Description
A film noir landmark, The Big Combo returns in a stunning 70th anniversary 4K restoration--raw, brutal, and visually daring as ever.
Director Joseph H. Lewis and cinematographer John Alton push film noir to its starkest extremes in The Big Combo, a 1955 crime classic starring Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte. Wilde plays police lieutenant Leonard Diamond, whose relentless campaign against powerful crime boss Mr. Brown (Conte) has become as personal as it is professional. Diamond's obsession is intensified by his feelings for Brown's troubled mistress Susan Lowell (Jean Wallace), whose desperation to escape the gangster's control may provide the opening he needs to finally bring Brown down.
Written by Philip Yordan, The Big Combo builds its underworld story around shifting loyalties, buried secrets and an increasingly destructive contest between two determined men. Brian Donlevy plays former syndicate boss Joe McClure, while Robert Middleton appears as Brown's associate Dreyer and Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman portray the inseparable hitmen Fante and Mingo. Helen Walker and Jay Adler also figure prominently in Diamond's investigation. Lewis stages the violence and psychological cruelty with an intensity that challenged the boundaries of mid-1950s Hollywood filmmaking, while Alton's extraordinary use of darkness, silhouettes, fog and concentrated pools of light gives the picture some of the most recognizable imagery in American film noir.
IGNITE Films presents The Big Combo in a new 70th Anniversary 4K restoration, preserving its original theatrical presentation. The restoration was created from a new 35mm dupe negative and restored 35mm track negative by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, with funding from The Film Foundation. The two-disc 4K Ultra HD edition includes a new audio commentary by film historian and noir specialist Imogen Sara Smith; a new interview with author and critic Philippe Garnier; Scout Tafoya's new video essay How a Man Makes a Living -- How a Little Combo Made The Big Combo; critic and curator Geoff Andrew on the film; Wagon Wheel Joe, a video appreciation examining Lewis's camerawork, visual motifs and development as a filmmaker; and an additional commentary by Film Noir Foundation founder Eddie Muller.
Also included is The Crooked Way (1949), another hard-edged film noir photographed by John Alton, pairing a postwar crime story with striking location photography on the streets of Los Angeles. With reversible artwork and an extensive collection of newly produced and archival supplements, this edition places Lewis and Alton's collaboration within the broader development of postwar noir while showcasing the visual design, performances and uncompromising tone that have sustained The Big Combo's reputation as a landmark of the genre.
Media
Bonus Materials
- New Audio Commentary with acclaimed film historian and noir expert Imogen Sara Smith.
- New Interview with celebrated author and critic Philippe Garnier.
- How a Man Makes a Living — How a Little Combo Made The Big Combo: New video essay by Scout Tafoya.
- The Crooked Way (1949) – Another brutal noir with spectacular expressionistic cinematography by John Alton with unfiltered filming on the 1940s post-war streets of Los Angeles.
- Audio Commentary with Eddie Muller, the “Czar of Noir” and founder of the Film Noir Foundation.
- Geoff Andrew, respected critic and curator, on The Big Combo.
- Wagon Wheel Joe: A fascinating video appreciation of Lewis’s dynamic camerawork and recurring motifs, tracing his evolution from B-movie craftsman to master stylist.
Cast & Crew
Actors:- Cornel Wilde as Det. Lt. Leonard Diamond
- Richard Conte as Mr. Brown
- Brian Donlevy as Joe McClure
- Jean Wallace as Susan Lowell
- Robert Middleton as Capt. Peterson
- Lee Van Cleef as Fante
- Earl Holliman as Mingo
- Helen Walker as Alicia Brown
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Additional Details
Label: IGNITE
Genre: Film Noir
Language: English
Run Time: 87 mins
Region: 1
Release Date: 12/15/26
UPC: 850045066109