suspense DVD and movie reviews and previews from curledupdvd.com - curled up with a good dvd
suspense DVD reviews and previews from curledupdvd.com - curled up with a good dvd
DVD reviews, previews and info - suspense
 
         
 
  action movies on DVD
  animation on DVD
  art house and international / foreign language films on DVD
  comedies on DVD
  documentaries on DVD
  dramas on DVD
  children's and family DVDs
  horror and sci-fi on DVD
  suspense on DVD
  television series on DVD
  Blu-ray DVD reviews
   
 
Google

   
   

Chicago Confidential - mystery and suspense DVD / crime drama DVD / film noir DVD review
CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America curledupdvd.com rating: 3 stars
Actors: Brian Keith, Beverly Garland, Dick Foran, Douglas Kennedy, Paul Langton
Director: Sidney Salkow   Studio: MGM
DVD release: 18 April 2011   Runtime: 73 minutes (1 disc)
Format: Black and white, NTSC, Widescreen, DVD-R
DVD features: Aspect ratio 1.85:1, Audio tracks (English - Mono)

Chicago Confidential is pretty standard fare for crime dramas. The cast is great, though, and the acting solid, so this "ripped from the headlines" story of corruption and crusaders for justice goes down pretty easily.

Based on a nonfiction book by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer, Brian Keith plays Jim Fremont, a state attorney determined to smack a little justice upside the heads of corrupt union officials. The writing is a little muddy here, as we are told (by a persistent and largely ineffectual narrator) that the prosecutor is a crusader for justice, but what we actually see is a ladder-climber motivated by ambition.

The story is pretty straightforward, drawing on mainstays of crime drama. The union mobsters - in cahoots with a gambling syndicate - want to pin a murder on Blane (Dick Foran), a union boss who won't play in the dirt with the rest of the gang. Fremont and his gal Laura (Beverly Garland) try to prove Blane's innocence and bring the real criminals to justice. Throw in a couple romantic twists and a plot setback or two, and you've got yourself a movie.

You may have seen it all before, but this is still a fun flick for lovers of the genre. Garland is looks great in a soup of otherwise mediocre photography and cliched framing while the bit part played by Elisha Cook Jr. as Candymouth Duggan is over-the-top fun.
 
  buy this DVD now or browse millions of other great products at amazon.com
 
 
   
 
   
reviewed by Brian Charles Clark
   
         
    action | animation | art house/international | comedy | documentary | drama | family | horror/sci-fi | suspense | television    
    browse DVDs alphabetical by title    
    contact | home