Tonight's Movie: Chicago Deadline (1949) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

The very enjoyable crime film CHICAGO DEADLINE (1949) has just been released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber in the Dark Side of Cinema XVI collection.

This release is a real treat as although I had the pleasure of seeing this movie at the 2017 Noir City Film Festival and the 2018 Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival, to my understanding it has never had a VHS or DVD release.

Alan Ladd fans will thoroughly enjoy watching him as enterprising reporter Ed Adams. Ed becomes intrigued with the story of a young woman named Rosita (Donna Reed) who's been found dead in a fleabag hotel.

Ed begins investigating Rosita's background with the help of an address book found in her room, and when he starts dialing numbers he's met with fear and outright hostility by several people, including prominent Chicago businessmen and gangsters.

Ed pieces together more of Rosita's life with the help of her brother (Arthur Kennedy) and former roommate (June Havoc), which puts his life in danger...

Ladd and Reed, who costarred previously in BEYOND GLORY (1948), don't share any scenes, as Reed is only seen in flashbacks. Reed is underused, with some of her story -- especially the breakdown of her marriage -- not being fully fleshed out despite being the woman around whom the story revolves.

That said, it's a very interesting film with Ladd front and center for most of the movie. He's by turns sarcastic, gutsy, savvy, and a softy and is great fun to watch at every turn. Anyone who is a Ladd fan, which definitely includes me, should find this an enjoyable 86 minutes.

The excellent supporting cast also includes John Beal, Tom Powers, Shepherd Strudwick, Irene Hervey, Berry Kroeger, Gavin Muir, Harry Antrim, Roy Roberts, Arthur Space, Marie Blake, Phyllis Kennedy, and Marietta Canty.

Sally Field's mother, Margaret, appears as a younger girl named Minerva in the opening sequence. Look for Kasey Rogers (Louise Tate on BEWITCHED) in a brief appearance in an amusing party scene.

Lewis Allen (THE UNINVITED) directed, with black and white filming by John F. Seitz. The screenplay by Warren Duff was based on the novel ONE WOMAN by Tiffany Thayer.

The excellent Blu-ray print is from a 2K scan of the 35mm fine grains. Extras consist of the trailer, which was newly mastered in 2K; a gallery of seven trailers; and a commentary track by Alan K. Rode of the Film Noir Foundation. His tracks are always excellent.

The other films in this set are MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET (1942), reviewed here, and IRON MAN (1951), which I'll be reviewing in the future. Both the set and CHICAGO DEADLINE are recommended.

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

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