The Key [DVD]

I saw this film on TV early last year and thoroughly enjoyed it.
After reading most of the reviews on the Amazon site, I decided to wait to see if someone would finally do it justice, and put it out on DVD in its original aspect ratio.
In November 2010 it was supposedly remastered, and, according to at least one other UK website, was formatted in the aspect ratio of 2.35:1, which is very close to its original Cinemascope aspect ratio.
So it was decided to order this title, along with 4 others, in early December, and a few days after it was shipped, it tuned up in the mail box.
When I put it into our DVD player and started it up, I was elated to see that the film was, as stated on the back of the cover, in the ratio of 2.35:1.
However, my elation very quickly turned to tears and disgust when after 2 minutes & 56 seconds, our TV screen was suddenly filled by a blown up PAN & SCAN picture,which revealed some graininess, but worse still, robbed me of at least 40% of the picture. This went on till the 113 minute point, after which it went back to the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1.
What a RIP-OFF!!!
Buyer Beware!!! - If you love your widescreen movies in their correct formats, DON'T TOUCH this one with a forty foot, or better still, a hundred foot Barge Pole, and if you can, tell the people at Palladium Entertainment what you think of their efforts. It's a Great title crucified, and that's being very polite.

"The Key" didn't do well on its release in 1958, and has slipped through the cracks in the floorboards of cinema history since. This is a crying shame, since I regard it as one of the greatest war films ever made - along with other neglected and forgotten masterpieces such as "Appointment in London", "The Victors" and "Went the Day Well?"
I think there are two principal reasons for its failure. Firstly, it appears older than it is. It comes as a surprise to find that this film was made a year AFTER "The Bridge on the River Kwai", which is a film much more of its time. And while being old doesn't invalidate a film's quality, it can tarnish its performance on release if it appears at all passe, which this film might have done at the time. It's made in superb, lovingly shot, deep focus black-and-white which might have been shot by Greg Tolland (but wasn't - the cinematographer was Oswald Morris). While now regarded as one of the indicators of a Classic film (e.g., "Citizen Kane"), such a technique might at the time have seemed a bit past-it compared to the bright and breezy colour photography of films such as "Bridge on the River Kwai" and "The Enemy Below" (both 1957).
And then there is the accusation, made by more than one cinema critic at the time, that as a story it didn't quite gel. It has to be said that there is some truth in this. On the one hand we have a grittily realistic portrayal of a little-known aspect of the war, and on the other the rather diaphanous story of Stella (Sophia Loren), who might or might not be a ghost and who might (or might not) be a sort of Circe who lures poor sailors to their untimely deaths. It's almost as if two quite different stories were shoe-horned into one film, and I think that this, together with the above-mentioned production values, led to its undoing.
But now, with silly considerations of fashion long gone (and hopefully with an acceptance of the ambiguity of Loren's role), one can see what a great film this really is.
It is the story not of sleek destroyers ("The Cruel Sea") or noble freighters ("San Demetrio, London") but of grimey, unglamorous tugboats. More often than not inadequately armed, and with rag-tag crews that nobody else wants, these scruffy little urchins of the sea were sent out to rescue ships that had been attacked by German U-boats or bombers and not sunk but left for dead, with engines shot and decks ablaze. Already written off by the Admiralty, such ships had only one chance of survival - the tugboats which, if they managed to bring the derelicts in, would have saved a cargo and crew that would otherwise have gone down with the ship. Such work was hazardous in the extreme - fuel or munitions ships could blow up with no warning, taking the tugboats with them, and both vessels remained targets of opportunity for marauding subs or bombers. It's not a war that you hear much about.
The story, set in Liverpool, revolves around a series of newly-arrived tugboat captains who are allotted a flat. Along with the flat comes Stella, a Swiss-Italian refugee, who appears to have been the wife of Phillip, the first of the series of doomed captains. After his death, with nowhere else to go, she stayed on in the flat and is inherited, like an appliance, by the next captain. He is killed, but not before he gives The Key of the flat to his successor (hence the title); then the next one moves in, and so on...
William Holden plays Ross, a new captain who meets his old friend Ford (Trevor Howard), also a tugboat captain who has been alotted Phillip's old flat and has thus inherited Stella. Ross and Stella keep their distance from each other until Ford is killed, and Holden reluctantly moves into the flat, Ford having pressed The Key on him shortly before his death. Inevitably Ross and Stella fall in love. Eventually Ross's tug is sunk but he manages to survive, thus breaking the fatal chain that has attended Stella's lovers up til then. Stella, believing Ross to be dead, flees to a new life in London, but Ross swears he will find her again one day.
There are elements of Greek and other ancient myths in the story, shades of Persephone, Odysseus and even Gilgamesh, which complement Stella's rather eery role. There is superb film of the sea, stirring drama as stricken ships open fire on the U-boats trying to sink the tugs that are racing to save them. There is a re-creation of wartime Liverpool as it probably was - the terrible overcrowding, the ever-present black market, all the things you never see in films like "The Cruel Sea". And, above all, there is the quite wonderful cinemaphotography; no special effects, but skilful use of lighting and shadow that makes the commonplace seem magnificent and the unusual sinister.
I've seen this film countless times, and (God willing) will do again in the future. If you want to see a convincing, brilliantly made, highly unusual film about war as it really was, then watch this, and be careful who you lend it to if you want it back.
Damn the critics. This film is pure genius.

I have sdmired Carol Reed's works for a long time. 'The Key' is one of his finest films among previous his black and white works, such as 'The Way Ahead', 'Odd Man Out', 'The Third Man' and 'The Fallen Idol' as well. The performance acted by Trevor Howard adds the serious and profound significance in War Years. He acted a tug skipper very well. However, William Holden seems weak as compared with one of Trevor Howard. Sophia Loren is depicted as a tragic heroine despite she looks very lovely. Other byplayers, Keelon Moore, Oscar Homolka and Bryan Forbes support them as Grecian tragedy. Bernard Lee reminds us of 'M' in the series of James Bond nowadays. Anyway, For the first time, I saw this film over a half century ago, at a cinema in Shizuoka- city, where I live, when my father took me there in my primary school days. So, I have not remember the details of it. I realised that this film is a masterpiece of Carol Reed now. Malcolm Arnold music is very good! I love his symphonies as well as the soundtrack of 'Bridge on the River Kwai'