For the longest time, I have wanted to see The Turning Point, mainly due to the cast and that it’s a film Noir / crime drama, a genre that I enjoy. The movie stars a pair of screen legends William Holden, Edmond O’Brien, and the lovely Alexis Smith. William Dieterle directed this 1952 film.
The Turning Point was loosely based on the 1951 hearings conducted by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Organized Crime and Interstate Commerce. The film is about a crime syndicate that has a few corrupt police officials that are running a small town in the Midwest. Special Prosecutor John Conroy (Edmond O’Brien, D.O.A, The Killers, The Wild Bunch) is brought into the unnamed Midwestern town to put an end to the syndicate led by the cigar smoking, ruthless boss Neil Eischelberger (Ed Begley, 12 Angry Men, Sorry, Wrong Number, Convicted). Jerry McKibbon (William Holden, Stalag 17, The Horse Soldiers, Breezy) a friend of Conroy is a hard-nosed, no-nonsense reporter, who doesn’t think Conroy is experienced enough to weed out all the corrupt people in the city. Conroy even asks for some help from his own police detective father Matt (Tom Tully), but he declines! It could be because of even he is part of the syndicate!
The Turning Point, as I was hoping and kind of expected was a great movie with tremendous performances by the actors, with some real surprising moments and what I would call a shock ending, at least for 1952!
In addition to the three leads Edmond O’Brien, William Holden, and Alexis Smith, the film has a few screen legends and great character actors in the already mentioned Ed Begley, plus Neville Brand (Eaten Alive, Kansas City Confidential) and Ted de Corsia(The Enforcer, The Big Combo)
The Turning Point debuts on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. This Blu-ray was advertised as being given a “4K scan from original 35mm elements”. The image looks pristine, with a supremely clear, smooth picture throughout. The greyscale looks just perfect with rich blacks and bright, cheery whites to compliment the image. Shadow detail is also excellent. The higher contrast contributes to the image having rich textures and depth to both the characters and the scenery. Close-ups of the actors faces also show an immense amount of detail. No major damages were detected outside of a few speckles and marks, but it wasn’t anything major. No DNR appears to have been applied.
Regarding the audio, the 2.0 DTS-Master Audio soundtrack is clear with dialogue coming in crisp and clear without any age-old anomalies such as hissing or drop-offs. Action sounds such as gunshots and explosions are a bit more aggressive sounding and had to adjust the volume. The lack of music in this movie adds to the tension and works perfectly fine. English subtitles are available for this release.
Extras on Kino’s Blu-ray include a commentary track with Author and Film Historian Alan K. Rode, who also did a commentary for the recently released (also from Kino Lorber) The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Just as in that release, Rode digs deep in the history and making of this movie and talks about the cast and crew.
As with just about all Kino releases, this Blu-ray has trailers for other Kino Lorber releases, The Turning Point, The Web, The Horse Soldiers, The 7th Dawn, Ill Be Seeing You, Portrait of Jennie, The Accused and Shield for Murder.
The Turning Point is an excellent movie that has been given a superb Blu-ray release. The audio and video quality for this Blu-ray are top-notch and features a wonderful commentary track. This release is easily recommended!
The Turning Point
Director- William Dieterle
Cast- William Holden, Edmond O’Brien, Alexis Smith.
Country of Origin- USA
Distributor –Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –9/24/2022