Devil and the Deep is a pre-code film from 1932 starring four screen legends Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton, Tallulah Bankhead, and Cary Grant, who at the time was just rising to stardom. The movie is about a jealous husband who goes through great lengths to remove potential lovers.
Naval commander Charles Sturm (Charles Laughton, The Suspect, The Old Dark House) is married to the lovely Diana (Tallulah Bankhead, The Cheat) and is always suspicious of her having affairs. His abuse makes life miserable for his wife and those around him. Lieutenant Jaeckel (Cary Grant, Suspicion, North by Northwest) is transferred because he’s friends with Diana and Sturm thinks the worst. Although his suspicions are baseless claims and has never had an affair, that’s about to change as Diana does wind up having an affair with Jaeckel’s replacement, Lieutenant Sempter (Gary Cooper, Cloak and Dagger, Beau Geste). When Sturm finds out, his mind completely goes. He sets sail with Sempter and other crew members to lead them all to their doom. The entire crew is trapped underwater and plans to have everyone drown! What Sturm doesn’t know is that Diana is on the submarine as well.
Devil and the Deep is another excellent film with the cast handing in outstanding performances. Laughton is perfect as Sturm, a mad captain playing the role perfectly and Tallulah Bankhead is superb as the estranged, suffering wife. Cary Grant has a small but solid role as a Lieutenant that must tell Diana he’s not in love with her while Sturm eavesdrops. Gary Cooper is excellent as the knight in shining armor heroic role!
If you own the DVD, you can now replace it as Devil and the Deep arrives on a single-layer Blu-ray disc from Kino Lorber. The black and white image is crisp with deep black levels, excellent shadow detail and a balanced grey scape. There’s lots of details and rich textures to the image, due to the boost in contrast, but there is a vertical line that pops up at the beginning and the end of the film. It’s not too distracting but you will see it.
Kino uses English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 for their Blu-ray, and the dialogue as well as other sounds came in perfectly clear. The music by Herman Hand, Rudolph G. Kopp and John Leipold also sounds balanced. The audio was neither too aggressive or too subtle and is more than serviceable. I did not notice any crackling, hissing or other audio issues. English subtitles are offered for this release.
This Blu-ray features an audio commentary by David Del Valle who once again delivers an enthusiastic commentary track about Devil and the Deep and the actors involved. As with 99% of Kino Lorber releases, there are trailers. This Blu-ray has trailers Lifeboat, Desire, The Eagle and the Hawk, and Sign of the Cross.
Devil and the Deep is another superior film from the pre-code era and can easily recommend both the film and this Blu-ray!
Devil and the Deep
Director- Marion Gering
Cast- Tallulah Bankhead, Cary Grant, Charles Laughton, Gary Cooper
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –11/13/21