Unforgotten Crime (Affairs of Jimmy Valentine, The) (1942)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1942
Running Time	52:44
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Bernard Vorhaus
Studio Distributor	Republic Warner Vision	Starring	Dennis O'Keefe Ruth Terry Gloria Dickson Roman Bohnen George E. Stone Spencer Charters William B. Davidson Roscoe Ates Bobby Larson Joe Cunningham Harry Shannon Jed Prouty Patsy Lee Parsons
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	None Given

    Unforgotten Crime is based on a short story by the prolific O. Henry, whose writings have provided the basis for many films and TV series, notably The Cisco Kid. O. Henry's 1903 story A Retrieved Reformation was adapted for the stage by Paul Armstrong: a play that has been filmed on at least six occasions. A 1915 film called Alias Jimmy Valentine, part of the Region 1 DVD box set The Origins of Film (1900-1926), is the only other version of this story available on DVD at the time of writing.

    Jimmy Valentine was a real-life safecracker whom O. Henry met in prison whilst he was incarcerated for embezzlement. Years later, Henry wrote a fictional account of what happened to Valentine after his release from prison, and the events leading to his reformation. This 1942 version from Republic Pictures has very little to do with the original story, and is apparently a remake of a film called The Return of Jimmy Valentine.

    Mike Jason (Dennis O'Keefe) has devised a stunt where his radio programme is offering $10,000 for the whereabouts of one-time safecracker Jimmy Valentine, who has been missing for years. The search has been narrowed down to the town of Fernville, where Jason meets Bonnie Forbes (Ruth Terry), a young woman who wants to be a reporter for her father Tom (Roman Bohnen), editor of the local newspaper.

    The only clue is that Valentine has red hair. Jason suspects that Pinky (Harry Shannon) might be the cracksman. When Pinky is mysteriously murdered, Jason assumes that Valentine is the killer, and sets out to trap him. But all is not what it seems.

    Bernard Vorhaus brings some nice touches to the direction of Unforgotten Crime, and there is some interesting photography by John Alton. Some shots prefigure the film noir style that would evolve over the next few years. However, the film also has the look of being shot quickly on a low budget. The sets look cheap and a boom microphone can be seen reflected in a mirror in the upper portion of the screen for a few seconds from 6:08.

    With a pedestrian script and less than charismatic leading players, Unforgotten Crime has little to offer. Attempts at witty banter between Jason and his colleague Cleo Arden (Gloria Dickson) probably seemed forced and unfunny even to audiences of the time.

Video

    The film is presented in black and white with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, closely approximating the original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, and is, of course, not 16x9 enhanced. The image appears to have been cropped on the left hand side.

    The transfer is not very sharp. Most lines and edges are slightly blurred, though this may be a result of the poor print used for this transfer. The print itself is lacking in contrast, which has reduced the overall level of detail available. Shadow detail is therefore quite poor.

    The unrestored print used for this transfer shows virtually every film artefact known. Dirt, scratches, flecks, spots, blotches, reel change marks, splice marks, missing frames (mainly in the first 4 minutes) - you name it, it's there. It certainly does not compare with the quality achieved for DVDs of other films from the same era, for example Now, Voyager or The Maltese Falcon. There is considerable mosquito noise throughout the film. There is some aliasing, but given the overall video quality, this is not an issue. There is some evidence of mild edge enhancement from time to time, for example at 27:35.

    There is some intermittent telecine wobble throughout, though this is not particularly distracting. At 21:40 the film freezes for about a second. This is not a fault with the disc or player but is inherent in the transfer. This should have been easy to fix during the production process.

    The film is presented on a single-layered disc, so there is no layer change to worry about.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio on this disc is no better than the video, so at least it is consistent.

    There is a single English Dolby Digital two channel mono audio track.

    Audio is very poor, although dialogue is intelligible. There are the usual pops and crackles as might be expected from an unrestored film of this vintage. Hiss is constantly present, and the amount of wear and tear on the source material has reduced the dynamic range considerably.

    At the 27:45 mark, there is a loud pop and the audio quality deteriorates significantly, with the hiss reaching annoying levels. There is another loud pop at 43:48 and the audio returns to the earlier quality. This fault was undoubtedly present in the source material.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Oddly, there is no "Making Of..." documentary, or director's commentary, or indeed any extras of any type whatsoever, apart from a static main menu with no audio and a chapter selection menu. Given the abbreviated running time, there would have been sufficient room on the disc to include some extras, such as a trailer or even a short film. As it stands, this DVD gives very short measure.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

     This film does not appear to have been released on DVD in any other Region.

     This is a minor B-picture from 1942 that might be of interest to fans of O. Henry, but is of little worth for the general viewer, particularly given the short running time. Those interested in seeing the story of Jimmy Valentine on the screen should go for the silent version available in Region 1, which is a much better film with a better transfer, although it is only available as part of a box set.

    The video quality is poor.

    The audio quality is poor.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall