DVD resurrects Bogie’s 1951 thriller ‘Enforcer’

Humphrey Bogart turns in relatively subdued but effective work as a single-minded district attorney bent on busting a killer cabal loosely based on the real-life Murder, Inc., in 1951’s streamlined noir “The Enforcer,” new from Artisan Entertainment. It’s our…

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Director Bretaigne Windust and screenwriter Martin Rackin adopt a semi-documentary style, somewhat similar to the contemporaneous crime classics “Naked City” and “White Heat,” in tracking the deadly racket’s twisted trail of organized brutality. The film opens with Bogie’s only witness, top henchman Rico (Ted De Corsia), taking a fatal plunge, forcing our hero to return to square one to crack the case and nail kingpin Mendoza (Everett Sloane).

Though deservedly earning top billing, Bogie is off-screen much of the time here, with a top cast of supporting actors sharing the thespian load. Among the latter, Zero Mostel, as a frightened thug, and former B-Western star Bob Steele, as a ruthless contract assassin, especially shine in their brief but showy scenes.

While Artisan’s DVD arrives sans extras, save for the original theatrical trailer, the digitally remastered full-screen transfer looks and sounds terrific. “The Enforcer” rates as a must for Bogie buffs and noir fans in the market for lean, mean, no-nonsense suspense.

Artisan also introduces the 12-chapter serial Adventures of Captain Marvel from 1941, starring Tom Tyler as the storied superhero of comic-strip fame, along with a trio of 1950s military-themed dramas: Gary Cooper as the eponymous embattled officer in The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, Sterling Hayden in the World War II naval drama Flat Top and Marlon Brando as a crippled veteran in The Men. The discs are tagged at $14.98 each.

Collectors’ corner

And still on the subject of cinema classics, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment caters to vintage-film lovers with no fewer than four titles making their digital debuts this week. Cary Grant toplines in three showcases ($14.98 each): 1934’s Born to Be Bad, co-starring Loretta Young; the 1949 drag comedy I Was a Male War Bride, with Ann Sheridan; and 1951’s People Will Talk, featuring Jeanne Crain.

The 1946 Western My Darling Clementine ($19.98) marks the most elaborate of the label’s backdate slate. The DVD contains the complete director’s cut of John Ford’s vision of Wyatt Earp’s West, starring Henry Fonda as the legendary lawman, along with studio head Darryl Zanuck’s radical re-edit (the version seen in theaters).

Warner Home Video counters with its own quartet: Blake Edwards’ bleak but grippingly acted 1962 drama Days of Wine and Roses, with Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick as an alcoholic couple; John Garfield and Lana Turner in the steamy 1946 noir The Postman Always Rings Twice; the 1960 collegiate beach romp Where the Boys Are, starring Connie Francis and the ever-suave George Hamilton; and John Milius’ grandiose (if highly fictionalized) 1975 historical adventure The Wind and the Lion, starring Sean Connery, Candice Bergen, and Brian Keith as Theodore Roosevelt. The DVDs are priced at $19.98 each.

The ‘A’ list

Among those 2003 theatrical releases heading to vidstores, this week MGM Home Entertainment debuts director Carl Franklin’s thriller Out of Time, starring a dependably charismatic Denzel Washington as a Florida police chief in trouble with the law. MGM Home Entertainment sets a Jan. 20 date for the intense indie drama Manic ($27.98 each), with Don Cheadle as a psychiatrist.

Next week, Universal Studios presents French suspense specialist Francois Ozun’s latest aqueous mystery, Swimming Pool ($26.98), starring Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier, available in separate rated and unrated versions. Already in is the tube-to-screen adaptation S.W.A.T. (Columbia/TriStar, $28.95), starring overqualified thesps Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell. The titles are also available on VHS.

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