Scott Reviews Elia Kazan’s Boomerang! [Masters of Cinema Blu-ray Review]

It’s another pleasant day in small town America. But what secrets does it conceal? Elia Kazan’s 1947 docu-noir Boomerang! takes the form the procedural, but draws its true force from exploring corruption, not all of it systemic. Like the best city noir, it roots systemic degradation in the soul; in greed, lust, pride, and blind ambition. A small town is no less dirty than a big city, just easier to corrupt. The whole system can be thrown off by the will of a few men (and, especially in 1947, they were always men).

So it goes through a murder investigation – a beloved local priest is killed, the murderer gets away; the police have several witnesses and a good deal of clues, but some cases just don’t come together. They get a little light on one man, and run with it. There’s pressure from the citizens, from the mayor, and everyone in between. Unlike most of these sort of narratives, though, it isn’t pure bloodlust. The citizens are pissed off because their government doesn’t seem to be working all that hard. Tax dollars and all. The mayor’s pissed off because there’s an election coming up, and this won’t help him. The police chief (a typically fierce Lee J. Cobb) is naturally inclined to make a conviction stick under all this pressure, and he’s pissed because he knows the nature of his business, but can’t explain it to anyone else. And the newspapers want, at the very least, a suspect, as they’ll sell better than an aimless investigation. In the middle of it all is State’s Attorney Henry L. Harvey (Dana Andrews), expected to bring the death penalty against John Waldron (Arthur Kennedy) amidst all this pressure.

Even if, as I do, you know Andrews best for his persona-skewering work with Otto Preminger, the assumption when he walks onscreen is that he is the most competent and righteous man in the world. Boomerang! plays right to this, with Kazan and cinematographer Norbert Brodine frequently framing him solidly, squared off, standing tall, looking proud even when the perspective (at the judge’s bench, say) is looking down at him. He never appears small or corruptible, even though, as we find out, he has unknowingly been placed into the same pool in which the corrupt swim. The central joy of the picture is watching Andrews navigate all these waters, and seeing the thoroughness of his examination bear out in the courtroom. It’s classic legal drama stuff, working doubly well here because Kazan does not shy away from the often illegal, and always deeply uncomfortable, tactics that so many others employ to get what they want.

The transfer on Masters of Cinema’s new (Region B locked) Blu-ray edition is, sadly, a bit wanting, never quite rising to the levels of even a very good DVD. The whole image is just too soft much of the time, a little muddy and lacking the punch we typically see with Blu-ray. Some scenes look quite fine, and I wouldn’t write off the disc entirely. Contrast is mostly good, (light reflecting off dark metal becomes instrumental to the plot, and is served well here), though the whites sometimes look a little overcranked. It’s all fine enough, and if you’re looking to add the film to your shelf (and don’t want to shell out for the Kazan at Fox set), this still seems to be the way to go.

Complementing that value are a pair of great special features. Criterion fans will recognize Elia Kazan: An Outsider from their On the Waterfront disc, but if you don’t have that set, this is a very cool look at Kazan’s life and career circa 1982. The commentary track by film noir historians Alain Silver and James Ursini has been ported over from the Region 1 Fox DVD, and provides a great look at the film from all the expected angles – historical, critical, social, etc. Well worth a listen.

MoC’s added value, as per usual, is their booklet, here featuring a characteristically snappy and well-observed essay by film critic Glenn Kenny, a 1971 interview with Kazan discussing the film, as well as the original short story (itself based on a true crime story from 1924) upon which the film was based. Very cool stuff all around.