Cheap Dead Reckoning (DVD) (Humphrey Bogart, Lizabeth Scott) (John Cromwell) Price

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Customer Reviews of Dead Reckoning

Gulf City noir not quite steamy enough
Lizabeth Scott, whose brief candle of a career flared all but exclusively in film noir, was obviously being groomed as the B-list Betty Bacall. Looks, hair, even the husky contralto are the same; was the pairing with Bogie supposed to complete the identification and capitalize on that team's success in The Big Sleep, etc.? John Cromwell, later to do such atmospheric work in Caged, dozed at the switch here. Bogart, not on best form, takes a stab at the disillusioned returning vet so prevalent in these post-war nightmares; he's tracking down a war buddy gone missing. Though the movie spills over with images and contrivances from this dark genre, most of them lack conviction. There's one eye-popping scene, so bad it verges on greatness, when Scott, as shantoozie Coral Chandler (aka Dusty, aka "Mike") starts singing a forgettable love song while seated at her nightclub table, spotlight and all. And Scott's character (she is, after all, the deadly female of the piece) betrays careless development -- as though two possible endings were under consideration -- making the film's denouement oddly unsatisfactory.

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With a name like Rip Murdoch how can you go wrong?
I watched this flick back to back with "The Maltese Falcon", and I must say, "Dead Reckoning" was MUCH more enjoyable. Outside of Bogey's inherent coolness, there wasn't much else in "The Maltese Falcon" to hold my interest. "Dead Reckoning" was much grittier, and I think, much more true to the essence of film noir. To top it off, you get lots of colorful banter and the sultry Lizabeth Scott!

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Dead Quality
It pains me to see quality classics destroyed by garbage studios such as Columbia Tristar. They release horrible reproductions of your favorite classics only to re-release them one year later as a special edition. Do you think if write Santa this Christmas I might be able to get a widescreen release of this film or one with a better picture. The pigs at Warner are infamous for crappy reproductions. Is it time to feed the pigs more money and buy this release? No way, get yourself a good DVD decryption program, rent this DVD, and copy it! Thank GOD for piracy, the studios have been ripping off the consumer for years and now it's time to fight back! Also download the lastest movie release's off your favorite newsgroup.It's time to send the studios a meesage. Hail Criterion for there restoration work on some of my favorite films. The films from Criterion are worth every penny you pay for them!