Johnny One-Eye

Robert Florey's Johnny One-Eye (1950) was announced as a release by VCI in 1999 but it never showed up. Now Alpha Video has issued it in a pretty rough edition, derived from what is very obviously a worn 16mm print, probably a duplicate and short of detail, contrast, and depth, not even up to television standards of the early '60s. The movie manages to hold together despite these shortcomings, mostly because it was such a grim and gritty drama to begin with. There's just enough detail in the print and the transfer to make the night scenes viable, and the music track -- especially over the scenes depicting Pat O'Brien's odyssey through the streets of New York with a bullet in him -- has some presence and power. Hopefully, however, a better edition of this movie will surface someday. The standard Alpha Video six chapters are here, and there are no extras of any kind. The disc opens automatically on a simple three-selection menu.