The Criterion Collection

[octagon]

Originally Posted by *PREACHER*

Honestly surprised that there isn't a thread dedicated to the genre on here yet with films that have been released/will be released and wish lists/general conversation.

Anyone can correct if i'm wrong though. I do apologize.

Owl hit the main point - noir discussions and/or threads invariably get bogged down by 'what is noir anyway'. Still, it is a little surprising more people don't try to get a noir thread started.

It's a great topic.

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I'm not so sure about that, Owl. Granted: Pursued, Force of Evil, etcetera. are great, but they've released a bunch of duds too. The only film I genuinely like in the film noir set is Rope of Sand, for example.

Might have to give Owl this one too. Releasing duds isn't inconsistent with being a wonderful distributor. In fact, releasing quality transfers of stuff that would have been shovelware in the DVD days might be one of the cooler things they do.

I might not love a lot of their releases but I love that they're releasing them.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I'm not so sure about that, Owl. Granted: Pursued, Force of Evil, etcetera. are great, but they've released a bunch of duds too. The only film I genuinely like in the film noir set is Rope of Sand, for example.

I can't wait to go through the Film Noir collection and share my thoughts. With my purchases to date, Olive Films has a perfect track record. My research into these film noir titles indicates that I'm in for a fun time. I not expecting these to top Night of the Hunter or Sweet Smell of Success, but the second-tier films of a genre can have their own charm.

[silverlakephil]

Originally Posted by *PREACHER*

Honestly surprised that there isn't a thread dedicated to the genre on here yet with films that have been released/will be released and wish lists/general conversation.

Anyone can correct if i'm wrong though. I do apologize.

Not to take away from this great site, but dvdbeaver.com does have a dedicated site to Film Noir on their web page. They regularly update it whenever a Blu-ray version becomes available. Not sure how thorough it is, but I personally have the Film Noir encyclopedia for reference as well.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by octagon

One of the real benefit of this generation of home video is the people doing the transfers aren't as terrified of 'crushing' blacks and 'losing' detail as broadcasters used to be. I grew up watching black and white TV which was usually more along the lines of grey-and-darker grey TV.

I had a black-and-white television in my bedroom during childhood. This is a timely discussion, because I started watching Season Four of The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series last night, and I'm once again astounded at how well the high definition presentation knocks all of my past experiences with the show out of the park. It's a long way from watching those shows late night in my childhood bedroom on that old TV.

(Add me to the list of those who were surprised to find out that the 1958 version of The Fly was a color film.)

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by octagon

Owl hit the main point - noir discussions and/or threads invariably get bogged down by 'what is noir anyway'. Still, it is a little surprising more people don't try to get a noir thread started.

It's a great topic.



Might have to give Owl this one too. Releasing duds isn't inconsistent with being a wonderful distributor. In fact, releasing quality transfers of stuff that would have been shovelware in the DVD days might be one of the cooler things they do.

I might not love a lot of their releases but I love that they're releasing them.

Definitely. I appreciate their work and I am glad these releases exit, but i just wish the films were more impressive. But that's kind of silly of me to complain anyways. Olive doesn't claim that same mark of "significance" that Criterion does.

[Alex DeLarge]

That's funny because I too "remembered" it in black and white from my childhood. And the colors on the blu really pop at times!

[Abdrewes]

Just a heads up. Matt Zoller Seitz just tweeted this:

@mattzollerseitz: Visit http://t.co/vQCppGJw0l Monday 10/14 to see a new 7-chapter Wes Anderson video essay series by me and @stevensantos.

[SammyJankis]

His Wes Anderson book looks so nice. Definitely want to get my hands on it, although I'll probably just wait until Christmas. The trailer for his latest - which has to have the most impressive ensemble in years - is supposed to release at the end of this month.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Alex DeLarge

That's funny because I too "remembered" it in black and white from my childhood. And the colors on the blu really pop at times!

I think that The Fly looks wonderful on the new Blu-ray. I had the old DVD box set with all three films until I sold it to make way for the Blu-ray of this first film, but that DVD experience was my first realization that The Fly was a color film and not black-and-white like I thought when I was younger.

My father has never liked horror movies. When I was growing up, he loved renting all of these ultra-violent cop movies (Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Dirty Harry, etc.) with people getting blown away by bullets every few minutes, but he always refused to watch anything remotely supernatural or overtly horror-related. Once, when I was at a family reunion, my two uncles on my father's side explained why. My father had seen The Fly when he was a pre-teen, and the movie had freaked him out for several days.

[SlickDamian]

Originally Posted by blkhrt

In A Lonely Place has been one of my most wanted titles since I started buying Criterion movies. All of this discussion has inspired me to change my avatar back to the image I used a couple of years ago. Bye for now, Laura Palmer.

I remember this avatar from way back.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by SlickDamian

I remember this avatar from way back.

Speaking of avatars and film noir, I like yours. Revanche is quite an amazing neo-noir film in its own right.

[SlickDamian]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Speaking of avatars and film noir, I like yours. Revanche is quite an amazing neo-noir film in its own right.

For sure, definitely a classic. Amazing atmosphere.

[spanky87]

Originally Posted by SlickDamian

For sure, definitely a classic. Amazing atmosphere.

It's always great to see a revenge film with substance, instead of the usual senseless bloodbaths they usually become.

[Mansinthe]

is Pale Flower a "Noir" film? liked that one alot. or is it already new wave?


Watched Night of the Hunter the day before yesterday. and the whole making of and second disc yesterday ! what a great release !

probably gonna watch it again with the commentary track but since they mentioned the influence of Fritz Lang (mabuse) and griffith in general i want more movies of both :P

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

is Pale Flower a "Noir" film? liked that one alot. or is it already new wave?


Watched Night of the Hunter the day before yesterday. and the whole making of and second disc yesterday ! what a great release !

probably gonna watch it again with the commentary track but since they mentioned the influence of Fritz Lang (mabuse) and griffith in general i want more movies of both :P

I've never seen Pale Flower, but it's shown up on several film noir lists that I've seen.

I do consider Akira Kurosawa's Stray Dog to be a film noir.

I'm glad that you enjoyed The Night of the Hunter!

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

is Pale Flower a "Noir" film? liked that one alot. or is it already new wave?


Watched Night of the Hunter the day before yesterday. and the whole making of and second disc yesterday ! what a great release !

probably gonna watch it again with the commentary track but since they mentioned the influence of Fritz Lang (mabuse) and griffith in general i want more movies of both :P

NIGHT OF THE HUNTER is definitely a great film on its own and with the disc of outtakes it is one of Criterion's all-time best releases.

And yes, I'd definitely call PALE FLOWER a film noir, but it could also be considered New Wave, as can BRANDED TO KILL, which is even more new wave but just as noir. If you liked those, you should certainly get Criterion's Nikkatsu Noir Eclipse set, which is great, and probably also The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara Eclipse set, which I just got on Criterion's latest flash sale and watched throughout this past week (although it has only one or two titles that fit into film noir, the rest of the films are pretty amazing too). It's a shame they're only on DVD, but most of the transfers still look as good or even better than far too many overly-softened Blu-rays released by other companies.

[Mansinthe]

i will get the eclipse sets of

Kurahaha (set 28)
shochiku horror (set 37)
Kobayashi (set 38)
Oshima (set 21)
nikkatsu noir (set 17)


next 2 months will be really expensiv since i want the zatochi set and some other criterion blurays as well. plus i already preordered some MoC blurays...

[Abdrewes]

I am going to have a For all Mankind/Gravity double feature today

[smoss469]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

i will get the eclipse sets of

Kurahaha (set 28)
shochiku horror (set 37)
Kobayashi (set 38)
Oshima (set 21)
nikkatsu noir (set 17)

I'm getting the Nikkatsu set for Christmas and will look into the Shochiku, Samuel Fuller, Oshima's 60's and Warped Kurahara set. If the price is right for the B&N sale I'll get at least a few.

[ccg1978]

Originally Posted by jrsl76

Night Of The Hunter
Badlands

Down By Law would be my 3rd pick.

Snagged Night of the Hunter with some Amazon points. Wanted to grab another but the wife needed coffee for the Vue