Imagine being in a relationship with someone that you will not have a future with but decide to be with that person anyway because you love him or her so much. That’s what we have here in the 1961 film, Back Street.
Back Street is the tragic love story about a couple who cannot be married and live happily ever after because one of them is married. This film has been made previously in 1932, 1941, so this is remake, with the big difference is the 1961 is in color! There are some other tweaks to this picture to keep up with how culture was in 1961. Back Street was part of a series of updated, colorized remakes from the late fifties and mid-sixties that included fellow tear-jerkers Imitation of Life and Madame X.
John Gavin (Psycho) and Susan Hayward (Rawhide) play the doomed couple this time around. Taking the place over the course of several years, Rae Smith (Hayward) falls for the wealthy Paul Saxon (Gavin) and things are going peachy for them, but when Paul admits he is married, Rae breaks it off, but winds up reuniting with him again because the love they feel toward each other is incredibly intense. They have secret rendezvous, as Rae sacrifices everything just to be with him wherever he goes. The relationship gets worse as Paul’s wife Liz Saxon (Very Miles, who was also Psycho alongside John Gavin) learns of their affair. She absolutely refuses to divorce him! Still worse, the children also learn of Paul’s infidelity. With the chances of them being married diminished, Paul and Rae continue their affair, but the tragedies continue as the years go on.
Director David Miller did a tremendous job with this remake, taking the familiar material of the previous Back Street films and made the viewing experience feel fresh. The two leads, John Gavin gave the performance of his life as the tormented unhappy husband, and Susan Hayward who is nothing short outstanding as Rae. You can feel their pain as they try to stick together in a hopeless relationship.
Kino Lorber debuts Back Street on Blu-ray. The 1080p image shows off bold, lush colors. Scenes in daylight look incredibly strong and vivid, while outfits the actors wear are also rich, especially the different shades of blue shown throughout. Black levels are also sharp and inky deep. Grain appears throughout the presentation. No digital enhancements have been detected. Skin tones look accurate, with details shown clearly in close-up shots. The picture quality enhances the great cinematography by Stanley Cortez, with his amazing visuals shining better than ever in high definition. This Blu-ray easily surpasses the DVD in the image department.
Kino uses their usual English DTS-HD Master 2.0 audio track for Back Street. Dialog is clear and easy to follow, while action and other background noises come in slightly more aggressive. Frank Skinner’s excellent musical scores are also on the stronger side. No hissing or drop-offs were detected.
The Kino Blu-ray offers some supplemental materials. There is a new commentary by David Del Valle and David DeCoteau, which is everything you would expect, with the pair of commentary veterans sharing a wealth of information about Back Street. There is also a trailer for the film to go with another half-dozen trailers for similar films from the Kino Lorber library.
Having seen both the 1941 and 1961 Back Street films, I can say these two movies are part of my top 10 for melodramas. Kino’s Blu-ray of the 1961 movie is a superb release, sporting excellent audio and video quality to go with a couple of cool extras. Kino is also going to be releasing the 1941 edition of Back Street on Blu-ray soon and hopefully that offering will be equally as excellent!
Back Street (1961)
Director- David Miller
Cast- Susan Hayward, John Gavin
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date-8/15/21