DVD resurrects Bogie's 1951 thriller 'Enforcer'

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Humphrey Bogart turns in relatively subdued but effective work as a single-minded district attorney bent on busting a killer cabal loosely based on the real-life Murder, Inc., in 1951's streamlined noir "The Enforcer," new from Artisan Entertainment. It's our...

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Director Bretaigne Windust and screenwriter Martin Rackin adopt a semi-documentary style, somewhat similar to the contemporaneous crime classics "Naked City" and "White Heat," in tracking the deadly racket's twisted trail of organized brutality. The film opens with Bogie's only witness, top henchman Rico (Ted De Corsia), taking a fatal plunge, forcing our hero to return to square one to crack the case and nail kingpin Mendoza (Everett Sloane).

Though deservedly earning top billing, Bogie is off-screen much of the time here, with a top cast of supporting actors sharing the thespian load. Among the latter, Zero Mostel, as a frightened thug, and former B-Western star Bob Steele, as a ruthless contract assassin, especially shine in their brief but showy scenes.

While Artisan's DVD arrives sans extras, save for the original theatrical trailer, the digitally remastered full-screen transfer looks and sounds terrific. "The Enforcer" rates as a must for Bogie buffs and noir fans in the market for lean, mean, no-nonsense suspense.

Artisan also introduces the 12-chapter serial Adventures of Captain Marvel from 1941, starring Tom Tyler as the storied superhero of comic-strip fame, along with a trio of 1950s military-themed dramas: Gary Cooper as the eponymous embattled officer in The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, Sterling Hayden in the World War II naval drama Flat Top and Marlon Brando as a crippled veteran in The Men. The discs are tagged at $14.98 each.

Collectors' corner

And still on the subject of cinema classics, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment caters to vintage-film lovers with no fewer than four titles making their digital debuts this week. Cary Grant toplines in three showcases ($14.98 each): 1934's Born to Be Bad, co-starring Loretta Young; the 1949 drag comedy I Was a Male War Bride, with Ann Sheridan; and 1951's People Will Talk, featuring Jeanne Crain.

The 1946 Western My Darling Clementine ($19.98) marks the most elaborate of the label's backdate slate. The DVD contains the complete director's cut of John Ford's vision of Wyatt Earp's West, starring Henry Fonda as the legendary lawman, along with studio head Darryl Zanuck's radical re-edit (the version seen in theaters).