Brute Force CRITERION 1948 DIR-JulesDassin BurtLancaster DVD5

BRUTE FORCE - Criterion DVD5



For this DVDrip, the 16-minute documentary is compressed as much as possible, meaning it's only 2 fps. However, since it's all "talking heads" anyways, the information and even the visuals are intact. In addition, the "Color Bars" have been compressed to black screen.



As regards the movie itself, it's at about 80% compression, and the very informative commentary track featuring film-noir authors Alain Silver and James Ursini is included.



This is how I rip DVDs for myself, and I hope it suits at least some of you. Besides, the MOVIE is what counts, right? ;)



IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039224/
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User Rating: 7.8



Director: Jules Dassin

Writers: Richard Brooks (screenplay)

Robert Patterson (story)

Release Date: 30 June 1947 (USA)

Genre: Film-Noir | Drama

Run Time: 98 min



Cast:

Burt Lancaster ... Joe Collins

Hume Cronyn ... Capt. Munsey

Charles Bickford ... Gallagher

Yvonne De Carlo ... Gina Ferrara

Ann Blyth ... Ruth

Ella Raines ... Cora Lister

Anita Colby ... Flossie

Sam Levene ... Louie Miller #7033

Jeff Corey ... 'Freshman' Stack

John Hoyt ... Spencer

Jack Overman ... Kid Coy

Roman Bohnen ... Warden A.J. Barnes

Sir Lancelot ... Calypso

Vince Barnett ... Muggsy

Jay C. Flippen ... Hodges (guard)



IMDB User Review:

"Nobody Can Ever Escape From Prison"

In the Westgate Penitentiary, Warden A. J. Barden (Roman Bohnen) is a weak man, and the institution is actually ruled by the ambitious and sadistic Captain Munsey (Hume Cronyon), who uses violence, fear, and treachery to control the prisoners. Captain Munsey provokes the suicide of Tom Lister (Whit Bissell), an inmate of cell R17, where Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) holds sway. Munsey revokes their privileges, and rest of the inmates of cell R-17 are sent to hard and disgusting work in the drain pipe. Joe uses a (formerly) successful war strategy in trying to escape, attacking the tower of the penitentiary from the outside with his men, and from inside with the team led by Gallagher (Charles Bickford). However, the plan fails, ending in bloodshed.



Sixty years after the original release date, "Brute Force" is still a great prison movie. The story is very well constructed, with flashbacks showing the former free lives of three inmates with their women. The violence is not explicitly disclosed like in the present day, but the cruelty of Captain Munsey can be understood even by the most naive viewer. The direction of Jules Dassin is outstanding with many memorable scenes. Yvonne De Carlo has a minor but strong role.



The Hayes Office (the studios' self-censoring body) insisted on the tacked-on moralistic message at the end of the movie. Here, Dr. Walters (Alt Smith) says that nobody can escape from penitentiaries. Yet despite this attempt to appease narrow-minded critics, it's clear that this movie decries the real "brute force," which is not that of the prisoners, but rather that of sadistic guards such as Captain Munsey and dehumanizing institutions and systems such as the prison and the justice system in general.





IMO, This isn't so much a prison movie as a movie about the human condition. Lancaster shows his range rather better than in some earlier films, and Hume Cronyn is evil incarnate. I would add that this film is very existential in its outlook, reflecting both the savage freedom and fatalism of this philosophy. In this way it anticipated Sartre and other extentialists, who were not yet in the avant garde of social and political and even artistic thought in 1947. I think I'd call my review "Nobody Can Ever Escapt From LIFE" rather than "Prison" as the IMDB reviewer states.



This film makes me think of The Myth of Sisyphus... here's a link to that story:

http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/sisyphus.html
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Enjoy and please seed when you have finished your download. :)