Where the Sidewalk Ends

Otto Preminger's masterful 1950 noir "Where the Sidewalk Ends" joins the Twilight Time catalogue of limited-release titles, with only 3,000 copies produced.

Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney, the stars of Preminger's 1944 classic "Laura," pair up once again under Preminger's direction in the tale of a police detective, Mark Dixon (Andrews) whose heavy-handed, hot-headed style of law enforcement has landed him in hot water with the NYPD and earned him a demotion in rank. No sooner has this misfortune befallen him than he has a run-in with a petty criminal; in the scuffle, Dixon accidentally kills the goon, who -- as it turns out -- is a World War II veteran of some distinction down gone bad in peacetime, but still a war hero all the same.

The stiff's estranged wife is Morgan (Tierney), a tough-minded woman whose working-class father Jiggs (Tom Tully) is accused of the killing by Dixon's more successful colleague, a clean-cut, by-the-book cop named Lt. Thomas (Karl Maldern, in his first film role). When Dixon starts having feelings for Morgan -- and realizes those feelings are reciprocated -- he becomes determined to save Jiggs from the joint, even if he has to confess to the crime and sacrifice himself. But Dixon would much rather pin it on a mobster he's long been trying, without success, to nail: A smooth character named Scalise (Gary Merrill), a crime boss who may be ruthless but who is also smart enough to see into the festering recesses of Dixon's soul and see the big picture: What's really eating Dixon isn't that he killed Morgan's abusive husband. It's that Dixon's father was also a gangland figure, and Dixon has spent his life trying to repudiate his own criminal bloodline.

The film is a mix of simplistic social attitudes (criminality is a matter of lineage; good girls like bad boys) and complex psychological execution. The film reveals layer after layer of plot, character, and motivation by slow degrees, so that the film seems to unfold like cinematic origami. Andrews smoulders in the role of the tormented Dixon, while Tierney does a lovely job as the outwardly durable, but deeply shattered, Morgan. Merrill, meanwhile, brings his smart, and oddly delicate, gangster, Scalise, to life, making him the dark yang to Dixon's conscience-stricken yin.

The Blu-ray offers a luminous, practically flawless transfer that makes the most of Joseph LaShelle's cinematography. The Blu-ray release offers Cyril Mockridge's score as an isolated track, and also gives film historian Eddie Muller an audio track of his own. The original theatrical trailer is included, too -- a treat for anyone who likes old-style previews, as well as a chance to compare the blurry film stock against this pristine, hi-def 1080 pixel transfer.

An essay by Twilight Time house liner notes writer Julie Kirgo is part of the deal, too, and it may be the best of this release's slate of extras. Kirgo examines how Andrews' alcoholism and Tierney's mental and emotional state made the stars perfect for their roles, and suggests that Preminger not only chose them accordingly but also that he used their respective states of mind to shape their performances in a pitiless, though effective, manner.

Is this a worthy addition to your film library? Buddy, it's essential.

"Where the Sidewalk Ends"
Blu-ray
$29.95
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm/ID/30905/WHERE-THE-SIDEWALK-ENDS-1950