BLAST OF SILENCE: THE CRITERION COLLECTION - DVD review

Not too many films begin with a point-of-view shot of its protagonist's birth, but that's only one of many unusual things about Allen Baron's "Blast of Silence" (1961).

The opening shot shows a distant dot of light down a dark tunnel with the sound of a train rumbling through the darkness; the narrator speaks: "Remembering out of the silence, you were born in pain." The narration, you will note, is in the second person, another unique quality of this strange film. Yet another oddity: the narration is written by Waldo Salt and read by actor Lionel Stander, both of whom were blacklisted at the time: Salt wrote under the pseudonym Mel Davenport; Stander went uncredited. The narration has a poetic quality to it, and is so pervasive that watching the film is a bit like attending a poetry recital. It would wear thin, but the film quite sensibly ends at the 77-minute mark.

Our protagonist is a plain vanilla hit man named Frankie Bono (played by the director) though the narrator, constantly haranguing poor Frankie, probably deserves co-billing. Frankie's riding the train into New York for his next job, a straightforward hit on a mid-level mobster as unremarkable as Frankie. Finally, we spot a familiar element in the film, a simple plot that gives Frankie a simple goal.

The story, however, is not really about the hit at all, but how Frankie kills time while waiting for an opportune moment to finish the job. Through the narrator, we can guess that Frankie has a rich and tormented internal life, but he seems sadly unaware of it. For Frankie, life's just a whole lot of waiting, and trying his best not to think about it.

Arriving three years after Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil," Baron's film is either a straggler at the end of the classic film noir period, or one of the earlier neo-noirs. Film noir was a term applied many years after the noir cycle began, so it's unsurprising that critics can't agree on the precise timing of each of the noir cycles or even how to define the genre. Many films have noir qualities but aren't really film noirs. That's not the case with "Blast of Silence," a noir by any definition. Like most noirs, the film's universe is one that is severed from any sense of a higher being, a world covered by only a thin veneer of civilization where even the slightest mistake, a stumble or a wrong turn, leads inevitably to tragedy. Frankie was "born in pain," and he lives in pain, always trying to drown out the scream that heralded his entry into this cruel world.

Frankie's wrong turn comes when he wanders into the wrong restaurant; an old friend greets him and insists he attend a party (it's almost Christmas, after all). At the party, Frankie meets his old flame, Lorrie (Molly McCarthy). This is the greatest tragedy of all because it stirs Frankie from his life-long stupor, and forces him to wonder, for the first time as an adult, if there's a way to make meaning out of this meaningless world. Sorry, Frankie, you're in a film noir, you haven't got a chance.

Baron, a graphic designer who worked as a comic book artist, shot his first feature film entirely on location in New York, then an unusual thing to do, though hardly unprecedented (the recently departed Jules Dassin did it in 1948 with "The Naked City.") Baron scraped together financing in various stages and shot the film piece-meal over two years. His friend Peter Falk was originally slated for the title role but got a better offer (i.e. one that paid) so Baron was forced to step into the role. Baron appears ill-suited to be in front of the camera, just as Frankie is ill-suited to be, well, anywhere. Frankie's very birth was a mistake, and his continued existence only compounds the error. He's a man out of place in every place he goes to but never fear: the cold logic of the noir universe will eventually correct the oversight.

The film takes great advantage of its New York locations as well as the contrast between Frankie's isolation and the communal nature of the Christmas season. The film could just as easily have been titled with a different oxymoron: "Alone in a Crowd." Another highlight of the film is the performance by Larry Tucker as the sleazy, obese gun dealer Big Ralph. Tucker's massive enough to have his own gravity well, yet so mousy and insubstantial he could sneak up on you without warning. Tucker later focused on a writing career (he was nominated for an Oscar as the co-writer of "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice") but he turned in one more memorable, as Pagliacci in Sam Fuller's madhouse masterpiece "Shock Corridor."

"Blast of Silence" is a treat for film noir fans, a (mostly) undiscovered gem that has recently enjoyed new life on the festival circuit, and is now available to a worldwide audience on DVD. No matter how many noir films you've watched, I guarantee you've never seen anything quite like this film.

Video

The film is presented in its original 1.33:1 full-screen aspect ratio. The image is not picture-boxed. The black-and-white photography looks sharp and beautiful I this restored transfer; some evidence of wear and tear from the source is still visible, but it's not even the slightest bit of a distraction.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. Optional English subtitles support the English audio.

Extras

"Requiem for a Killer" is a 60-minute documentary featuring Baron as he revisits the filming locations of "Blast of Silence." This feature is a 2006 assemblage by film historian Robert Fischer who uses footage from a 1990 West German TV documentary about Baron combined with new interview material.

"Locations Revisited" is a series of still photos that, well, revisit NYC locations. It's a bit of a repeat of the material in "Requiem."

The disc also includes a fairly extensive collection of on-set Polaroids (about 40 in all) with captions from Baron's own descriptions written on the back of the photos.

The slim eight page insert booklet features an essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty. Criterion has also included an additional insert, a 4-page mini comic book by artist Sean Phillips (artist of the recent smash-hit Marvel mini-series "Marvel Zombies.")

Film Value

After a promising film debut, Allen Baron went on to a career in television, directed episodes of a host of well-known 60s and 70s shows, including and "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" and "The Dukes of Hazzard" and even "Charlie's Angels." And that only makes "Blast of Silence" even more of an anomaly, a bizarre one-off that is both quintessentially noir while not particularly resembling any other film I've seen. It's not a masterpiece, but it's certainly worth your time.