Twilight Time announced this past week that May 16 will be
the street date for a newly minted Blu-ray presentation of director Roy Ward
Baker’s 1953 film noir masterpiece, Inferno.
Geraldine Carson (played by Rhonda Fleming in all of her
Technicolor radiance) has it all, beauty, wealth and a marriage to business
tycoon Donald Whitley
Carson III (played by Robert Ryan in one of his greatest screen performances). But she wants IT ALL … and that opportunity
arises in the opening sequences of Inferno when Donald breaks his leg
while out riding in a remote spot in the Mojave Desert.
With
her lover, Joseph Duncan (William Lundigan), an ingenious plot is hatched on
the spot. They will ride for help and
just keep riding … poor Donald, who is something of a bully, a heavy-drinker
and a pampered weakling, despite his tough businessman persona, will simply
die. She knows he doesn’t have the fortitude
to survive a broken leg and the harsh desert environment. It’s the perfect murder!
They
cover their tracks, create a false trail — miles from his real location — and even
go to the local authorities for help.
Who diligently look in the wrong place!
Nothing. The desert got him!
The
lovers need only wait … the first storm will wipe out all of the evidence. But, Donald isn’t the weakling that they
imagined. When it finally dawns on him
that they are not coming back with help, he plans his revenge and that means
that he must survive. Hate and betrayal
can be a mountain-moving motivator.
This
is where Robert Ryan shines. His
character has to undergo a metamorphosis and take on each new challenge … his
wealth and power mean nothing in this hostile place; he can’t snap his fingers
and order this or that to be done. Set
his own leg, find water, find shelter and find a way out of the slot canyon
that he has been abandoned in are just some of the tests that will be thrown
his way.
Eventually
Donald realizes that wealth, power and even hate and revenge are not
important. It can be a simple thing
that has far more value than money, such as an act of friendship (a nice turn
by Henry Hull as a desert rat by the name of Elby), or the sense of real
accomplishment … or even a cool glass of water.
Meanwhile,
Geraldine and Joseph
need to make sure that the storm and the desert did the job. Will their murderous plan succeed or will
Donald survive yet another attempt on his life … Inferno is the perfect film noir for this sort of treachery.
Bonus
features for this Twilight Time limited edition Blu-ray release of Inferno
includes commentary from film historian Alan K. Rode (author of “Charles
McGraw: Film Noir Tough Guy” and the author of the blog site, “One Way Street;”
aka: alankrode.com), who is joined by Robert Ryan’s daughter, Lisa Ryan.
Other nuggets include both 3D and 2D
presentations of the film, the original theatrical trailer and the
newly-prepared featurette titled, “A New Dimension of Noir: Filming Inferno in
3D.” Pre-orders — on a first come,
first serve basis — begin on May 3.
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