Product: Pickup on South Street (The Criterion Collection) (1953)
Rating: 4.0
Good Film, But A Little Pricey
The only thing about this film that bums me out is that the Criterion DVD is so expensive. It's too much for my budget at the moment, or I would purchase it, because the film is a good example of film noir...and I enjoy watching Richard Widmark, Jean Peters and Thelma Ritter.Criterion produces great DVDs but sometimes the asking price is just a bit muchfor an 80-minute mono sound film that is good but nothing extraordinary, cinematography-wise.The best part of the disc is the story here (as opposed to visuals, actors, sound, sets, etc.) as a pickpocket (Widmark) inadvertently winds up with espionage microfilm in his possession after pilfering Peters' purse. (Say that three times!).Everyone but Peters is a believable character in this movie: Widmark, the cops, the U.S. agents and the Communists and, especially Ritter as "Moe," an informant. She and Widmark are the stars of this film.Peters does a decent job of playing the cheap floozy but loses her credibility early on by "falling in love" with Widmark on the first meeting even though he's nasty to her. Only in world of film!! Too bad, because that ludicrous romance part of the story takes away from it.This an average film noir which means good, but not great and certainly not worth owning at a price of $25-$30. For that price, one could do a lot better in the film noir market.