Act of Violence

Summary

“You can always find reasons. Even the Nazis had reasons.”

Warner Bros. Archive Collection has long been a reliable source for film noir films of yesteryear. I have watched a good amount of these releases ranging from Joseph H. Lewis’s Gun Crazy, to Robert Wise’s The Set-Up, to Jacque Tourneur’s exceptional Out of the Past. I have been grateful to Warner for their commitment to quality releases that serve that niche. I was attracted to checking out their recent release of Act of Violence based on the two big names attached (Robert Ryan and Van Heflin,) the film’s director Fred Zinnemann, and the promise of noir storytelling. Robert Ryan is one of my favorite actors, and Fred Zinnemann was a reliably good director. I watched it the other night.

On a rainy street, a limping man (Robert Ryan) in a wet trench coat stumbles into an apartment and retrieves a gun from a set of drawers. He takes a greyhound bus out west. Eventually he arrives in Santa Lisa, California as a parade is occurring. He gets a hotel room, and begins to rifle through the phone book before circling the name of Frank R. Enley. Frank (Van Heflin) is a well respected local contractor with a wife named Edith (Janet Leigh) and a young child named Georgie. The man goes by Frank’s house just after Frank has left for a fishing trip at a nearby lake, so he books a car and drives to the lake. He rents a rowboat and asks the boat owner where he can find Frank. He finds Frank in a fishing hole, but just as he draws his pistol, Frank speeds off from the area on his skiff still unaware of the dangerous pursuer. When Frank arrives back at the docks, the boat owner asks Frank if the other fella had found him. Hearing the description of the limping man, Frank calls off his fishing trip with his pal and heads back to his house. At home, his wife confirms that a man had stopped by earlier, thinking nothing of it. Frank begins closing all the window shades. When the phone rings, he stops his wife from answering it. He says nothing is the matter, but he also turns out the lights the house. They soon hear his pursuer ring the doorbell and walk around the house. Frank explains that the man knew him in the Army. Frank had been his CO, and he had blamed Frank for everything that went wrong with him. His name was Joe Parkson. The next morning, Frank sneaks out and leaves a note to his wife saying he went to L.A. to the contractors convention taking place there. Edith confronts Joe the next morning and Joe shows her the gun before walking her back inside the house. He wants her husband. She wants him to leave them alone. Joe has his reasons for wanting to confront Frank, reasons that may shock Edith. As Joe hones in on Frank, Frank plunges into the dark underbelly of Los Angeles in an attempt to save himself from his pursuer.

Act of Violence is a pretty good film noir. It never reaches the heights of Out of the Past or other classics like Double Indemnity, but it definitely has some interesting places that it takes the viewer. In fact, this review was at one point much longer, but I went back and deleted out anything that I could which might ruin some of the surprising plot points. I would recommend reading as little as possible about the film before you view it. The screenplay by Robert L. Richards (from a story by Collier Young) begins strong, has a brief period where the pace slows, but once Frank goes into the seedier side of Los Angeles at nighttime the film becomes a full blown noir. Looking online I have seen some reviewers take a hard stance on the film, but I felt like it was pretty damn good overall. The film deals with some very interesting post-war issues that definitely surprised me as a viewer.

Act of Violence benefits from excellent direction by Fred Zinnemann. He would go on to make From Here to Eternity and High Noon, so it is no surprise that he has a solid command over the actors in the picture. Robert Ryan is always a a captivating presence onscreen, and he essentially steals the film from Van Heflin. Van Heflin is a lot of fun to watch in the movie, especially in the latter half as panic sets in, but Robert Ryan commands the screen whenever he is in the frame. The supporting cast has a great turn by Mary Astor as a barfly and a good role for a young Janet Leigh. The black and white cinematography by the legendary Robert Surtrees is fantastic. He was brilliant and watching this film he would make you believe that Los Angeles is a wet rainy place where the wind will blow trash on you if you step outside. I love the trashstrewn streets, the cigarette smoke filled rooms, passing trains and closing bars in the movie’s extended nighttime sequence. This nighttime sequence in some ways made me think of Scorsese’s classic After Hours, only in the sense that it feels like a totally different world that Frank enters which only exists at night. The finale of the film is really satisfying and ties the picture together. Overall, I would say that the film is a solid 8/10.

Video

Warner Bros. tend to really show off their skills when they release black and white films. It therefore is no surprise that they did a fantastic job on the transfer of Act of Violence using an MPEG-4 AVC codec in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1. Grain is well resolved. Clarity and fine detail are essentially perfect. The cinematography by Robert Surtrees is evocative and very well done.  

Audio

Warner Bros. have provided a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track that sounds good. As a mono mix front speakers are used for the entire mix. Clarity is solid. I did not detect any dropouts or overbearing hiss. That said, this film is the definition of “soft-loud,” which I always find to be one of the most annoying things that a film can do. The characters will be talking almost in whispers, but the transitional music between scenes will be loud and sweeping. I can’t fault Warner for preserving this element, but I am not a fan of the original sound design that causes that annoyance. Who wants to adjust their volume up and down every few moments?

Supplements:

• Audio Commentary – film historian Dr. Drew Casper provides solid insight into the film’s production in this track that was recorded for the prior DVD release.
• Act of Violence: Dealing with the Devil – a five minute appreciation of the film
• Classic Cartoons –
  • Goggle Fishing Bear – a 1949 Barney Bear cartoon
  • The Shell-Shocked Egg – a Merrie Melodies short
• Theatrical Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 5/5

Audio – 4/5

Supplements – 3/5

Overall – 4/5

Act of Violence is a pretty good noir film that deals with some very interesting post-war subject matter. The direction by Fred Zinnemann is excellent, and both Van Heflin and Robert Ryan are well cast in the film. The last third of the film is really strong once Frank descends into the underbelly of Los Angeles to try to avoid the revenge that Joe wants to deliver to him. The film doesn’t to rise to the level of some otehr classic noirs, but it is pretty good overall. The video transfer is pristine and could not be made to look much better. The audio transfer is true to the original sound design with solid clarity, but this film suffers from the “soft-loud” pattern that I find distracting in some older films. The Warner Archive release features a well done commentary track and a couple old cartoon shorts. Fans will definitely enjoy the visual upgrade over prior releases.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.