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Strongly influenced by the German cinema of the 1920s, director Roland
West (The Bat Whispers) created America's first expressionist crime film-a
stylish thriller that presaged the rise of film noir.
Chester Morris stars as Chick Williams, a Prohibition gangster who
rejoins his mob soon after being released from prison. When a policeman is
murdered during a robbery, Williams falls under suspicion and the detective
squad employs its most sophisticated and barbaric techniques to pin the
crime on him.
Eye-grabbing compositions, eccentric Art Deco sets (designed by William
Cameron Menzies) and the experimental use of sound make ALIBI like a
cinematic funhouse-a carnival of shadow and violence and angst that dazzled
viewers of 1929 and earned the film three Academy Award nominations.
For this edition, Kino has used a restored ALIBI soundtrack (which had
been recorded on disc and edited in a primitive manner). Though some surface
noise, distortion and level fluctuations remain, a good degree of
improvement and consistency has been attained.
U.S. 1929 84 Min. B&W Full-Frame (1.33:1)
United Artists Not Rated
Directed by Roland West
Screenplay by Roland West and C. Gardner Sullivan
Based on the play NIGHTSTICK by John Griffith
Wray, J.C. Nugent, and Elaine S. Carrington
Art Direction by William Cameron Menzies
With Chester Morris, Harry Stubbs,
Mae Busch, Eleanor Griffith, Regis Toomey
Licensed from the Douris Corp.
Copyright 1929 Feature Productions, Inc.
Copyright 1959 Raymond Rohauer
All Rights Reserved |
