MacLane, Harry Carey, Roscoe Karns, Robert Cummings and the rich cinematography of Charles Lang (The Big Heat).
For thoughts on You and Me, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:
[youtube https://youtu.be/m6NCy0AZtOQ?t=2516]
Video Quality
You and Me makes its Blu-Ray debut courtesy of Kino Classics with a brand new 1080p transfer from a 2K master. Outside of a few brief downturns in quality that remain after the preservation efforts, this presentation is quite enjoyable from beginning to end. This transfer provides a notable amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. The department store where the characters work is given a three dimensional feel that allows the setting to feel more fully realized and textured. Black levels are decently healthy with no obvious instances of black crush or compression artifacts.
The contrast is firm outside of fleeting moments of density fluctuation in the print. The clothing and the production design delivers an appreciable amount of detail and texture. Nicks and scratches have largely been eliminated, but there is at least one brief occurrence where this is significant damage to the print. While the rest of the film is pretty solid, there is no getting around this anomaly. The natural film grain remains intact within the fetching black-and-white photography shot by Charles Lang. Kino Classics has treated this one as well as the source will allow.
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray comes with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that handles the material decently. Dialogue and environmental noises are balanced well with all competing elements so that nothing gets drowned out in the mix. This track rarely presents anything in the way of damage outside of a small amount of age related wear and tear and some faint hissing. The element where the shortcomings are slightly more apparent is the music that sounds a bit abrasive, but even that likely dates back to the age and condition of the source elements. The score does not trounce upon the dialogue or other important information. Kino Classics has provided a mostly stable track for this one. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles included for the feature film.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: Film Critic and Author Simon Abrams delivers a really informative commentary track in which he discusses how this film derailed the career of Fritz Lang, why this film did not work for critics, the careers of the of the ensemble, the musical moments and why Lang clashed with the composer, the legacy of the film and more. This provides a lot of great context that you might not be aware of otherwise.
- Trailers: The two-and-a-half minute trailer is provided for You and Me. There are also trailers provided for Behind The High Wall, Night After Night, The Gilded Lily and The Woman In The Window.
Final Thoughts
You and Me is a truly baffling film at times, be it the musical interludes or the major focus on arithmetic. In fact, it is a film that has been confounding certain audiences since the day it was released, but it is not deserving of such negative feelings. It does not always work, but it provides way more good times than bad. Sylvia Sidney is a true gem throughout, and George Raft gets to show a softer side than he is often allowed to. The beats are familiar, but it is different enough to keep things fresh – even if that is what drove away audiences in the first place. Kino Classics has delivered a Blu-Ray release that shows off a fairly consistent A/V presentation and an informative commentary track. If you are a Fritz Lang fan or appreciate the performers, it is worth seeking out to witness some of the odd turns. Recommended
You and Me 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.
