The bone-deep disillusionment of postwar film noir becomes a powerful vehicle to explore America's racial injustices in Carl Franklin's richly atmospheric Devil in a Blue Dress, an adaptation of the hard-boiled novel by Walter Mosley. Denzel Washington has charisma to burn as the jobless ex-GI Easy Rawlins, who sees a chance to make some quick cash when he's recruited to find the missing lover (Jennifer Beals) of a wealthy mayoral candidate in late-1940s Los Angeles—only to find himself embroiled in murder, political intrigue, and a scandal that crosses the treacherous color lines of a segregated society. Featuring breakout work by Don Cheadle as Rawlins's cheerfully trigger-happy sidekick, this stylish mystery both channels and subverts classic noir tropes as it exposes the bitter racial realities underlying the American dream.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Carl Franklin, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
• In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
• Audio commentary featuring Franklin
• New conversation between Franklin and actor Don Cheadle
• New conversation between Walter Mosley, author of the novel on which the film is based, and novelist and screenwriter Attica Locke
• On-stage conversation between Franklin and film historian Eddie Muller, recorded at the 2018 Noir City Film Festival in Chicago
• Screen test for Cheadle
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by critic Julian Kimble
Worth noting that this seems to include all the extras (sans booklet) of Indicator's release plus two new conversational features. It's often tough to top Indicator in the extras dept, a smart move on Criterion's end (though this was surely one of their more barebones titles to start with)
Really wish someone nowadays would take another look at this particular property as a series of movies rather than the TV series it’s currently being planned as. The Easy Rawlins books are great: fantastic milieu and cast of characters.
therewillbeblus wrote: Tue Apr 19, 2022 7:37 pm
Worth noting that this seems to include all the extras (sans booklet) of Indicator's release plus two new conversational features. It's often tough to top Indicator in the extras dept, a smart move on Criterion's end (though this was surely one of their more barebones titles to start with)
So the Criterion release is missing an ~90 second introduction by Carl Franklin to Don Cheadle's screen test that was present on both Twilight Time & Indicator Blu-rays (and presumably the original DVD release).
Also, the Criterion & Indicator use different edits of the raw material for the "On-stage conversation between Franklin and film historian Eddie Muller, recorded at the 2018 Noir City Film Festival in Chicago". The Criterion video runs 3 minutes longer, but it's not that simple. Criterion includes around 11 minutes of Q&A from the audience, after Franklin & Muller converse; none of this audience Q&A is included on the Indicator release. On the other hand, Criterion has eliminated material throughout the introduction and conversation; a lot of this reduces gaps or stutters/repetitions from the participants, but there are also anecdotes missing, for instance some about Elmer Bernstein or Denzel Washington. Criterion also inserted a couple more film clips during this part, so Indicator has somewhere around maybe 6-8 minutes of material not on the Criterion.
Hmm interesting- and thanks for the thread bump. I didn't like this much the first time I saw it, but revisiting it on Criterion's UHD the other week was just terrific (and not only because the film looks so good on the format).
The neo-noir elements don't reinvent the wheel, but it's a supremely entertaining and colorful genre entry, that keeps narrative pivots moving at an urgent pace while reflexively imbuing the actual energy levels of our protagonist into the film's tonal rhythm. This is established and reinforced thematically and methodologically throughout the film, transmitted in peaks and valleys centered around the focal point of Denzel's temperament and response patterns, mainly rooted in the leisurely spirit he's needed to adopt to subdue acute investment in order to secure his protective place within his social context. That doesn’t mean that Denzel has no passion- he does- but he gravitates back to this state after each bout of vibrant advocacy and risky act of agency. Franklin's revolving door of amplified stakes and shrugging off of self-seriousness matches the principal's black experience in a white world, soured by the pervasive racism and conditioned expectations for a predictably unpredictable immorality that's dangerously aimed at the target on your back, if not looking over your shoulder for even an instant.
Its vivid colors and art direction mirrors the exciting spaces outcasts can occupy in the crevices of society's margins, which is both liberatingly affirming and tragically imprisoning. The way the film is written doesn't just adapt noir conventions to racist conditions or vice versa, but details a milieu impregnated with complex racism that spreads like a disease into all social hierarchies -issuing different consequences, but all rooted in the same kind of fixed intolerance. The fatalism here is more philosophically-annihilating than it appears to be, as we're not only playing with socially constructed racism but the self-constructed blanket barriers we cannot see past when race enters the equation as a barrier, though undiagnosed as one. It's a stove no one will touch, not even theoretically; a problem no one is willing to see as a "problem" because that would indicate it's solvable in a bootstraps nation of individualistic-absolutist responsibility-bearing. Instead, this 'problem' is just... an impenetrable obstacle no one wants to look at or go near because it's insurmountability is inherent to its collectively schematic definition.
When a certain lover expresses his love as mutually exclusive from his decision to not pursue that love, the most tragic element is not that this happens to the person he scorns, but that we can tell he means this distinction according to his reality. He has no conceptualization of the tragedy she's experiencing and that he is not, as it's only a tragedy if there's a relationship, a choice made, a sacrifice. He sees no sacrifice, because there's not even the option of sacrifice with this kind of subject. I'd say it's delusional, but Franklin and Denzel's face in that scene- respectfully ambiguously- refuse to diagnose it as an objective falsehood. It's the internal logic of this social context that everyone knows and understands, and so Denzel doesn't necessarily categorize a sad delusion, but a man speaking his truth, and maybe just... truth. Maybe the naive party within this vacuum is the one who dreams that change is possible in an area that's never even entertained change. What’s tragic about this is only tragic to her and us the audience, given our respective contexts, but an even deeper tragedy is that we are aligned with the most alien character who isn’t even speaking the same language of interpersonal relations as anyone else in the film.
It's a brutal layered revelation but one that is saying a whole lot more than its surface suggests, and so Denzel's deviated focus back to the money isn't a traditional moral compromise in the face of adjusted expectations, but being on the same page as his oppressors regarding the rules of the game. It's noteworthy that Denzel only provokes answers from these various parties (opportunistic in getting power where he can while he can, which is totally appropriate given his social standing) before he knows the nature of what he's playing with in his job. Once race becomes a part of things beyond just the self, he doesn't push back anymore. That's not a reaction of fear or perhaps not even internalized pathos, but acknowledgment of the truth that reigns and his inability to do anything about what 'is'.
Cheadle is great of course, but everyone holds their own here. I love how the characters are all so well-drawn, even if they're underdeveloped on the page. Everyone carries an air of impenetrability that can mask as innocence, and even be empathized with as such. A great example is the bar-owner friend, who you wonder about on a level of guilt even after we discover factual information related to his role. But this kind of categorization is unfairly approaching people in black-and-white terms pertaining to their morality or responsibility, when regardless of what they've done (backstabbed, lied, cheated), that doesn't necessitate malicious intent or define their character. They're all just coexisting and reacting in this dog-eat-dog world, so the people who don't cheat, lie, or backstab like Cheadle, are actually the most dangerous people of all in terms of his thinking patterns’ relationship to behavior- calculated harm rationalized segregated from and beyond any recognizable humanity that binds the other characters together at a base level. Almost everyone else manipulates, and yet most of them are good, well-intentioned, ignorant, lonely, passionate, and all the shades of being that make one a relatable human being- including the key imperfections that cement their fates.
PfR73 wrote: Thu Jul 28, 2022 8:32 pm
So the Criterion release is missing an ~90 second introduction by Carl Franklin to Don Cheadle's screen test that was present on both Twilight Time & Indicator Blu-rays (and presumably the original DVD release).
Also, the Criterion & Indicator use different edits of the raw material for the "On-stage conversation between Franklin and film historian Eddie Muller, recorded at the 2018 Noir City Film Festival in Chicago". The Criterion video runs 3 minutes longer, but it's not that simple. Criterion includes around 11 minutes of Q&A from the audience, after Franklin & Muller converse; none of this audience Q&A is included on the Indicator release. On the other hand, Criterion has eliminated material throughout the introduction and conversation; a lot of this reduces gaps or stutters/repetitions from the participants, but there are also anecdotes missing, for instance some about Elmer Bernstein or Denzel Washington. Criterion also inserted a couple more film clips during this part, so Indicator has somewhere around maybe 6-8 minutes of material not on the Criterion.
Yes, I figured Criterion would just reuse the piece Indicator had already edited so was surprised it was different. I had to base things off of my previous notes but the Indicator one features more discussion around One False Move, which only gets a mention or two here. Didn't Kino say they were no longer releasing that one? I was hoping Criterion might have been saving that material for an edition of that film. [-o<
therewillbeblus wrote: Tue Apr 19, 2022 7:37 pm
Worth noting that this seems to include all the extras (sans booklet) of Indicator's release plus two new conversational features. It's often tough to top Indicator in the extras dept, a smart move on Criterion's end (though this was surely one of their more barebones titles to start with)
So the Criterion release is missing an ~90 second introduction by Carl Franklin to Don Cheadle's screen test that was present on both Twilight Time & Indicator Blu-rays (and presumably the original DVD release).
Any word from Criterion on the missing 90-second Carl Franklin intro? I emailed Mulvaney on Thursday, and no response yet. Hoping it is something they will fix.
I wouldn't be surprised if they purposely cut it (maybe at Franklin's request) because there isn't much there worth saving and he delivers it in a stilted manner. He just mentions how great the performances are (no detail outside that) and how Cheadle was singled out by critics. That's it. Cheadle and Franklin have a far more engaging discussion about the performances (including his) in the interview anyways. The only noteworthy thing is he mentions the voices in the background are his and Washington's.
I did get a detailed reply from Criterion today on the supplement edits.
Thank you for your interest in potentially picking up our recent release of DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS.
You are correct that the changes you noted within the supplements were intentional, and not an error. For the most detailed explanation, I reached out to the Criterion producer who worked on this release, who shared the following:
The 90 second intro to the Don Cheadle screen test was not included as we shot a new lengthy conversation with Carl Franklin and Cheadle and they discuss Cheadle's casting in great detail. It's discussed in the commentary track as well. That previous intro was a scripted piece that basically just set up the screentest and covers similar ground in a less detailed way.
As for the Noir City Film Festival edit - we were supplied with the raw footage and tightened it up and added clips and stills to create a really fun cohesive piece, keeping in mind what is covered elsewhere on the release. The edit on the UK Blu Ray IS slightly different content-wise but belongs to the UK home video company. We made some different editorial choices but feel this edit included the best and most unique material and complements the other supplements.
I hope this is illuminating but let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. Best,
Jon M
