Review: Phil Karlson’s Film Noir ‘99 River Street’ on KL Studio Classics Blu-ray

Phil Karlson’s 99 River Street is, along with Kansas City Confidential, an exemplar of the director’s brutal, cynical, economical approach to noir. We first meet boxer Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) in the middle of a heavyweight title fight, in which his potential victory is hijacked by a knockdown that leaves him bleeding from a huge cut above his eye. Only then is it slyly revealed that the fight is a replay on TV, which Driscoll has been poring over, as if trying to grasp the opportunity that escaped him four years earlier, while his bitter, disapproving wife, Pauline (Peggy Castle), snaps at him to finish his dinner.

It’s clear that Ernie hasn’t recovered from that career-ending knockout, but he still figures on getting himself a gas station one day, or maybe he’ll knock Pauline up, using a box of chocolates as bait—advice from his former trainer and current boss at the cab company, Stan (Frank Faylen), that quickly backfires. To say Ernie is down on his luck is more than an understatement. Even his friend Linda (Evelyn Keyes) makes a sap of him with a poorly timed prank, using him as an unwitting step stool to get to her personal Mount Olympus—a leading role on Broadway—further bruising his ego as his own dreams of athletic triumph and marital bliss lie shattered before him.

Ernie seemingly hits rock bottom after becoming unwittingly mixed up with a group of jewel thieves and later getting a murder pinned on him, only to eventually land in a place beyond rock bottom. He’s a punching bag not only for friends and foes, but for the cruel twists of fate that tend to befall the down and out, or, in the world of noir, wounded men caught in the orbits of ambitious women. But Ernie’s a fighter and, typical of Karlson’s films, he takes none of this sitting down, always picking himself up to return a knock on the chin twice as hard.

99 River Street is packed with a surprising amount of twists and turns, with sleazebags, scammers, and schemes coming at the audience as fluidly and forcefully as a boxing champ’s signature combo. Each new roughneck is as hardened and cynical as the last, befitting a world driven by deception, betrayal, and abject violence. That the film ends on an unexpectedly upbeat note feels distinctly like studio interference, but for as rotten as everyone and everything is in this sleazy little gem, perhaps a dash of hope for humanity isn’t the worst way to end things.

Image/Sound

An upgrade from Kino Lorber’s 2016 Blu-ray release of the film, this new edition uses a dual-layer disc, ensuring a greater level of detail to the image. Aside from a few instances of flickering that occur in some close-ups, this is a near-flawless presentation. Blacks are deep and inky, grain is tight and evenly distributed, and every bead of sweat and drop of blood is captured in impeccable detail. The audio is equally solid, with clean dialogue and a fullness to the mix, especially in the boxing scene early on and the various fistfights that follow.

Extras

The Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller, delivers a typically entertaining and well-researched commentary track, celebrating the joys of 99 River Street’s overheated screenplay and breaking down the noir tropes that the film employs and upends. He does a wonderful job covering Phil Karlson’s career, filling out his time with more personal stories about the boxing expertise that he accumulated thanks to his father, a journalist who covered the sport, and his friendship with actress Evelyn Keyes. It’s a fun listen, with enough meat on its bones to satisfy casual and diehard noir fans alike. There’s nothing else on the disc aside from a few trailers.

Overall

Phil Karlson’s doom-laden noir looks as gorgeous as the film is nasty on Kino’s new Blu-ray.