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DVDfever.co.uk – Compulsion DVD reviewDom Robinson reviews
Second Sight
DVD: 
- Cert:
- Running time: 99 minutes
- Year: 1959
- Cat no: 2NDVD3183
- Released: September 2010
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 20
- Sound: Dolby Surround (DD2.0)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD9
- Price: £15.99 (DVD)
- Extras: None
Director:
- Richard Fleischer
(10 Rillington Place, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Amityville 3D, Ashanti, The Boston Strangler, Compulsion, Conan the Destroyer, Doctor Dolittle, The Jazz Singer, Mr Majestyk, Red Sonja, Soylent Green, Tora! Tora! Tora!)
Producers:
- Richard D. Zanuck
Screenplay:
- Richard Murphy
(based on the novel by Meyer Levin)
Music:
- Lionel Newman
Cast :
- Judd Steiner: Dean Stockwell
Artie Strauss: Bradford Dillman
Jonathan Wilk: Orson Welles
Ruth Evans: Diane Varsi
District Attorney Harold Horn: E.G. Marshall
Sid Brooks: Martin Milner
Max Steiner: Richard Anderson
Police Lt Simon: Robert Simon
I first saw Compulsion back in 1992 at a time when the BBC would, on occasion,show a Cinemascope film in its correct ratio. Something they only started doing again very recently.
It was a masterpiece of cinema back then, and it remains so to this day. The difference between then and now is thatthen I was watching it on video on a 14″ portable TV, and now on DVD, upscaled on a Blu-ray player, to a 37″ PlasmaTV.
As the film begins, in Chicago, 1924, we see wealthy law students Artie Straus (Bradford Dillman) and Judd Steiner (Dean Stockwell) steal money and a typewriter from a house, then take the evening one step further by driving at, and almost killing,a drunk in the road. Judd’s scared at Artie’s insistence to do what they’ve done, but he’s easily led by his cockyfriend and will stop at just about nothing to impress him. But how far will he go? As they discuss taking thingsfurther, it’s clear that Judd gets to love taking things dangerously too.
Fellow law student and friend, Sid (Martin Milner), who is also a newspaper reporter, gets to investigate themurder of a young teenager, Paulie Kessler. Not only does the coroner tell him that the lad was hit over the head,rather than drowned as he was led to believe so the corpse could be dumped on his department, but Sid also spots a pairof glasses with the body. Glasses that don’t fit. Who could they belong to?
Well, given that the whole thing ends up in a court case and is based on the real-life event where Nathan Leopold, Jr.and Richard Loeb were Chicago students who killed a 14-year-old boy, it’s hardly a spoiler to say that they must belongto at least one of them.
Both Dillman and Stockwell pull off maniacal brilliantly, the former as the cool and calculated one, and the laterplaying it nervous and edgy, coming into his own when he tries to take charge of any given situation but will inevitablyend up completely out of his depth.
The film also won a collective award for Best Actor from Cannes for Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman and Orson Welleswho, as famous defence lawyer Jonathan Wilk, is good, but I think he’s overrated in this film and isn’t a patch on theother two. However, as he mumbles through his section of the film, appearing for the first time from just over an hourinto proceedings, Welles’ character does do a nice line in sarcasm. His character was also based on the real-life famouslawyer, Clarence Darrow, who took on the original case.
One thing that’s particularly clever about Compulsion is that it does away with convention – you don’t actuallysee the murder for which they’re accused. That allows your imagination to bring more to the table than the film itselfcan, and also allows the film to get away with a 12-certificate, since you’re left with a marvellous string of scenesfrom the two youngsters and Welles getting a number of chances to subtly steal a few scenes.
As an aside, Orson Welles, despite the notable handicap of having died 25 years ago, will take the role of Narrator inNovember 2011’sChristmas Tails, in which a recording ofOrson Welles reading the book will be used to create his narration, the basic premise being what would happen ifSanta’s reindeer became ill one year and Santa had no one to pull his sleigh?
You can also find out more about theLeopold and Loeb case on this link.
Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic theatrical ratio, the transfer is gorgeous and sharply-detailed with fulland wonderful use made of the entire Cinemascope image, with some very neat and subtle visual touches at times.For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 37″ Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
Audio-wise, this film was made with a 4-Track Stereo soundtrack and brings across the dialogue perfectly with a nicelittle ambience.
Sadly, there are zero extras on this disc.
The menu shows a static image of the cover art with the theme from the film on a loop and some clips from the filmmerged into the background. There are no subtitles, which is inexcusable – particularly when there are workmen in astreet scene around 30 minutes in and you can’t hear what’s actually been said by the actors.There are, however, 20 chapters which is a decent amount.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
ZeroOVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.