Sweet Smell of Success: Blu-ray (1957)

I've been sitting on this review for over a week now trying to find a way to convey how great the Sweet Smell of Success is. I finally decided that the best way is to just keep this short and let the film speak for itself. It's a fantastic tale of morality and power and the things that can happen when you sacrifice the former for the latter.

Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) is a press agent who has had his clients blacklisted in ultra-powerful J.J. Hunsecker's (Burt Lancaster) newspaper column. Hunsecker's sister (Susan Harrison) is dating a musician (Martin Milner) that Hunsecker thinks is beneath her and Falco is put in charge of breaking them up. Until he does so, Hunsecker will not talk about Falco's clients which is a serious financial drain in the the ultra competitive New York scene.

Sweet Smell of Success is largely known for it's rapid fire dialogue and for good reason. It's snappy, inventive, stylized and a whole lot of fun to listen to. Curtis was known for exclusively playing easy nice guy roles and Sidney Falco is not a nice guy. In fact there is hardly a nice guy to be found in Sweet Smell of Success. Falco is conniving and willing to do almost anything for money. Hunsecker is portrayed as the evil overlord of New York, willing to crush anyone who goes against him. The rapport between Curtis and Lancaster is phenomenal and the stuff of movie legend. Harrison and Milner manage to hold their own against the two heavyweights. Harrison is sweet and vulnerable but far from innocent and Milner is the voice reason and represents a moral center that everyone else lacks. Director Alexander Mackendrick shoots the movie in a effective noir style. The use of shadows and lighting is fantastic and the hustle and bustle of New York is fully captured From the busy streets to the jazz clubs of the 1950's, the city itself is an effective character.

As usual with Criterion titles, the film has gone through an extensive restoration process and the results are fantastic. Black levels are extremely important to Sweet Smell of Success and they are represented beautifully. They are deep when they need to be deep, gray when they need to be gray and there is no crushing anywhere to be seen. Detail is excellent as well. The ridges in Lancaster's face are apparent and while they may not be overly flattering to the actor, they add a lot to the character. The audio is presented in a straight mono track that is clean and always understandable. For a film that's almost entirely dialogue driven, that's a very good thing.

Sweet Snell if Success is a treat to watch and even just to listen to. Curtis and Lancaster are great, the visuals are only outdone by the dialogue and it's morality tale remains relevant to this day. My plans to keep this short fell apart while writing and I could have gone on for much longer, this film is that good. As with almost every Criterion disc ever released, the blu-ray is top of the line. If you've never seen Sweet Smell of Success there is no better time than now.

Ratings:

Movie: 5
Blu-ray: 4.5