Product: Detour [VHS] (1945)
Rating: 3.0
Terrible print--beware
While it's true that this is one of the seminal movies of film noir, the print here is absolutely reprehensible. I use that word not only because of the quality of the print, but also, much more insidiously, because on the packaging, it boasts that this is a "pristine new film-to-video transfer from original source materials" AND "Beautifully restored from the original 35mm nitrate masters".Well, "original" is the operative word here. This must have been a direct transfer with absolutely NO digital remastering AT ALL. And original? It's like they found the cheapest print of this film available and then purposely messed THAT up. There are so many unintentional jump cuts and skips in the film it is absolutely infuriating. Image Entertainment is charging (...)full retail price for this; they should be charging (less).Yes, you can still make out more than enough to understand the entire film, but with technology what it is today, why should there be this many errors and omissions? This is completely inexcusable. The three stars are for the film itself. If the print had been clean, I definitely would have given this five stars.This is really a shame. Image should be REALLY ashamed of themselves, especially given the specious advertising on the package.