Official Film Noir on Blu-ray Thread

[chidecki]

Originally Posted by RiFiFi1955

Damn where did you see it? I have only ever seen HORRIBLE prints that were almost unwatchable. It is coming to blu-ray though right? Flickr Ally?

DVR'd it when it ran a couple Friday's ago on TCM's Summer of Darkness. I'm hoping Mueller can get someone to pick up the film now that it's cleaned up and restored, (the beginning of the film had most of the damage even when cleaned).

[Show spoiler]It's nice to see a woman caught in the classic film noir web of doom.

Just watched 99 River Street, which was also a nice surprise, and wondered throughout the film 'why the title?' ---

[Show spoiler]until the ending. It was nice to see my home state (NJ) featured in a classic era film noir for the climax!

Another film I would buy in a heartbeat on blu-ray with the great Mueller commenting.

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by chidecki

DVR'd it when it ran a couple Friday's ago on TCM's Summer of Darkness. I'm hoping Mueller can get someone to pick up the film now that it's cleaned up and restored.

I've posted about this more than once already, but I'll just keep posting it as long as people keep asking. Both Too Late for Tears and Woman on the Run are slated for release by Flicker Alley on blu-ray later this year.

[Arkadin]

Too Late For Tears is a fantastic noir.
really hope that news about a bd release comes true.
Pitfall and Too Late For Tears in the same year. amazing.

[Feiereisel]

An interesting piece from Vulture about the state of "modern noir".

[Edward J Grug III]

I forgot to link this in this thread yesterday, but if you are on Letterboxd, I put the Paste.com top 100 into a list so that you can easily see what you have and haven't seen

http://letterboxd.com/tedprior/list/...st-film-noirs/

[dsman71]

Ive heard some rumors about 99 River Street as well. I am under the impression someone has it and could get a blu ray release.

I first heard about Woman on the Run and "Too Late" from some article I read.. I think it was posted here a few (dozen) pages back ? Im looking forward to dumping the Alpha video *Woman* and the Image DVD of *Too Late*, that was the best DVD release I could find of it

Ill throw another good Noir under the radar - The Great Flamarion !

[jetthead]

Amazon.uk has shipped my copy of Pickup on South Street!

[Blu Titan]

Just watched Out of the Past..not just a top noir but an excellent film. The PQ is outstanding as well .

[Ray Jackson]

Just caught To Live and Die in LA on cable the other night and was kind of disappointed by it.

I had heard it described as neo-noir.

I thought it was riddled with flaws and plot holes.

...not to mention some really bad 80s music.

[Vlad Draculi]

Originally Posted by jetthead

Amazon.uk has shipped my copy of Pickup on South Street!

I'm seeing this tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse.

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Just caught To Live and Die in LA on cable the other night and was kind of disappointed by it.

I had heard it described as neo-noir.

I thought it was riddled with flaws and plot holes.

...not to mention some really bad 80s music.

That is how I felt. I was not the least bit impressed with it. It wasn't a terrible movie by any means, but it wasn't very good either.

Originally Posted by stevieray44

If you get a chance, how would you rate the PQ/AQ of that release, since this site doesn't have a review up for it?

I'm sure you have seen plenty of reviews by now, but just in case, here are my thoughts:

I'd give the movie itself a 7/10, the video quality a 6/10 probably, the audio a 6/10 as well, and the extras a 2/10.

The video looked quite faded out in places and the remastering job was mediocre at best. There were some very beautiful shots, but at times it looked like the picture got a little blurry and faded.

The audio was pretty damn low for being DTS-HD 5.1 and rarely did I hear anything coming out of my rear speakers. Not only that, but it sounded like it echoing a few times (not as bad as Godfather II's echo though).

Extras include 2 soundless videos from the set of the movie or something with some visitor and a trailer.

For $33, I expected a whole lot more, honestly. Like Criterion levels of quality and extras

[maely]

Originally Posted by jetthead

Amazon.uk has shipped my copy of Pickup on South Street!

Do we know if that release is region free or region B-locked?

[lhslancers]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Here's a great read...

Paste Magazine's 100 Best Film Noirs of All Time

I've been a fan of Paste Magazine for many years now, because of the quality of their articles and music/movie reviews. The above list has a few controversial "Is this really noir?" choices on the list, but I'd say that it hits the mark on the genre more often than not.

I was surprised by the choice for the number one spot. I agree that it's a fantastic film noir, and that it's one of the greats of the genre, but I never would have expected it to take the top spot, especially since a film that the director made the following year usually earns much higher accolades as a noir.

Thanks for this list. Quite a few I see I need to pick up. Not sure I agree with some of the rankings of some of these films but I guess it is subjective.

[silverlakephil]

Unfortunately, I only caught the last half of the TCM broadcast this morning of The Breaking Point, a 1950 Film Noir directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) starring Film Noir regular, John Garfield. Pretty decent film, particularly,

[Show spoiler]a shootout on a boat

at the end. It was released by Warner Bros., so who knows if it will ever get a Blu-ray release. Are you listening, Warner Archive?

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Just caught To Live and Die in LA on cable the other night and was kind of disappointed by it.

I had heard it described as neo-noir.

I thought it was riddled with flaws and plot holes.

...not to mention some really bad 80s music.

Originally Posted by Vlad Draculi

That is how I felt. I was not the least bit impressed with it. It wasn't a terrible movie by any means, but it wasn't very good either.

Back 30 years ago, when it was first released, it was a cracking good film. But it's one of those films that just hasn't worn well over the years. I find that's true of a lot of Friedkin's work. Even The French Connection doesn't seem quite as compelling as it used to. Quite frankly, his piece of work that holds up the best is "Nightcrawlers", an episode he did for the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone.

[waxHead]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Back 30 years ago, when it was first released, it was a cracking good film. But it's one of those films that just hasn't worn well over the years. I find that's true of a lot of Friedkin's work. Even The French Connection doesn't seem quite as compelling as it used to. Quite frankly, his piece of work that holds up the best is "Nightcrawlers", an episode he did for the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone.

I found Friedkin's Sorcerer to be a compelling, engaging remake of Clouzot's Wages of Fear, even though it was the film which basically destroyed Friedkin's career.

I've gone back and forth on watching To Live and Die in L.A., and at this point, I think I'm just going to skip it.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Back 30 years ago, when it was first released, it was a cracking good film. But it's one of those films that just hasn't worn well over the years. I find that's true of a lot of Friedkin's work. Even The French Connection doesn't seem quite as compelling as it used to. Quite frankly, his piece of work that holds up the best is "Nightcrawlers", an episode he did for the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone.

I would argue that The Exorcist holds up as well as almost any film from the 70s.

Probably not as scary as it used to be.

...but a truly great film nonetheless.

[darkness2918]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I would submit that The Exorcist holds up as well as almost any film from the 70s.

Probably not as scary as it used to be.

...but a truly great film nonetheless.

I've seen literally countless horror movies over the yrs, been watching since I was a kid with my dad. The Exorcist is to this day still the only movie that still gives me the chills. It has absolutely held up IMO.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I would argue that The Exorcist holds up as well as almost any film from the 70s.

Probably not as scary as it used to be.

...but a truly great film nonetheless.

I never liked it, even back when it was first released. Didn't think it was scary at the time -- the only scene that made me cringe was when Regan was in the hospital getting a spinal tap. Tried watching it again sometime in the 80s, and it still didn't work for me.

Part of the problem was that I loved Blatty's novel, which wasn't really about the possession/exorcism, but about Father Karras's loss of faith, and how he regained it in the face of what happened. The film largely threw all of that away in favor of the more graphic aspects. Not that this isn't understandable -- the point was to make a scary-ass horror movie, after all -- but it wasn't what I was interested in seeing.

I thought The Omen was a better, and scarier, movie, to be honest.

[MechaGodzilla]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I would argue that The Exorcist holds up as well as almost any film from the 70s.

Probably not as scary as it used to be.

...but a truly great film nonetheless.

It holds up beautifully, I'd even say its ability - or lack thereof - to frighten the viewer has little to do with its age. I think it's always been this kind of very divisive horror, where it either works for you or, if not, risks coming off as over the top, absurd and even unintentionally funny. There were people who reacted to it that way even in the '70s.

Personally I find it very effective, always have, and I'm as non-religious as they come.

[Vlad Draculi]

I never understood how anyone could find The Exorcist scary. The whole concept is just laughable and the dialog the little girl says is comedic gold. I could take the movie as a horror comedy, but it is not even close to being a true horror movie. Hell, the whole scene with the priests and their water is just priceless.

Anyway, we got to see the 1953 movie Pick-Up on South Street today at the Alamo Drafthouse and what an excellent movie this was. I really hope it comes out to BD in the near future as I will definitely be picking it up. It did a really nice job of keeping you guessing what was going to happen and the concept was well done. The characters and acting were great, but I think my favorite moments are when the camera is zoomed close in on the characters' faces at times as you can see the sweat and stuff coming down. The only negative I can say is that it was only 80 minutes long, but felt like it was nearly 2 hours. Nevertheless, I give it an 8/10 stars. Another superb Film Noir.