Generally a genre that benefits from a sense of claustrophobia, the super-widescreen CinemaScope process doesn’t sound like a great fit for a film noir effort. Nonetheless, 1955’s I Died a Thousand Times used its 2.55:1 dimensions, for better or for worse.

After eight years in prison, Roy Earle (Jack Palance) gets his release. While he wants to retire, his former mob boss “Big Man” (Lon Chaney Jr.) pushes Roy to conduct one last heist.

This sends Roy and a team of misfits to a mountain resort. They plan a major robbery but they encounter a series of snags.

As I mentioned at the start, a noir-leaning tale like Died seems like an awkward fit for the 2.55:1 CinemaScope frame. Warner clearly wanted to push the format as heavily as possible, though, so I guess they figured it didn’t matter if the subject suited the photography.

I admit that this nagged at me as I watched Died. The cinematography strongly left the impression of a broad epic and it felt too expansive for a tale with the more intimate range seen here.

Not that this harpooned Died, though. Even if the framing felt wrong for the story at hand, the movie still becomes a reasonably engaging crime flick.

Albeit one without a lot of creativity. “Criminal Who Wants Out But Finds Himself Drawn Back In” goes back ages, and Died doesn’t find anything especially fresh to do with the theme.

Still, with a good script from WR Burnett and more than competent direction from Stuart Heisler, the movie progresses at a good pace and offers reasonable drama. We get a solid cast as well.

Along with Palance and Chaney, we find Shelley Winters, Lee Marvin, and Earl Holliman among others. We even see Dennis Hopper in a tiny role.

Palance does well as our lead, especially given the manner in which the script pushes his emotional range. While we expect him to pull off the hard-bitten tough guy, Palance also manages a softer side.

Parts of Died revolve around a semi-sorta love triangle among Roy, beautiful young physically-impaired small-town girl Velma Goodhue (Lori Nelson) and gangster gal Marie Garson (Winters). This follows some surprising paths, especially as they accentuate Roy’s emotions.

Though these threads potentially seem sappy, Palance plays them with such honesty that they work. He lacked the right look for a leading man but he showed convincing dimensionality in this role.

All of this comes together for a fairly strong mix of crime tale and melodrama. Died takes us on a reasonably compelling journey.

I Died a Thousand Times appears in an aspect ratio of 2.55:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The image largely satisfied.

Overall sharpness worked well. Some softness inevitably accompanied transitions, and a few shots became oddly “off”, but the majority of the film looked accurate and well-defined.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects appeared, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt natural and the image lacked print flaws.

Colors tended toward a reasonably natural palette, albeit with a slightly blue cast. The hues felt full and rich.

Blacks seemed dark and dense, while low-light shots came across as clear and smooth. Expect appealing visuals here.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio, the soundfield largely accentuated music. Effects and dialogue largely remained centered, with only occasional instances of those elements from other channels.

On the other hand, music boasted fine stereo separation throughout the film. The score turned into the most involving aspect of the mix.

Audio quality seemed fine given the movie’s vintage. Dialogue remained intelligible and reasonably concise, without edginess or other concerns.

Effects lacked great dimensionality, but they nonetheless came across with decent accuracy and clarity. Given the nature of the narrative, these elements didn’t play a major role in the proceedings anyway.

Music demonstrated above-average range for a 70-year-old track and became a highlight. This felt like a pretty good mix for its era.

Along with the film’s trailer, we get two vintage cartoons. As implied by their titles, Hare Brush (7:25) and Sahara Hare (7:07) offer Bugs Bunny affairs.

In the former, Bugs battles “Riff Raff Sam” in the desert. During the latter, corporation CEO Elmer Fudd believes he’s a rabbit and manages to swap places with Bugs, who eventually comes to think he’s Elmer.

Both offer amusement. Brush turns into the superior of the two, though, simply due to its more creative premise.

A remake of the Bogart effort High Sierra, I Died a Thousand Times stands on its own. Thanks to a strong cast and a fairly concise script, the movie delivers an engaging mix of crime and character drama. The Blu-ray brings appealing visuals and audio but it lacks substantial supplements. I find a lot to like about the film.