Product Details

• Actors: Robert Cummings, Richard Basehart, Richard Hart, Arlene Dahl, Arnold Moss
• Directors: Anthony Mann
• Writers: Philip Yordan, Æneas MacKenzie
• Producers: Edward Lasker, Walter Wanger, William Cameron Menzies
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Alpha Video
• DVD Release Date: November 18, 2003
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000D1FG4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,579 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Black Book" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One of Mann's best films: one of the very worst DVDs ever, February 19, 2004

By 

Trevor Willsmer (London, England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Black Book (DVD)

Reign of Terror, or The Black Book, is one of the great Anthony Mann's very best pictures - a nightmarish tale of the French Revolution shot in the style of a film noir expressionistic nightmare with superlative production design from William Cameron Menzies. But I'm loathe to say any more that might encourage you to buy this disc simply because this is without doubt the very worst DVD I have ever seen - the poor contrast and appalling definition ruining John Alton's brilliant cinematography, while the variable transfer speed makes slurs of many of the witticisms. This is a neglected masterpiece crying out for the kind of treatment that MPI have given the Sherlock Holmes films, but whatever you do, don't make the mistake of thinking this terrible transfer from Alpha/Gotham is worth the low price - it isn't, and that's a real crime against cinema.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great movie, VERY bad DVD, January 21, 2004

By 

Montjovent Pascal (Geneva, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Black Book (DVD)

This movie is a gem, but to view it in these poor conditions (the frame is off-center, the blacks are light grey and the pictures fuzzy) is really an offense to the original material. Don't be fooled by the low price. Even if it was free I would still hesitate.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Butchered Print of a Great Film is a Disgrace!, August 18, 2008

By 

Steven Baker (Dallas, TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Book (DVD)

This is a comment on the Synergy Entertainment release of Anthony Mann's "The Black Book" (AKA "Reign of Terror"). This splendid film just can't get any respect on DVD! The running time of this version is 75 minutes, making it 14 minutes shorter than the version on Alpha Video! Critical scenes are missing, with Synergy imposing its own fade outs on entire sections. Even the previous reviewer who called this version "passable," noted the gaps in continuity. Visually, the print is much softer than Alpha's, with many jumps and splices, with much more of the picture area cropped off, and it goes in and out of focus. I previously thought that the Alpha release was the worst transfer of a movie I had ever seen, but this travesty put out by Synergy is a total disgrace, and should be avoided at all costs!