Brute Force

(1947) The title says it all in Jules Dassin's bare-knuckle prison thriller, one of the most brutal films about caged men ever made. Dassin's second film with producer Mark Hellinger (after the landmark "Naked City") stars Burt Lancaster as a cold, hard, weary career criminal behind bars who squares off against sadistic prison guard Captain Hume Cronyn, a menacing, dictatorial monster under Cronyn's soft features. With all hope of parole sabotaged by the vindictive Captain, the men escape through memories of the women outside (some of them as mercenary a collection of beauties you'll find in the annals of film noir) and their dream of a daring prison break through the hellhole work detail known as the drainpipe. The oppressive atmosphere of the prison, from the cavernous halls echoing with footsteps and clanking bars to the tiny, overcrowded cells to the claustrophobic courtyard hemmed in by guard towers, can be felt in every cramped, confined frame. The big house execution of a stool pigeon with blow torches and a thundering metal press is unforgettable and the climax is harrowing. Richard Brooks writes the sinewy script, Mark Hellinger produces, Charles Bickford, Sam Levene, Jeff Corey, and Howard Duff co-star as fellow inmates, and Yvonne De Carlo, Ann Blyth, and Ella Raines appear in flashbacks.

Film noir historians Alain Silver and James Ursini are old hands at commentary and they make a good verbal tag team. Well versed in the history and art of the film noir, they share their knowledge and observations with a conversational easiness, keeping it from getting too professorial. They are also fans, and their affection for the film keeps their talk engaging and animated yet focused. The beautifully mastered disc also features a video interview with Paul Mason (author of "Capturing the Media: Prison Discourse in Popular Culture") and a booklet featuring 1947 profile producer Mark Hellinger (from "The Saturday Evening Post") and a fascinating record of Hellinger's rather heated correspondence with Joseph Breen of the Production Code office.