On The Waterfront (1954/Sony/Columbia/Criterion Blu-ray Set)
Picture:
B Sound: B- Extras: B+ Film: B
In the
wake of the original Film Noir era, other motion pictures (especially after
WWII) found new darkness and realism, but also a realism that had a
naturalistic honesty to it and Elia Kazan’s On The Waterfront (1954) is one of those with hints of Noir, but is
more of an outright melodrama about working class New York City of the time, a
time of Unions, raw street living, criminals who do as they please, corrupt
people on the take and those who want a better society based on hard work and
fair treatment. Marlon Brando continued
to solidify his position as the actor of the moment (and best post-WWII actor,
breaking in method acting into cinema permanently) as one-time boxer Terry
Malloy, now just trying to find work and happiness in his life.
He has
fallen into working for an evil dock boss (Leo J. Cobb) when two of that man’s
henchmen kill a well-liked guy from the neighborhood. Terry is unhappy about this and it starts to
change the tone of the neighborhood whose people are getting sick of the same
things happening over and over again. A
local priest (Karl Malden) tries to get the workers to help fight back and
Terry’s older brother Charley (Rod Steiger) knows more than he is letting on as
several people in the know what Terry to talk.
Add that he is getting involved with the sister (Eva Marie Saint) of the
man he saw killed and nothing will ever be the same again.
Though
the film has dated in some ways and seeing the working men reminds us of how
big, helpful and important unions once were in this country before (starting in
the 1950s and accelerated in the 1980s) busting them became a very problematic
trend, the film boldly deals with the individual, lives wasted, dreams dashed
and a side of The American Dream that had not been dealt with in such a manner
before. It is nostalgia for those who
remember the labor days and an accurate time capsule record thereof, but
everyone here is doing some of the best work of their career and it is luck for
all of us that it was such a huge critical and commercial success, also further
solidifying Columbia Pictures are a smaller studio permanently turning into a
major studio.
Often
imitated, it was ahead of independent cinema, the realistic filmmaking wee know
as the New York School of cinema, ahead of John Cassavetes and a key influence
on the ongoing cinema of Martin Scorsese.
It also got Kazan in trouble during the
infamous Hollywood Witchhunts of the time and his response was controversial,
but the film remains an uncompromised work of pure cinema that Hollywood used to be capable of making all
the time. It was more realistic than
what could be shown on TV (or at least made for it) and more than the
great-but-fading radio dramas could relay.
For all
this, On The Waterfront remains an
enduring American cinema classic and it is a big surprise and huge thrill that
Sony and Criterion have given it such exceptionally top rate treatment. Whether you have seen it or not, this new
double Blu-ray edition (also issued on lower-def DVDs) is stunning and here are
the technical reasons why…
The 1080p
black & white digital High Definition image is available in three different
aspect ratios since the film was framed for three types of projection and comes
from a 4K scan of the original camera negative.
The result is stunning in all three cases, as lensed by Director of
Photography Boris Kaufman (L’Atalante,
12 Angry Men (1957, reviewed on
Criterion Blu-ray elsewhere on this site),
The Pawnbroker, Up Tight!. Zero For Conduct) who primarily shot it
for 1.66 X 1 (included on the main Blu-ray) but also in open matte 1.33 X 1
keeping it TV safe and safe for older movie houses that did or could not go
widescreen, plus a tight, intimate 1.85 X 1 for the theaters that already
adapted widescreen. The latter two
appear on the second Blu-ray.
I like
all three of them, but the largest sets should go for the 1.33 X 1 to really
get a feel for the narrow-vision approach of the film’s look. The 1.66 X 1 is not a compromise and works
just fine, while the 1.85 X 1 is tight and makes the film claustrophobic in
ways you might not consider. Ironically,
I had just seen a real 35mm black and white print of the film in 1.85 X 1 on a
big single-theater screen a few days before this set was announced and it had
real silver content and was an older print in fine condition (though the sound
was rough analog optical mono and even warped in places including the opening
music) but it looked fine throughout (no telling if the print was open matte
1.33 X 1) but the Blu-rays come very close to looking like that print at its
best and the grain was similar. I was
very impressed here and nothing was done to hide the age of the film, leaving
the grain in tact as should always be the case.
The
film’s sound has been upgraded to a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix and
PCM 2.0 Mono, but the DTS sounds better overall with improved clarity on the
dialogue and music score by Leonard Bernstein, even if the sound tends to be towards
the front speakers. The original
soundmaster for the film was made from a magnetic sound source and the music
score was stereophonic, so you can see why the 5.1 would have additional
advantages. Combined with any of the
three framings of the image, On The
Waterfront plays back as well as it ever has outside of the best 35mm
prints as noted.
Extras in
this slipcase packaging include a dual DigiPak foldout holding a thicker-than-usual,
nicely illustrated booklet on the film including the usually informative text
we have come to expect from Criterion. A
new essay and three vintage texts on the film are included. The Blu-ray adds a fine feature length audio
commentary track by Richard Schickel & Jeff Young, Original Theatrical
Trailer, Visual essay on the Aspect Ratios, Visual Essay on the Music, a new
clip of writer Kent Jones discussing the film with Director Martin Scorsese,
the hour-long 1982 documentary Elia Kazan: An Outsider, a new
documentary on the film with scholars like David Thompson & Leo Braudy, new
interview with legendary actress and Academy Award -winning co-star of the film
Eva Marie Saint, a 2001 Kazan interview, new interview with longshoreman Thomas
Hanley who appeared in the film, new interview with author James T. Fisher
about the real people, places and ideas behind his classic work and Contender:
Mastering The Method (2001) examining the film’s most famous and influential
scene, one of the most influential in cinema history.
Criterion’s
On The Waterfront Blu-ray set is an
extraordinary release on one of the most important films of the 1950s, a Hollywood landmark and a must-see film for all serious
film fans!
- Nicholas Sheffo
