Carl Franklin

Devil in a Blue Dress

Devil in a Blue Dress

The bone-deep disillusionment of postwar film noir becomes a powerful vehicle to explore America’s racial injustices in Carl Franklin’s richly atmospheric Devil in a Blue Dress, an adaptation of the hard-boiled novel by Walter Mosley. Denzel Washington has charisma to burn as the jobless ex-GI Easy Rawlins, who sees a chance to make some quick cash when he’s recruited to find the missing lover (Jennifer Beals) of a wealthy mayoral candidate in late-1940s Los Angeles—only to find himself embroiled in murder, political intrigue, and a scandal that crosses the treacherous color lines of a segregated society. Featuring breakout work by Don Cheadle as Rawlins’s cheerfully trigger-happy sidekick, this stylish mystery both channels and subverts classic noir tropes as it exposes the bitter racial realities underlying the American dream.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1995
  • 101 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #1135

Director-Approved 4K UHD + Blu-Ray Special Edition Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Carl Franklin, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Audio commentary featuring Franklin
  • New conversation between Franklin and actor Don Cheadle
  • New conversation between Walter Mosley, author of the novel on which the film is based, and novelist and screenwriter Attica Locke
  • Onstage conversation between Franklin and film historian Eddie Muller, recorded at the 2018 Noir City Film Festival in Chicago
  • Screen test for Cheadle
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Julian Kimble

New cover by James Ransome

Purchase Options

Director-Approved 4K UHD + Blu-Ray Special Edition Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Carl Franklin, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
  • Audio commentary featuring Franklin
  • New conversation between Franklin and actor Don Cheadle
  • New conversation between Walter Mosley, author of the novel on which the film is based, and novelist and screenwriter Attica Locke
  • Onstage conversation between Franklin and film historian Eddie Muller, recorded at the 2018 Noir City Film Festival in Chicago
  • Screen test for Cheadle
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Julian Kimble

New cover by James Ransome

Devil in a Blue Dress
Cast
Denzel Washington
Easy Rawlins
Tom Sizemore
Dewitt Albright
Jennifer Beals
Daphne Monet
Don Cheadle
Mouse
Maury Chaykin
Matthew Terell
Terry Kinney
Todd Carter
Mel Winkler
Joppy
Albert Hall
Odell
Lisa Nicole Carson
Coretta James
Jernard Burks
Dupree Bouchard
Credits
Director
Carl Franklin
Produced by
Jesse Beaton
Gary Goetzman
Screenplay by
Carl Franklin
Based on the book by
Walter Mosley
Executive producers
Jonathan Demme
Edward Saxon
Director of photography
Tak Fujimoto
Production designer
Gary Frutkoff
Edited by
Carole Kravetz
Music composed by
Elmer Bernstein
Costume designer
Sharen Davis
Casting by
Victoria Thomas

Current

Devil in a Blue Dress: Crossing the Line
Devil in a Blue Dress: Crossing the Line

A brutal critique of the American dream, Carl Franklin’s 1995 thriller explicitly confronts the racialized implications of classic film noir.

By Julian Kimble