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| Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics Vol. 1 | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 26 2009, 03:27 PM (355 Views) | |
| Laughing Gravy | Aug 26 2009, 03:27 PM Post #1 |
Revered in the UK
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From Sony: More Noir! For a number of years, the UCLA Film and Television Archive has been gracious in programming a series of films under the moniker of Columbia Restorations. The series features newly-restored prints of films from the Columbia Pictures library that we have been working to preserve and restore. Last fall, the series focused on actresses from Columbia noir titles of the 1940's and 1950's. Gloria Grahame, Lizabeth Scott, Nina Foch, just to name a few. This series received an enthusiastic review from Ken Turan in the Los Angeles Times and led us to think, why not create a DVD release around this concept? The result, The Bad Girls of Noir boxed set, featuring six of the films (Over-Exposed, The Glass Wall, One Girl's Confession, Two of a Kind, Bad for Each Other, and The Killer that Stalked New York) will be released in early 2010. It is really the first release of its kind with this particular focus and we hope fans of the genre will enjoy it. |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Aug 27 2009, 08:28 AM Post #2 |
Mouth Breather
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Wow! These are all pictures I never thought I'd get to see. Thanks, Sony. |
| We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Aug 30 2009, 04:32 PM Post #3 |
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Revered in the UK
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Sony is making a big noir commitment; coming in November: The Sniper (1952), The Big Heat (1953), 5 Against the House (1955), The Lineup (1958), Murder by Contract (1958). All except The Big Heat are new to DVD. |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Sep 3 2009, 06:56 PM Post #4 |
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Mouth Breather
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This is a commitment indeed and a swell collection too. All five movies are more than worth watching. The first box I've been able to wholeheartedly recommend in quite a while. Now about all those serials Sony owns... |
| We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Nov 11 2009, 06:38 AM Post #5 |
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Revered in the UK
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I've watched three of the five films in the set so far, and am impressed not only by the films themselves but by the outstanding quality of the prints and transfers used - these films look absolutely breathtaking, whether watching them on my big-screen TV or my laptop. Crisp, dark, and beautiful. Wow! In the order I've watched... The Lineup (1958, directed by Don Siegel) is based on a Dragnet-type TV show, but the cops are really supporting characters in the film as we follow a band of drug-smugglers and killers in this incredible movie. U.S. tourists unwittingly smuggle heroin into San Francisco via souvenirs, which are then retrieved by a pair of hit-men, who not only reclaim their prizes but wipe out the innocent victims. Eli Wallach is outstanding as the chief killer; lotsa great scenes of late '50s SF, including the Sutros bathhouse (not there any more) and the Cliff House (still there). I loved this movie, and check out the openly gay scene in the steam bath. Interesting stuff! The Sniper (1952, directed by Edward Dmytryk) is also set in SF, and the Coit Tower seems to be in the background of every shot. Speaking of shots, women are being targeted by a psycho with a rifle, Arthur Franz. An attempt is made to make him a sympathetic character, which is I think the film's only flaw; the guy's nuts and I felt no sympathy for him just because he has mother issues. The murders are shockingly brutal (this is a Stanley Kramer production), particularly the first one. Don't watch the trailer before you watch the movie! Marie Windsor is excellent in this film. Adolphe Menjou & Gerald Mohr are the detectives on the case. I enjoyed this movie a lot. The Big Heat (1953, directed by Fritz Lang) is a certified classic. Glenn Ford is an honest cop on the trail of the gangster who is bribing all the dishonest cops and politicians; Lee Marvin is unforgettable as a brutal henchman, and Gloria Graham is his moll. Unlike the two films mentioned above, this seems to be a major production with a big budget and of course the Lang touch makes it stand above most other films in the genre. Lots of great dark sequences and tricky camera angles; watch for the two coffee-throwing scenes for a demonstration of Lang's composition and what it brought to films. I like Ford well enough, but never found him particularly interesting as an actor, but he sure the hell is interesting here as he turns from a frustrated cop on the beat to an avenging angel capable of almost anything. A great film. |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Nov 11 2009, 06:49 AM Post #6 |
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Mouth Breather
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I wholeheartedly agree with every word of the above, and am glad to report that the other two movies in the collection are good too. This is a one-in-a thousand set and belongs in any collection just for the splendid films -- now that I know the prints and transfers are high-quality, I placed my order. It's fairly rare for me to buy movies I've already seen, but these I know I will watch again and again. |
| We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Nov 11 2009, 07:12 AM Post #7 |
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Revered in the UK
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Bonus material includes a few mini-documentaries, introductions (about 3 min. each) from Martin Scorsese and others, and the original trailers. A set like this cries out for a major documentary, but there is commentary (that I didn't have time to listen to) so that's something. |
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| Laughing Gravy | Nov 15 2009, 08:10 AM Post #8 |
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Revered in the UK
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5 Against the House (1955, dir. Phil Karlson) is an interesting failure. A quartet of college students (all of whom appear to be older than most of the college professors I had) hatch up a hairbrained scheme to knock over a casino in Reno; it's a mental exercise, but one of the four decides to force the others into carrying out the plot. I loved seeing Kim Novak, breathtaking in an early role, and the authentic Tahoe and Reno location work (much of it at landmarks that aren't there any more). The case is a weird conglomerate of people-ya-recognize-but-were-never-A-stars, including Guy Madison, Alvy Moore, Kermit Mathews, and - as a psycho Korean War vet - Brian Keith(!). William Conrad (looking no more than a little chunky) is the cash runner that sets the rather stupid holdup plot in motion. This is a quintessential "the plot makes no sense, so shut off your mind and enjoy the various bits 'n' pieces of it" movie. You'll like Alvy Moore's wisecracking nebbish, who has all the good lines in the picture ("When I take a drink, I'm a new man. The problem is, then the new man wants a drink, too.") |
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| shelbyvinje | Nov 22 2009, 01:45 PM Post #9 |
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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My set comes in Monday or Tuesday and looking forward to seeing this one. I saw THE NARROW MARGIN with Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor a few weeks ago and that now ranks as one of the top ten film noirs made. Can anyone name a few that would rank as one of the top ten? I watched a few duds the past couple weeks (though THE ASPHAULT JUNGLE wasn't bad...) |
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| Black Tiger | Nov 22 2009, 08:40 PM Post #10 |
Charter Member
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Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer is my favorite film noir. Also worth seeing is Phantom Lady, based on the Cornell Woolrich story. |
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| JazzGuyy | Nov 23 2009, 03:13 AM Post #11 |
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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This Gun For Hire with Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd and Double Indemnity with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck are two I would recommend. |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Nov 23 2009, 10:08 AM Post #12 |
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Mouth Breather
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My favorites are Out of the Past and Kiss Me Deadly, but I agree with Jazzy and El Tigre, as usual, and Gravy's reviews are right on the money, too. Noir, whatever it is, is my favorite genre, if it is a genre (for instance -- is Night of the Hunter a noir? If not, why not?). Crime Wave is another good one, certainly in my top 10. When Strangers Marry is William Castle's contribution to the genre and by far his best picture. Hitchcock's The Wrong Man, the bleakest American film I've ever seen, is a personal favorite. Fritz Lang made many of the best noirs, even noir westerns, and my favorite of his is The Big Heat (something about the improbable choice of Glenn Ford as an avenging angel really works, and Lee Marvin's something, too). The underrated Robert Siodmak specialized in noir, and besides Phantom Lady, made Christmas Holiday, Uncle Harry, and The Dark Mirror. From other noted directors, Touch of Evil and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers stand out, but many of the best noirs come from lesser directors: Road House, Pushover, and The Pitfall for instance. I could go on all day, but there's a starter kit. Film Noir: an Encyclopedic Guide to the American Style, edited by Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward was my guide to the genre, and I couldn't have done without it. Edited by panzer the great & terrible, Nov 23 2009, 11:29 AM.
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| We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Nov 23 2009, 10:57 AM Post #13 |
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Revered in the UK
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May I add Detour to the list? |
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| JazzGuyy | Nov 23 2009, 10:58 AM Post #14 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I think you can get into also sorts of debates about what is and isn't noir. Even the critics and experts don't agree among themselves. Noir is sort of like the definition of pornography; you know it when you see it. To me you need several of the following: a corrupting woman, cynicism and despair, a crazed killer, dark city streets with lots of shadows, narrow hallways and dark rooms, a cop or detective with sadistic leanings, more than a hint that good doesn't necessarily always win, or an average guy caught up in something he doesn't understand. Feel free to add your own elements. |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Nov 23 2009, 11:25 AM Post #15 |
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Mouth Breather
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The protagonist caught up in something he/she doesn't understand is a defining factor for sure. Another common thing with the so-called noirs is a dreamlike quality that the Great Brains call oneristic. As I mentioned, the genre is just a critical term, and the people who made most noirs didn't know they were doing it (modern ones like Body Heat and Taxi Driver are, of course, exceptions). And sure, Detour is a prime example of whatever we're talking about. As I've written more times than I can count, the genre is named for a line of French paperback translations of American hard-boiled thrillers called "Serie Noir," with black covers sans art, so when the term was coined, everybody knew that the term simply meant "American crime thrillers." Similarly, "Giallos" are named for a paperback series of mostly American crime books put out in in Italy between plain yellow covers. I don't know why the Europeans do stuff like that, but I suspect laziness is a factor. Somehow I've come this far without mentioning Anthony Mann. His noirs are terrific, and Netflix has most of 'em. I forget the title of the one with Raymond Burr as the bad guy, but that's the one to start with. Another winner is The Big Combo, with a strong sense of fatalism and some surprising homosexual references. One reason B pictures are fun is that their creators could get away with stuff like that, which they couldn't in an A picture. Parenthetically, when I was growing up the term film noir didn't exist in America, but we knew there was a certain type of film that we called "rainy streets movies," which IMO is a more descriptive critical term, but I gave up trying to get people to use it back in the Serial Squadron days. Edited by panzer the great & terrible, Nov 23 2009, 11:40 AM.
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