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Released by: HD Cinema Classics
Released on: May 29, 2012.
Director: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas
Year: 1946
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The Movie:
The latest public domain noir to come from HD Cinema Classics is Lewis Milestone's 1946 film The Strange Loves Of Martha Ivers, a film that's been packaged and repackaged plenty of times over the years and which is fairly well known for featuring a young Kirk Douglas in a prominent role.
The story follows the titular woman (played by the lovely Barbara Stanwyck), who we meet as young girl where we learn she was raised by her rather unfriendly aunt (Judith Anderson). The victim of a ridiculously strict and sometimes even cruel upbringing, she eventually kills her aunt by sending her careening down a staircase after she attacked young Martha's pet kitten. Martha's two friends, young boys Sam and Walter, witness the death.
This winds up putting Martha into some money as she inherits a steel mill which does quite well for her and she eventually marries Walter (Kirk Douglas), now the local district attorney, at the behest of his father who knows about Martha's past. Sam (Van Heflin) shows up in town, someone the couple hasn't seen since the night of the murder, and both Martha and Walter assume he's come back with the intention of blackmailing them. Walter is also suspicious that Sam's presence poses a threat to his relationship with Martha, though Sam has eyes for Toni Marachek (Lizabeth Scott), a pretty jailbird just sprung from the big house.
A decent potboiler, The Strange Loves Of Martha Ives is a little on the predictable side but well acted by a strong cast. The film's music is a little overdone in spots and winds up pushing certain scenes headlong into melodrama territory but overall the film succeeds even if it isn't as well shot or as tense as other similar films made around the same time. The story is decent, if familiar, and the movie is paced well. Again though, it's the acting that will draw you to this one more than anything else. Stanwyck is fetching in the lead and quite good here, her strained relationship with Douglas as high point in the film and the source of some good on screen chemistry between the two. Van Heflin is decent as Sam, while Lizabeth Scott is truly beautiful as Toni, making it all the more forgivable that her character doesn't have as much to do as the other three. The characters are well thought out, well written and well acted by all involved.
It's interesting to see Douglas cast here in his feature debut against the type of character he'd become known for. Here he is weak, fairly unlikable and not particularly charismatic - rarely qualities you'd associate with him after he became known for roles like Spartacus. He handles the part well, however, here he plays quite a pitiful character, desperately in love with the wife he knows never wanted to be with him in the first place. All in all it's a good movie with some solid tension and one worth seeing for fans of the era's thrillers.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Strange Loves Of Martha Ivers arrives on Blu-ray in a restored AVC encoded 1.33.1 fullframe transfer which definitely beats previous DVD releases but which suffers from constant and obvious digital noise reduction - though not quite to the same extent that some past HD Cinema Classics titles have. Most of the grain has been scrubbed out of the picture and with it some detail but we do see an improvement over what DVD offered. Print damage has been greatly reduced and contrast doesn't look bad but the DNR does bring things down a notch. Black levels aren't perfect but again are a improvement over DVD releases and the image is definitely more stable.
The Dolby Digital mix on the disc is okay for what it is. Some minor hiss is present and periodically things sound a little bit flat but the track is, for the most part, well balanced and plenty easy to follow. Some distortion creeps in here and there and it can be a little distracting but for an older low budget public domain film that has never really been given an 'awesome' home video release, this'll do. No lossless audio option is provided though some optional Spanish subtitles have been included.
The main extra is a commentary track that is delivered by William Hare that, like his track on The Red House released earlier this year, isn't all that exciting. He knows his stuff and offers up some facts and trivia about the film but there are lags and pacing issues here. Aside from that, Film Chest have cut a new trailer for the feature that clocks in at just over a minute and provided a before and after restoration demo that also clocks in at just over a minute. Menus and chapter stops are included and as this is a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack release, a standard definition copy is included on a second disc. There's also a postcard that replicates the cover art tucked away inside the keepcase.
The Final Word:
A solid thriller made with a very capable cast, The Strange Loves Of Martha Ivers is bound to be a welcome addition to the Blu-ray library of any noir fan, though that comes with the caveat that the transfer isn't what most of us had hoped it would be. Definitely a movie worth seeing, however.
Click on the images below for full size Blu-ray screen caps!
