Deported is a 1950 film noir directed by the great Robert Siodmak. This was one of Siodmak’s last American movies. The film is loosely based on the deportation of Mafia kingpin Lucky Luciano. Jeff Chandler in Italy where he falls for two beautiful women in-between a crime scheme!
In this picture, Vic Smith aka Vittorio Mario Sparducci (Jeff Chandler, Man in the Shadow) is an American criminal who is deported back to his homeland of Italy after being caught for stealing one hundred grand. He gets involved in an underground ring to get his $100,000 back, which would be transported from New York to Italy. His plan is do this through a romance with a beautiful widow, Countess Christine di Lorenzi (Marta Toren, Sirocco). He’s being watched by the Italian government and the man who worked with Victor to steal the hundred thousand, Bernardo Gervaso(Richard Rober, The Tall Target) who has a lovely connection in Gina Carapia (Marina Berti, The Queen of Sheba) that keeps luring Vic into his traps where he can remind him about the money and be reminded that he gets half of the $100,000 or else!
Having not watched Deported before, I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it. The characters held my interest. Chandler is great as Vic / Vittorio who feels conflicted somewhat about what he is trying to do. There is a chemistry between Marta Toren and Jeff Chandler. The lovely Marina Berti doesn’t have enough screen time and much to do outside of a couple of scenes where she reels Jeff in and plays him for a sap.
Kino Lorber has released Deported on Blu-ray and overall, it’s a nice, solid transfer. The image has nice dark, inky blacks, crisp whites to go with a greyscale that is perfectly balanced. William Daniels beautiful cinematography shows a lot of detail of his panoramic shots of Italy with plenty of rich textures. There are a few speckles here and there but nothing major. Film grain is present, giving the movie a film-like appearance. No DNR appears to have been used for this release.
The soundtrack used for this release is the usual English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 with great results with dialogue and other background sounds coming in clearly. Walter Sharf’s musical score comes in fine as well. Nothing was really all that aggressive, maybe a few gunshots that were stronger, but the audio overall was well-balanced between the various sounds.
For extras, there is new commentary by Eddy Von Mueller who essays Deported, director Siodmak and the actors involved.
Trailers for other Kino Lorber releases consist of the last supplement. The Accused, Night Has a Thousand Eyes, The Spiral Staircase, Cry of the City, Female on the Beach, and Man in the Shadow are the trailers showcased.
Deported
Director- Robert Siodmak
Cast- Jeff Chandler, Marta Toren
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –12/13/21