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"All the King's Men" is the political melodrama that made actor, Broderick Crawford a household name. A pity that in the intervening decades that spark of popularity did not last and has today all but been forgotten.
Crawford is Willie Stark -- an honest man butting heads in the political arena with corrupt politicians until he finally gets his chance to rule by sweeping the every man's election. Too bad for Willie that his power goes to his head. John Ireland costars as the reporter who wants so desperately to believe in Willie that he's willing to overlook the slow downward spiral out into corruption and deceit. Mercedes McCambridge plays a shifty publicist with greed in her heart and poison on her mind. John Derek is cast as Willie's son -- the tragic victim of his father's driving ambition.
The transfer is somewhat of a disappointment. Though the gray scale is reasonably well balanced, contrast levels seem to be a shade too low throughout. A lot of wear and tear has gone into this film's original camera negative. Scratches and age related blemishes are glaringly obvious. Some sections of the print appear to have been lifted from third generation masters instead of the film's original camera negative. There are moments when aliasing and pixelization crop up but these don't terribly distract. The audio is MONO but nicely balanced. There are no extras on this disc. |
