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Storm Center (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Powerhouse Films Review written by and copyright: Rick Curzon (4th August 2025). |
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The Film
 Bette Davis (Connecting Rooms), Brian Keith (5 Against the House), Kim Hunter (Lilith) and Paul Kelly (Adventure in Sahara) star in Storm Center, a shocking tale of censorship and its consequences. Idealistic librarian Alicia (Davis) is fired after refusing to remove a book from her small-town library. Despite the attempts of a local judge (Kelly) to defend her, attorney Paul (Keith) leads a campaign to vilify Alicia, with unexpected consequences for the community. Directed and co-written by Daniel Taradash (Knock on Any Door), Storm Center is a powerful rallying cry for tolerance and freedom of speech.
Video
A fairly obscure film that was very important in its day in that it crystallised the issue of "Reds Under the Bed" censorship for it's audience, offering a criticism of the mindset that created McCarthyism. It deals with a librarian who is ordered to remove a book about Communism from her shelves and is fired. This triggers a series of discussions and events in the town in which it takes place. It's a well written, acted and directed piece that runs a tight 86 minutes but it is a little theatrical and on the nose at times. From the booklet: Storm Center was sourced from Sony’s HD remaster. The film’s original mono soundtrack was remastered at the same time.This isn't a dazzling looking film, not one that will win awards for it's cinematography; a solid, professional looking production that ensures everything is well lit and easy to see with rich black levels and layered contrast. So what we have is crisp monochrome images in this drama shot flat and soft matte 1.37:1 with spherical lenses and matted to 1.85:1 for theatrical projection. Softness shows its head in the image only in the sequences where optical transitions or credits have been done, otherwise this is a detailed filmic image with plenty of soft grain. The encode ensures that the grain looks natural and not processed. As we've come to expect from Powerhouse Transfers the gamma has been perfectly balanced so there are no colour bias creeping through. Back in the day, B&W images on television and home video could have odd bias with a mild greenish shade being the one I recall the most although I do remember some favouring blue. The source element is in excellent shape and Sony's master spot on with no density issues or other noticeable defects. Detail is strong on all focal planes with closeups benefitting the most and I noticed not a shred of print damage or digital tinkering ... as per usual with the vast majority of Powerhouse's reliably excellent releases. This is a strong transfer - dual layered, decent bitrate in the 25-35Mbps range, sometimes higher and sometimes lower - and about as good as we can expect from the source shy of a 4K rendering with HDR ('A'). 1080p24 / AVC MPEG-4 / BD50 / 1.85:1 / 86:02
Audio
English LPCM 1.0 (48kHz, 24-bit) Subtitles: English HoH As with the images this mono track sounds about as good as it possibly can shy of an Atmos version being made from the sound stems. Fidelity is excellent, dialogue clear and always clear in this talky, slightly theatrical film. The range is obviously limited by the technology and the format but it serves the story as presented very well. Hard of hearing subtitles are typically meticulous and quite rightly catch every line and nuance ('B+').
Extras
Audio commentary by film historian Jason A. Ney (2025) Ney discusses the film's technical merits starting with Saul Bass' opening credits, the political situation in which Eisenhower decried the "bookburners" and McCarthy; we hear an extract from his speech indeed other soundbites from others at various points and goes to cover Davis' no nonsense personality, the place of the library in American life, the controversy, Hedda Hopper's attempts to "take down" the film, The Catholic Legion of Decency's role in Hollywood and how it approached this film amongst other topics. Presented in lossy English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono (48kHz, 192Kbps) with no subtitle options. "Fiery Principles: Lies Lanckman on Storm Center" 2025 interview (15:00) We get a thorough overview of the road the film took to production, it's relevance in the political climate of the time and how it relates to today, it's anti censorship theme, Davis in the role and Lanckman covers the communist backdrop of the post WWII period, it's effects on the film whilst the story still doesn't championing communism itself. A solid, informative piece. Presented in 1080p24 1.78:1 with lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 192Kbps) with no subtitle options. "The Guardian Lecture with Saul Bass: Recorded at the National Film Theatre, London, on 15 March 1986" 1986 audio interview plays an alternate audio track over the film (85:55) A career-spanning screen talk with the great man covering his work in cinema (for Otto Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock and others), his famous credits and his directing career; his shorts, documentaries and only feature, Phase IV (1973). It also delves into his work in marketing, packaging and advertising. Presented in lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 192Kbps) with no subtitle options. Interestingly, his wife and colleague Elaine gets mentioned quite a bit. Theatrical Trailer (3:07) Vintage promo presented in 1080p24 1.85:1 with lossless English LPCM 1.0 (48kHz, 16-bit) and no subtitle options. One of those specially shot trails where the actors etc (in this case Davis and ) watch a screening and comment. Unusual. Storm Center Image Gallery: Original Promotional Material (35 images) HD gallery of promotional images, what it says on the tin. 40-page liner notes booklet with new essay by Maggie Hennefeld, ‘making of’ round-up of archival materials on the film’s production, an overview of contemporary critical responses and film credits The usual sterling added value in hardcopy form.
Packaging
Not sent for review.
Overall
A long forgotten melodrama that tackles, quite well, the issue of censorship in libraries specifically in the "Reds Under the Bed" era in which it was made. Image and sound are strong and faithful to the source and the extras are strong and engrossing. Overall, a highly recommended release ('A-').
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