Party Girl is a 1958 musical film noir directed by Nicholas Ray and starring screen legends Robert Taylor, Lee J. Cobb and Cyd Charisse. This Noir as shot in Cinemascope and during the hard-hitting action, there are musical numbers to also entertain you.
Taking place in Chicago during the 1930’s, Party Girl is a tale about criminal lawyer Thomas Farrell (Robert Taylor, Waterloo Bridge, Johnny Eager) has made a career defending guilty mobsters in trials, especially for mob boss Rico Angelo (screen legend Lee J. Cobb, On the Waterfront, The Exorcist,) and his associates which includes top hitman Louie Canetto(John Ireland, Gunslinger, Railroaded!). Farrell, who uses various tricks to win his cases such being disabled, has never thought that there could be a downside to his success, until he meets the dancer Vicki Gaye (Cyd Charisse, Singin in the Rain, Warlords of Atlantis) who convinces him that he needs to change his reputation. Rico, however, doesn’t want Farrell to stop defending him and vows to make his life miserable if he fails to protect him and his mob. Prosecutor Jeffrey Stewart (Kent Smith, Cat People) and Vicki are there to be provide support for him, but things get a bit violent.
Party Girl is highly entertaining with its inclusion of doing both song and dance numbers and in addition to the violence. It’s an interesting mix of genres. For me, the musical parts served as an intermission to the story, as I am more of a crime, Noir man than a lover of musicals. All the performers for the movie give superb, top-notch performances as expected. The characters are compelling; watching Robert Taylor playing a torn criminal lawyer to me is some of his best work.
Warner Archive gives Party Girl a Blu-ray release. The picture quality for this release is stupendous with rich vibrant colors, such as reds and pinks. The clothing the performers wear in this movie has never looked this sharp. The colors just burst out at the screen. There is a vast amount of detail to the scenery, with deep textures.
Warner Archive applies an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack the dialogue and musical numbers are easy to understand and are perfectly clear. Action sounds, be it music or gunshots are more aggressive sounding. No hissing crackling or popping sounds were detected. English subtitles are available.
The lone extra is a trailer.
Party Girl gives you the best of two worlds, the gritty crime scene, and pleasant musical numbers. The blending of the two genres worked fine here. The Blu-ray offering by Warner is nothing short of spectacular in the audio/video department. Despite the lack of extras, this is a worthwhile release and should be on your shelf!
Party Girl
Director- Nicholas Ray
Cast- Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse and Lee J. Cobb
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Warner Archive / Warner Home Video
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –11/15/2021