Product: The Big Combo [VHS] (1955)
Rating: 2.0
Great Noir--terrible video
It is sad that such a tense, gritty and beautiful little film has been given such an awful presentation. The picture quality is passable, but tends to be murky. John Alton was noted for his use of shadows, but this transfer leaves much to be desired. It can be lived with, however, since this was an independent film and possibly nothing else survives. The sound howver, is another story. It is TOTALLY unacceptable. Throughout the entire film, quite loud at time, is an audio problem known as "motorboating". This occurs when the edge of the picture frame gets into the track area and you "hear" the frame lines in the soundtrack as a constant humming, like a boat motor. It RUINS this films, especially in a scene where silence is key. Although this problem is present in the original material used to make this transfer, it should have been corrected. I cannot recommend this video to anyone unless you are a die-hard J.H. Lewis fan. It's sad, because this is a highly enjoyable film, a fascinating counterpoint to Lewis's raucous "Gun Crazy".