Tonight's Movie: Shakedown (1950) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

SHAKEDOWN (1950), the story of an amoral news photographer (Howard Duff), is being released on Blu-ray this week by Kino Lorber.

I really enjoyed this movie from Universal Pictures at the 2019 Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival and was happy to revisit it thanks to the new Blu-ray. The Blu-ray print is beautiful, and I'm delighted this film is now available for home viewing.

It was pointed out at the festival that SHAKEDOWN predates the much better known, similarly themed ACE IN THE HOLE (1951) by a year.

Howard Duff plays Jack Early, an ambitious man who'll stop at nothing to get the best, most lucrative photos. Jack's ability to be "just passing by" breaking news eventually starts ringing alarm bells for his colleagues at the paper (Bruce Bennett and Peggy Dow).

Part of the reason Jack gets great photos is he makes a financial deal with gangster Nick Palmer (Brian Donlevy), who gives him tips. Jack uses one such tip to blackmail Harry Colton (Lawrence Tierney), then he double-crosses Nick and conspires with Colton to get the biggest picture of them all.

This is an absorbing story on ethics and the news business, well played by an excellent cast. Duff is so fearless in playing a complete jerk that it could become hard to watch, but the fast 80-minute pace and the rest of the cast compensate for his annoying sleaziness, as he displays a complete lack of gratitude for the people who have helped him. When I saw the movie at the film festival, the audience actually applauded Jack's eventual comeuppance, which was quite fun.

Dow, Bennett, and even Donlevy are sympathetic as the people Jack uses on his way up, and Tierney is always a scary villain. The cast also includes Anne Vernon (TERROR ON A TRAIN and THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG) as Donlevy's wife, with small roles played by Rock Hudson, Peter Virgo, and Charles Sherlock.

This was the first film directed by Joseph Pevney, who made many enjoyable films; he also has a small uncredited role. The black and white photography was by Irving Glassberg. The script was written by Martin Goldsmith and Alfred Lewis Levitt, based on a story by Nat Dallinger and Don Martin.

Kino Lorber's great-looking Blu-ray is from a brand-new 2K master. Sound quality is also excellent.

Extras consist of a five-film Kino Lorber trailer gallery and a commentary track by Jason A. Ney.

For the sake of completeness I'll also mention that SHAKEDOWN has no relationship to the 2020 Kino Lorber release THE SHAKEDOWN (1929), directed by William Wyler. This 1950 film is not a remake; the movies simply have similar titles.

We've been really fortunate to have a number of "never on DVD" films released by Kino Lorber over the last couple years, including this one. I'm always excited to learn what they'll be working on releasing next!

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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