Act of Violence (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Jul 18, 2024
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Fred ZinnemannRelease Date(s)
1949 (June 25, 2024)Studio(s)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Warner Archive Collection)- Film/Program Grade: A
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B+
Review
Act of Violence contrasts the lives of two post-World War II combat buddies. One is disabled physically and damaged psychologically by his service in the war, while the other appears to have adjusted well and achieved the American Dream. The relationship between the two men unfolds gradually in a suspenseful excursion into noir territory.
Frank Enley (Van Heflin, 3:10 to Yuma) is a family man and a successful building contractor. He lives with his, wife Edith (Janet Leigh, Touch of Evil), and their toddler in a suburban California town as a respected, philanthropic member of the community. A sinister-looking stranger with a limp arrives in town, looking for Enley. The unshaven, slightly disheveled stranger arrives at the Enley home and introduces himself to Edith as an old friend of Frank. She invites him in and tells him that Frank is away on a fishing trip. She also catches a glimpse of a gun under the stranger’s coat. She, of course, is terrified, but the stranger makes no move to harm her or the baby.
We later learn that the stranger’s name is Joe Parkson (Robert Ryan, The Wild Bunch) and he has a score to settle with his former comrade in arms. Parkson heads to the lake and rents a boat to catch up with him, but Enley realizes Parkson is nearby and hastily leaves. This sets off a cat and mouse game, with Enley doing all he can to avoid Parkson, and Parkson ever more determined to catch up with him.
The beauty of the screenplay, by Robert L. Richards from a story by Collier Young, is that it takes a while before we know why Parkson is so obsessed with finding Enley. Because Parkson is clearly unbalanced and dangerous while Enley is a genial family man, we tend to empathize with Enley. But questions about Enley slowly arise. Information is doled out gradually, keeping the suspense factor high.
Heflin convinces as a man with a dark secret that belies his benign persona. With the trench-coated stranger in town, Enley’s past is catching up with him and threatening his comfortable life. Heflin’s portrayal of psychological disintegration is impressive as Enley faces up to long-suppressed truths about what happened when he and Parkson were imprisoned in a German POW camp. Ryan, a veteran of many noir films, inspires terror and simmers with controlled fury as Parkson. Neither Heflin nor Ryan were ever major box office stars, but both are fine actors and consummate professionals.
Leigh, in only her fifth movie role, plays the supportive wife with nervous concern about how the mysterious stranger is affecting and changing her husband. Mary Astor (The Great Lie) looks and sounds her role as Pat, a hardened prostitute with a heart, who meets Enley when he stumbles into a dive bar and feels sorry for him. Attempting to help, she introduces him to shady people who only make things worse.
Act of Violence poses far more difficult questions than many other post-World War II movies of the period. Neither of the main characters are drawn as all good or all bad. They’re complex, flawed men struggling in different ways with a horrific event and the moral dilemma it poses. One man has tried to bury the event and moved on, while the other has been carrying it with him and now hunting the person he holds responsible. The film raises the point that codes of conduct that guide men at war differ from those that govern us in our everyday lives.
As an MGM film, production values are rich and the cast consists of established actors. What would have been a B picture at another studio looks like an A picture courtesy of MGM’s production department.
Act of Violence was shot by director of photography Robert Surtees on 35 mm black & white film with spherical lenses and presented in the Academy aspect ratio of 1.37:1, not presented on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection. Surtees gives the film its full noir treatment with a series of streetscapes in which Parkson stalks Enley. The final sequence is beautifully staged as the two men approach each other in a confrontation that could lead to the culmination of Parkson’s search. Various angles capture the scene—a deserted railway station. This sequence is shot in deep focus, night-for-night. Mary Astor’s make-up gives her an appropriately harsh look that’s far from MGM’s trademark glamour treatment. The juxtaposition of light and dark helps to contrast the characters of Enley and Parkson, respectively.
The soundtrack is English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio. English SDH subtitles are an available option. Sound is used effectively to establish mood and includes the dragging of Parkson’s lame leg, a dripping faucet, a doorbell ringing, ambient noise in a dive bar, heavy breathing, a small audience applauding a speech by Enley, and wind swirling bits of paper at the train station. Bronislau Kaper’s score suggests neuroticism, wrenching and filled with dissonant chords. The use of nocturnal urban sounds in place of music punctuates the mood of desperation and hopelessness. Dialogue is clear and distinct.
Bonus materials on the Blu-ray release from Warner Archive include the following:
- Audio Commentary by Dr. Drew Casper
- Act of Violence: Dealing with the Devil (5:08)
- Goggle Fishing Bear (7:21)
- The Shell-Shocked Egg (6:50)
- Trailer (2:27)
Audio Commentary – Film historian Dr. Drew Casper refers to Act of Violence as a neurotic film. Ryan’s limping character is unnerving and his introduction in a cheap rooming house as he loads a gun foreshadows bad things to come. This “slickly fashioned B film” contrasts sunny exteriors surrounding Enley with Parkson immersed in shadows, visually establishing their differences and pitting them against each other well before they meet. Fred Zinnemann apprenticed at MGM, where he learned the language of cinema, gravitating toward documentary realism. Film noir originally leaned toward expressionism but developed into a combination of expressionism and documentary realism. “Noir revels in subjectivity.” The story is doled out piece by piece. The apparent villain turns out to be heroic; the apparent good guy is far from a hero. The full MGM orchestra under Andre Previn recorded the Bronislau Kaper score. Mary Astor was “past her prime” at age 43 but worked carefully to shape her role. Her lighting and make-up are intentionally unflattering, and she insisted her dress be bought off the rack at a department store. Dore Schary was head of production at MGM from 1951 to 1955 and he championed gritty films that dealt with social problems. Units were set up to focus on making B pictures. Though standing sets were redressed from picture to picture, the studio more and more encouraged location work. The final confrontation in Act of Violence is a precursor to the showdown in High Noon, not surprising since Fred Zinnemann directed both films. The final sequence builds shots to create suspense. Credits appear at the end of the film, an unusual touch for a film made at that time.
Act of Violence: Dealing with the Devil – This is a totally psychological film. During World War II, many had died and there was an air of pessimism, with middle class values being threatened. Director of photography Robert Surtees embraces all aspects of film noir. Ryan’s Parkson character is seen in dimly lit settings with shadows and walking dark streets at night. He’s an ominous figure. Later, when Heflin’s Enley talks about what happened in the POW camp, he and Janet Leigh’s Edith are in a darkened, shadowy part the room. The film is one of many in the late 1940s that dealt with returning veterans and the demons they faced.
Goggle Fishing Bear – In this 1949 Technicolor MGM short, Barney Bear has a dive mask and swim fins to help with his pursuit of fish. First, however, he needs to get the anchor set, despite an overly helpful seal. The seal acts like an inept hunting dog, leading Barney to a cave with an angry lobster and an unfortunate encounter with a shark.
The Shell-Shocked Egg – This 1948 Merrie Melodies Technicolor cartoon was directed by Robert McKimson. A mother turtle, naming her four eggs Tom, Dick, Harry and Clem, buries them to keep them safe while she obtains a sun lamp to heat them into hatching. Clem hatches prematurely and only partially while his mother is away. Unable to see in his search for a warm body to fully hatch him from his shell, Clem wanders into a barnyard and briefly cozies up with a cow, which jettisons him into a barn. A male dog thinks he has laid an egg and envisions fame and fortune. Chasing the partially hatched Clem, he crosses paths with a chicken and rooster who believe Clem is their offspring. Finally, Clem’s mother and her three other offspring reunite with Clem and she hatches him completely. Mel Blanc provides the voice characterizations.
In the period right after World War II, there was a divergence of moods in movies, with extravagant escapism on one hand and dark pessimism on the other. This was especially notable at MGM. While some producers, like Arthur Freed, continued to turn out colorful musicals and light comedies, production chief Dore Schary was concentrating on a line of frank and gritty message films. Act of Violence lost $637,000 at the box office, likely because of its disturbing theme, but it received critical praise and was even entered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1949. The film is classic noir, with an excellent script, first-rate performances, and stunning photography.
- Dennis Seuling