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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Devil's Partner (1963)

Devil's Partner (1963) (NTSC)

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Released 18-Feb-2011

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Cult None
Rating ?
Year Of Production 1963
Running Time 73:09
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (48:16) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Charles R. Rondeau
Studio
Distributor
Gryphon Entertainment Starring Edgar Buchanan
Jean Allison
Richard Crane
Spencer Carlisle
Byron Foulger
Claire Carleton
Brian O'Hara
Harry Fleer
Joe Hooker
Ed Nelson
Case Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI Box Music Ronald Stein


Video (NTSC) Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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Plot Synopsis

     In the small, hot, mid-western town of Furnace Flats (pop. 1505) an old hermit sacrifices a goat and makes a pact with the devil before dying. Four days later, a handsome young man named Nick Richards (Ed Nelson) arrives in town claiming to be the hermit’s nephew. He is charming, good natured and helpful, friendly to Doc Lucas (Edgar Buchanan), his daughter Nell (Jean Allison) and Nell’s fiancé David (Richard Crane). In reality, however, Nick is the old hermit: he has sold his soul to the devil and received youth in return. He wants to use his charm and looks to drive a wedge between Nell and David, and to take Nell for himself. Nick can control animals and also change shape into snakes or horses to achieve his aim. But when David is attacked and disfigured by his own dog, and deaths start to occur, Sheriff Tom Fuller (Spencer Carlisle) becomes suspicious of the new man in town and begins to think the unthinkable. Can he prove his suspicions in time to save Nell?

     Devil’s Partner is a low budget B film that looks like a TV episode . Director Charles R. Rondeau was a long time TV director with episodes of F Troop, The Partridge Family, Mission Impossible and Get Smart on his resume and he does a workmanlike job with Devil’s Partner building up a nice tension. The cast are also mostly TV actors and on the whole they do a good competent job; Ed Nelson (Rawhide, Gunsmoke) looks good and provides a fine degree of charm and cold menace, Jean Allison, who had parts in a diverse range of TV episodes over a long period, is reasonable as the love interest and Edgar Buchanan (Judge Roy Bean, Petticoat Junction although he did have some film appearances such as in Pekinpah’s Ride the High Country (1962)) is also good. Perhaps Richard Crane (Lassie, Surfside 6) is the weakest link; he is lost in the more emotional scenes and does not convince.

     Devil’s Partner has some interesting ideas, the director builds the tension nicely and the cast do a workmanlike job. It is a piece of the early 1960s that is worth a look. And you just have to love the giant 1950s gas-guzzling American cars with huge tail fins!

     Devil’s Partner is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set from Gryphon of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s. The full list is The Devil’s Daughter (1939) and Devil Monster (1946) on disc 1, Devil’s Partner (1963) and Beast of the Yellow Night (1971) on disc 2 and How Awful About Alan (1970) and Good Against Evil (1977) on disc 3.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Devil’s Partner is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and is not16x9 enhanced. The original ratio was 1.37:1.

     The print varies from terrible, to adequate. Some sections, of which the opening is a good example, are almost unwatchable with ghosting, macro-blocking, lack of detail and a wall that is half black, half gray and moves. The print does improve somewhat from there, but continues with numerous artefacts, scratches (some vertical but others at all angles and very prominent – see 18:00 for example), missing frames and heavy grain. Some of the inside shots have some detail, but most of the rest is very soft and indistinct. Blacks are not black, and shadow detail non-existent. Mostly the film is watchable but sections, such as the 90 seconds after 58:00, may test your resolve: in quick succession we have a major scratch (58:08), frames that go to black (58:16) and missing frames (59:38). This last is at a crucial plot point, and misses out some important dialogue.

     There are no subtitles.

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

Audio

     Audio is an English Linear PCM track at 1536 Kbps. The dialogue is fine, effects dull but acceptable. There is noticeable hiss in places, crackles and a few drop outs.

     The score by Ronald Stein is quite melodramatic and mostly works.

     I did not notice any lip synchronization problems.

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

Extras

     None

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     There is a Region 1 US stand-alone version of the film which seems to have similar video and audio specifications to our release although I cannot find a review to compare the quality.

     I cannot find any equivalent of The Devil at Work package in any region.

Summary

     Devil’s Partner is a low budget B film that looks like a TV episode . However, director Charles R. Rondeau builds up a nice tension and the cast do a workmanlike job. The audio is poor, the video adequate. A reasonable period piece, with wonderful cars!

     Devil’s Partner is included in the six film, 3 DVD collection The Devil at Work, a box set of devilish tales from the 1930s to 1970s from Gryphon for a RRP of $19.95.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S350, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 42inch Hi-Def LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE