Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76647 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-03-18
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 83 minutes

Amazon.com
A faceless figure marches down an endless hallway as dark, driving music underscores his doom. It's stocky, stalwart Edmond O'Brien, who plows through the police detective's office like he's got nothing to lose. "I want to report a murder," he demands, grim and sleepy-eyed. Who was killed? "I was." It's a brilliant opening to a memorable film noir classic. O'Brien is a CPA who flees his dull job and small California town for a wild weekend in San Francisco, only to be poisoned and doomed to certain death. With only days to live, his incredulity morphs into a searing drive to find his killers and stinging regrets for what might have been. O'Brien is a familiar noir face, but he usually plays figures of authority: a cop in White Heat; an investigator in The Killers. He's a little stiff here, but his blunt, unglamorous persona is perfect for the Everyman who is randomly visited by death. Rudolph Maté, a cinematographer turned director, moves from sun-bright day scenes to busy nighttime locations with few visual flourishes, but when he takes the camera into the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco the film is energized with a gritty, restless vigor. It's one of the most relentlessly dark films noir ever made--taut, edgy, and low budget. Watch for the Bradbury building in the film's climax, made famous by its memorable use decades later in the sci-fi noir classic Blade Runner. --Sean Axmaker

The New York Times
"The Roan Group, consistently responsible for some of the best-looking DVD editions"

Customer Reviews

Forces Beyond Our Control.
A man named Frank Bigelow (Edmund O'Brian) shows up at Los Angeles police station to report a murder: his own. Frank is dying of luminous toxin poisoning. He recounts to police the incredible story that brought him to be at the brink of death in this police station in a strange city. Just a few days ago, he was a small business owner in a little town called Banning. He had an adoring girlfriend, Paula Gibson (Pamela Britton), who was also his personal secretary. But Frank had cold feet about marrying Paula and decided to take a little vacation to San Francisco to give himself some air. Paula called to tell him that a man named Phillips was desperately trying to reach him, but the name didn't ring a bell. The next day, Frank found out that he had been fatally and irreversibly poisoned. Frank's increasingly frantic search for the identity and motivation of his murderer takes him to two cities, into the criminal underworld, and onto the wrong end of several pistols before all is done.

Rudolph Mate's "D.O.A." is a film noir classic. And it takes the cynical view typical of the genre. Frank is a man whose fate is entirely beyond his control. As the audience roots for Frank to solve the mystery and find his murderer, fate unabashedly mocks his efforts. Frank is a dying man; what earthly difference will it make if he finds his killer? Whatever Frank does, the result will be the same. And it's all because he notarized a bill of sale...one out of hundreds of bills of sales. Who knew what being a notary could lead to? But for a movie with such a cynical story to tell, "D.O.A." has always been immensely popular. I think that's because Frank Bigelow is an "everyman" who rises to the occasion when difficult circumstances require it. He's not too smart and not too dumb. He has a nice girlfriend...to whom he isn't entirely faithful. He's basically a good guy, works hard, but imperfect. And when fate deals him a bad deal, he finds within him a strength and determination that even he may not have known he had. He's going to solve the mystery if it's the last thing he does. Even though it will be the last thing he does. Edmund O'Brian does an admirable job of conveying Frank's imperfection, his initial incredulity at his predicament, and then his determination when he stares reality in the face and decides to take matters into his own hands, to the extent that he can. The opening scene in which Frank enters the police station to report his own murder is a stroke of genius. What a way to hook an audience! The only fault that I find with the film are the ridiculous noises that we hear every time Frank spies an attractive woman. Their tone is completely inappropriate to the film, and they are a real blot on Dimitri Tiomkin's otherwise excellent score.

The DVD (This refers to the Roan Group DVD only): This film looks too contrasty and lacking in subtle tonality to me. Not having seen the film on the silver screen, I don't know if it was originally like that, if there was a problem with the print, or if it's a bad transfer. But the film stocks available in 1950 were technologically much better than this DVD would lead you to believe. The main menu on the disc doesn't show up before the movie. The disc starts to play as soon as it is inserted into the player, so you have to either hit the menu button on your remote or get yourself onto your couch quickly. There are two bonus features: An interview with actress Beverly Campbell (now Beverly Garland) in which she describes her experience being blacklisted by the Hollywood studios for several years following her appearance in "D.O.A." And there are a few pages of text that you can read about film noir in general and "D.O.A." in particular. Beverly Garland's story is interesting, but the DVD seems to be put together in a slipshod manner.

About the dvd
I just wanted to add to his wonderful reviews that in my opinion the Image dvd edition is the one to buy.
A really great looking transfer, with very sharp image, which is what I value the most. There is only one bad shot in the later part of the movie obviously taken from an inferior source.

A film noir classic in every sense of the word
1950's D.O.A. is classic film noir, one of the true classics of the genre. The characters are intense, everyone is up to something, and the clock is ticking for one Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien), who must attempt to find his own murderer before his last grain of sand trickles to the bottom of the hourglass. Bigelow is an accountant who up and takes a week off to visit San Francisco, ostensibly to get away from his secretary and incredibly needy, codependent, marathon-talking girlfriend Paula (Pamela Britton). Once he arrives at the hotel, he's like an elephant in a peanut factory, trying to go every direction at once in order to have a good time with every woman he sees. While the neurotic Paula broods, Bigelow goes out to paint the town red with a gang of his hotel neighbors, only to wake up the next morning feeling less than healthy. A trip to the doctor's office instantly changes his entire perspective on life, for he finds out that he has been poisoned with a luminous toxin, for which there is no cure whatsoever. With anywhere from a day to two weeks to live, he starts off on a relentless quest to discover his murderer. The plot takes a number of twists and turns, and it can get a little confusing at times because of all the characters and all the shenanigans each of them are pulling. Bigelow has nothing to lose, though, and he refuses to give up as long as he has a breath left in his body.

D.O.A. starts off a little slow, and the fact that a silly musical wolf call greeted the appearance of any woman early on had me doubting the merits of this film, but when things really get going, they really get going. The action and suspense build inexorably with each passing minute of the film, and the background music only reinforces the gripping effect upon the viewer. The camera work is also quite effective, strongly conveying the increasing alienation Bigelow is faced with as the Grim Reaper makes plans to pay him an imminent visit. It is easy to become mesmerized by all of the story's twists and turns, as on top of the great atmosphere, you have to think about each new clue and surprise that Bigelow encounters on his mission. You have to admire Bigelow's relentless determination and quick-thinking mind, and he quickly transforms himself from a character of dubious merit and possibly ignoble feelings into a tragic hero/victim of classic proportions. If the whole luminous poisoning thing doesn't make you sympathize with the character, the neurotically suffocating burden of love he has to deal with continuously from Paula will. Other films have taken this idea of a poisoned man hunting down his murderer in his dying days and hours, but none has produced such a gritty tale that drips with realism and builds to the type of crescendo found in this remarkable film noir classic.