Seven Sinners is a romance drama starring screen icons John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich. This is the first of three films they did together, the other two being The Spoilers and Pittsburg.
In this picture, Bijou Blanche (Dietrich) is a femme-fetale singer who continuously gets kicked out of various South Sea Islands because she is constantly using her good looks to get what sea wants from men who find her irresistible. She has an entourage with her; naval deserter Edward Patrick ‘Little Ned’ Finnegan (Broderick Crawford, The Mob) and a crooked magician Sasha Mencken (Mischa Auer, My Man Godfrey). On her latest trip to yet another island, she once again goes about her business singing and mingling with the gents. On this trip however she meets and falls in love with Lt. Dan Brent (Wayne) who reciprocates. They plan to get married leading to problems with various people on the island, with some asking or telling Brent not to marry her because of her reputation. There is also one sinister character that wants to kill Brent in order to prevent the marriage from happening.
Seven Sinners is a great, entertaining film, loaded with superb acting, a few songs by Marlene Dietrich and an unforgettable bar room brawl which puts the film over the top! The movie boasts an all-star cast of current and rising stars including the likes of Albert Dekker (Dr. Cyclops, Kiss Me Deadly), Anna Lee (Flesh and Fantasy, Fort Apache), and legendary comic actor Billy Gilbert often found in Laurel and Hardy short films including one of their more infamous ones, The Music Box. But wait, there are still more screen legends in this move! Among them are Samuel S. Hinds (Murders in the Zoo, Son of Dracula), Oskar Homolka (Mr. Sardonicus) and Reginald Denny (Bulldog Drummond Comes Back. Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).
This was quite a cast for a film running less than ninety minutes! Not all the cast members shared scenes together, but I noticed when John Wayne and Broderick Crawford were acting in the same scene, I felt a special dynamic between them that made me glare upon the screen. It reminded me of when Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi were in the same film together for the first time.
Seven Sinners arrives on Blu-ray via Kino Lorber. The image for this movie is fantastic with a clean, smooth and polished video all the way through. The greyscale is balanced, with excellent shadow detail. The scenery is rich with deep textures. I did not see anything in the way of print damages such as dirt, debris or speckles.
The English DTS-HD master audio track 2.0 is also rich with dialog and other noises coming in sharp with no hissing or drop-offs detected. English subtitles are available for this release
The film has a couple of extras. The main extra is an audio commentary by Film Historian David Del Valle. He provides another professional, thoughtful, interesting commentary for Seven Sinners.
Theatrical Trailers for other Kino Lorber releases featuring John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich including Seven Sinners, The Spoilers, Pittsburg, Shepherd of the Hills and The Flame of New Orleans is the other extra.
Okay, the extras are thin, but you do get a commentary by one of the best and most experienced film historians in the business and trailers are always fun to watch. The audio and video for this release are also top-notch and can easily recommend this film to fans of the classics!
Seven Sinners
Director- Tay Garnett
Cast- Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date- 12/5/20