Thieves' Highway (Arrow)

[Oscar Rothman]

Thieves' Highway Blu-ray



New 4K digital restoration by Twentieth Century Fox
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
Uncompressed Mono 1.0 PCM Audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
The Long Haul of A.I. Bezzerides, a 55-minute documentary portrait of Thieves’ Highway author and screenwriter, featuring contributions from Bezzerides, director Jules Dassin and writers George P. Pelecanos (The Wire), Mickey Spillane (Kiss Me Deadly) and Barry Gifford (Lost Highway)
The Fruits of Labour, a new video essay about the genesis, production, reception and politics of Thieves’ Highway by Frank Krutnik, author of In a Lonely Street: Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity
Selected scene and character commentaries by Frank Krutnik
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Alastair Phillips (co-author of 100 Film Noirs), illustrated with original production stills

[pro-bassoonist]

Thieves' Highway Blu-ray REVIEW



The new 4K restoration from Fox is quite wonderful. However, there is a mastering error on this release. There are multiple dropped frames/skips that can be seen at 00.52.07 and 00.52.17. It appears that there are even more at 01.22.47.

I have sent a request for additional information and will update our review when I receive it. I have a final market version of this release.



Pro-B

[ravenus]

^Whoa, this release is nearly 5 months old. An issue like this should have been recognized way earlier. Perhaps this was an unavoidable limitation of the source?

I was just waiting for an Amz price drop or Arrow sale on this movie to pick it up

[Hatfield Peverel]

Exactly the same issue is on the Criterion DVD and all film elements. It's two jump cuts made during editing to speed up the scene or to cut parts of different takes together, since it was assumed cinema audiences wouldn't be able to spot it. The telltale sign is that the background music plays completely unbroken throughout the scene without any skips, hence these visual edits made it through to the final mix of the soundtrack. There is no error with Fox's 4K remastering or Arrow's handling of it.

[TheRingshifter]

Might get this - I was a huge fan of Night and the City!

[Hatfield Peverel]

It's a brilliant film - possibly Jules Dassin's best, though with such noir riches from Brute Force to Rififi, why choose? - and Arrow's treatment is absolutely top notch.

[nitin]

I like Night and the City best but this is as good as any of his others. The studio imposed ending stops it being from NatC level IMHO.

[MifuneFan]

The PQ looks excellent. I'd imagine it should get no less than a 4/5 even with the frame drops (which are inherent to the source). I'd probably give it a 4.5 personally

[rapta]

In his defence it does look like he bought this one and was not supplied with a review disc (I'm assuming). It would be good if he responded to the points raised in this thread, as his conclusions have been somewhat hasty - he could have asked somebody else about this before posting his review, but I guess it's fine this way around as well. I'm sure he'll read what has been said here and correct his review.

Sometimes raising issues in reviews has paid off, as the distributor have been made aware of the mistake and issued their own inquiry (e.g. StudioCanal's The Fallen Idol), but in this case it seems like an honest mistake to make. By the sounds of it, the audio track should have been a giveaway though - if the cuts were unintentional, wouldn't the audio track be affected too? And if no faults with the audio were picked up on, then it would surely be out of sync after said issues with the video?

PS: itching to get hold of this release. I couldn't afford it at the time, and held off for longer than I'd wanted and now I'm just waiting for it to pop into the sale. Same goes for Cemetery Without Crosses.

[nekelstal]

So, this isn't an error and it's a natural look of film?

[KrugerIndustrial]

Originally Posted by Hatfield Peverel

Odd that he would patiently wait several months for Criterion's response for Code Unknown to make sure his review was scrupulously fair and informed, but would then post an ignorant and damaging review of Arrow's Thieves' Highway on a Sunday night while claiming to be "awaiting a response", which isn't exactly likely to turn up over the weekend.

Originally Posted by rapta

In his defence it does look like he bought this one and was not supplied with a review disc (I'm assuming). It would be good if he responded to the points raised in this thread, as his conclusions have been somewhat hasty - he could have asked somebody else about this before posting his review, but I guess it's fine this way around as well. I'm sure he'll read what has been said here and correct his review.

Sometimes raising issues in reviews has paid off, as the distributor have been made aware of the mistake and issued their own inquiry (e.g. StudioCanal's The Fallen Idol), but in this case it seems like an honest mistake to make. By the sounds of it, the audio track should have been a giveaway though - if the cuts were unintentional, wouldn't the audio track be affected too? And if no faults with the audio were picked up on, then it would surely be out of sync after said issues with the video?

PS: itching to get hold of this release. I couldn't afford it at the time, and held off for longer than I'd wanted and now I'm just waiting for it to pop into the sale. Same goes for Cemetery Without Crosses.

I believe Svet is the only reviewer on this site who even owns a region-free player, and actually bothers to review rare European titles, in addition to his monthly Criterion slate. I'm fairly confident he is very busy as it is. Also, as the review clearly states, he did not receive a review copy for this title, hence the delay.

[pro-bassoonist]

UPDATE:

I received a reply from Arrow. It notes that it is a film-based error and therefore there is nothing to fix.

A few clarifications:

1. As noted in our review, these are indeed errors. What had to be clarified is where they come from -- Arrow Video or Fox. They are so poor that they do in fact look like digital errors. It is why I contacted Arrow Video for clarification, as I do not have a DVD release at the moment to compare.

2. I can hear the faulty transition at the final error -- there is nothing to speed up there and there is a sound cut. It is simply a very obvious error. The other errors are obvious as well.

3. Anyone believing that this is how Thieves' Highway was shot and meant to be seen is either incredibly naive or clueless. If it was Fox's decision to never fix things -- the master was struck from a fine grain positive -- then it was a poor decision. These are exactly the type of issues that need to be addressed during elaborate 4K restorations.

4. The Criterion DVD release is mentioned as some sort of a reference. The fact that something has been previously released in a certain way does not make it "right". The opposite is also true. Criterion's recent release of Bitter Rice is a prime example. It is a very fine upgrade, but it includes exactly the same errors -- there are obvious cuts and the missing frames exist (as seen on the old Italian DVD). Criterion's decision was to present the film with the missing cuts, and I don't think that it was the right one.

I also do not think that leaving the discussed errors in the new 4K restoration of Thieves' Highway was the right decision. Repeatedly getting something wrong does not make it right -- and this isn't an inherited limitation because it is not how the film was shot -- regardless of when and where the errors were introduced.

Pro-B

[rapta]

So from what it sounds like, these errors are Fox's fault for not getting it right in the first place, but somewhat also Arrow's fault in that they accepted them and released the film as-is. I'm guessing it was likely either too costly or too difficult to fix them, so Arrow were forced to accept them.

Either way, am I correct in thinking there only a few of these errors? Everything else about this release looks great, and I'll certainly be getting it as soon as it appears in an upcoming Arrow sale.

[MifuneFan]

I don't think anyone said this is how it was shot or meant to be seen. Clearly if they went to the trouble of investing in a 4K restoration then it's very likely they were very much aware of these dropped/skipped frames, and couldn't do much all about them.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I don't think anyone said this is how it was shot or meant to be seen.

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Clearly if they went to the trouble of investing in a 4K restoration then it's very likely they were very much aware of these dropped/skipped frames, and couldn't do much all about them.

1. Then you were not paying attention to what was said, Michael. It was claimed that the issue is on "all film elements". This cannot be the case because it is not how the film was shot.

2. This is an extremely naive take on the situation. Current technology offers endless options to correct past mistakes. Assuming that the errors were intentionally ignored, the most likely scenario is that the same element with the same errors was accessed multiple times and no one wanted to bother to fix them.

There are various examples already where such old errors were transferred to Blu-ray because no one wanted to fix them. You could argue that it was for different reasons, but this is an entirely different subject:

a) A Snake of June was remastered/restored and has all sorts of distracting jumps which with time and money could have been fixed.

b) Voice Without a Shadow has all sorts of different splice marks that were left in because they are supposedly an accurate representation of the theatrical presentation, but you better believe that the director did not envision his film to be experienced with them.

c) Massacre Gun also has very similar stability issues.

d) I already described the similar issues on Bitter Rice.

The reality of the situation is that while the studios, big and small, do invest in new 2K and 4K scans, the restoration efforts are all over the place. In fact, most of the time there is little actual restoration work done. The end results are also a mixed bag. This is why you see so many films that are incorrectly framed, with terrible, at times even flat-out exotic color schemes, filtered into oblivion, etc.

As I said earlier, repeatedly getting something wrong does not make it right.

Pro-B

[Blu Titan]

Pro-B has not deleted any posts in this thread . A member made some good points but he included an unnecessary "shot" at a staff member. I have edited the last part of the post and placed it online. Please post in a respecfull manner to avoid having to place posts offline

[John Hodson]

Sadly, the reference to a mastering error remains egregiously in the review; surely this should now be removed and as soon as possible?

If your reviewer feels that these edits should have been somehow repaired during restoration, fine, his opinion. But there is no 'mastering error' and, in fairness, it should be edited out of the review.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by John Hodson

Sadly, the reference to a mastering error remains egregiously in the review; surely this should now be removed and as soon as possible?

If your reviewer feels that these edits should have been somehow repaired during restoration, fine, his opinion. But there is no 'mastering error' and, in fairness, it should be edited out of the review.

Although I agree, it's the same final approach as that taken for Bitter Rice.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by John Hodson

Sadly, the reference to a mastering error remains egregiously in the review; surely this should now be removed and as soon as possible?

If your reviewer feels that these edits should have been somehow repaired during restoration, fine, his opinion. But there is no 'mastering error' and, in fairness, it should be edited out of the review.

There is absolutely nothing sad about the technical description and the final words. Both appear as intended.

[John Hodson]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

It should have been expected because the technical analysis is very clear. Now, on the other hand, your follow up is definitely very typical.

I'm saddened because you will not accept any analysis of the disc other than your own. Your initial assessment that it was some kind of disc fault, an anomaly in the digital domain, remains in your review. What would it cost to edit your review properly? Nothing; not even loss of face.

Which, IMHO, is unfair.

Your response is to brook no compromise, to debate no view other than your own, and for good measure you add a wholly unnecessary - and puzzling, seeing as I post here once every Preston Guild - personal stinger.

That's why I'm saddened. But it's your playground.