Suddenly (1954)
B&W / Colorized – 75m
Aspect Ratio: 1.75:1 – Widescreen / 1.33:1 – Fullscreen
Written For The Screen By: Richard Sale
Dir.: Lewis Allen
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason, Nancy Gates, Willis Bouchey, Paul Frees, James O’Hara, Clark Howat and Charles Smith.
In the town of Suddenly, three gangsters trap a family in their own house with the intention of assassinating the president. The film starts off in a dreamlike state, indicative of a small town in the 1950’s and builds from there. While the film is fine as a character study and does have a fair amount of suspense even today, it does not nearly reach the crescendo of tension that one can find in news broadcasts (as of 2016). The acting is to be admired though.
Trivia: The most commonly found print of this film is the Fullscreen print because it is in Public Domain. Turner Classic Movies (TCM) runs the Widescreen print on television and that format is on disc through The Film Detective Restored Edition. There is also a Colorized version of this film. In the Colorized edition of the film: Frank Sinatra, known as, “Old Blue Eyes,”, has brown eyes. Actor Montgomery Clift turn down the lead role in this film. And finally: This film was shot in just four weeks. An added bonus: It has been widely reported over the years that Frank Sinatra requested that this film be withdrawn from circulation after the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) along with his other political assassination thriller, The Manchurian Candidate (1962). The Sinatra family went through great lengths to make it known that Frank Sinatra made no such request. However, the films were out of circulation for many years. It was discovered in the 1980’s that Sinatra had the legal right to restore them to public circulation (see his interview with Larry King for more details), and they were.
This film is Available on Blu–ray, only in black and white, but in Widescreen and Fullscreen. It is also Available on DVD in black and white and colorized in Widescreen and Fullscreen. It is further available as a Digital Copy in Widescreen and Fullscreen in black and white only.
Suddenly (2013)
C – 90m
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 – Widescreen
A.K.A.: Code Black – President Down
Code Black: President Down
Operation Olympus
Code Black
Starring: Ray Liotta
Four assassins pose as Secret Service Agents in order to assassinate the president. A loose remake to be sure functions better as an action thriller than a dramatic thriller. The film as a capable actor in Liotta but lacks a justification for the existence of it. Pacing is a bit of an issue too. A trivia note: In addition of this being a remake of a Frank Sinatra film, Ray Liotta previously played Sinatra in the HBO television movie, The Rat Pack (1998).
Available on Blu–ray, DVD & Digital Copy