Official Film Noir on Blu-ray Thread

[silverlakephil]

Originally Posted by Bogey

Hope you folks do not mind this post here, but was considering taking in a viewing of A Sweet Smell of Success tonight (probably my favorite Criterion release), but before I did thought it would be nice if these two lps found the turntable for an early morning spin. The Elmer Bernstein platter has some of my all time favorite movie jazz and the Chico Hamilton Quintet efforts are terrific. Even the likes of Shelly Manne on drums and I believe THE Johnny Williams on piano are found here. And those Decca covers! Can't beat 'em.

I love the jazz soundtrack (with commentary in between) option on Twilight Time's release of I Want To Live!

[Bogey]

Originally Posted by silverlakephil

I love the jazz soundtrack (with commentary in between) option on Twilight Time's release of I Want To Live!

It's cool when they include the soundtrack on the BD, but pretty rare for them to do this....correct?

Plus, I love the smell of vinyl in the morning.

[Juels Winnfield]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Amazon has Sudden Fear down to just $9.99 right now! Really great deal, just placed an order myself.


https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Sudde...lu-ray/141773/

Credit to dex14

I've never seen this. I was thinking of a blind buy...

[roguejp]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Amazon has Sudden Fear down to just $9.99 right now! Really great deal, just placed an order myself.


https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Sudde...lu-ray/141773/

Credit to dex14

Thank for this; got it together with another Crawford which is also a tenner (Possessed) .

[nitin]

Criss Cross caps :

http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=10092&d2=10093&c=4054

[The Great Owl]

I just watched Fritz Lang's The Blue Gardenia (1953) on TCM while visiting my mother. It's a good little film noir that stars Richard Conte, Raymond Burr, and the always gorgeous Anne Baxter.

Anne Baxter (All About Eve) plays a telephone operator, who, upon receiving a break-up letter from her military boyfriend, makes a spur-of-the-moment decision to go out for a date with Harry, a smooth ladies man played by Raymond Burr (Rear Window, Perry Mason television series). She gets tipsy, he tries to take advantage, there is a confrontation, she passes out, and goes home later. The next morning, Harry is found murdered, and she has no idea what happened. With the help of a newspaperman, played by Richard Conte (The Godfather, The Big Combo), the mystery of the murder is solved, after a few cool narrative curveballs.

This movie may not be Fritz Lang firing on all cylinders, but it's still pretty great. It's strange to see Richard Conte playing a good guy.

[Se.Vero]

Originally Posted by nitin

Criss Cross caps :

http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=10092&d2=10093&c=4054

unfortunately, at least in the screen caps, this looks quite bad:

http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=2&x=...6&l=0&i=5&go=1

look at the cheeks, there is no grain, just noise and bad compression.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just watched Fritz Lang's The Blue Gardenia (1953) on TCM while visiting my mother. It's a good little film noir that stars Richard Conte, Raymond Burr, and the always gorgeous Anne Baxter.

Anne Baxter (All About Eve) plays a telephone operator, who, upon receiving a break-up letter from her military boyfriend, makes a spur-of-the-moment decision to go out for a date with Harry, a smooth ladies man played by Raymond Burr (Rear Window, Perry Mason television series). She gets tipsy, he tries to take advantage, there is a confrontation, she passes out, and goes home later. The next morning, Harry is found murdered, and she has no idea what happened. With the help of a newspaperman, played by Richard Conte (The Godfather, The Big Combo), the mystery of the murder is solved, after a few cool narrative curveballs.

This movie may not be Fritz Lang firing on all cylinders, but it's still pretty great. It's strange to see Richard Conte playing a good guy.

Followed by Call Northside 777 on TCM.

This one really needs no words, because it's awesome across the board, but I'll write a couple of sentences.

The always great James Stewart (Vertigo, Rear Window, It's a Wonderful Life) plays a Chicago news reporter who is tasked with investigating an 11 year-old case where a man, played by Richard Conte (The Godfather, The Big Combo, The Blue Gardenia), was imprisoned for the murder of a police officer. The initially reluctant reporter is eventually convinced of the prisoner's innocence, but the law enforcement community, who are protective of their decisions and understandably belligerent against cop killers, are not swayed so easily. This 1948 film noir, which was based on a true story, features some truly incredible cinematography that puts it squarely into iconic territory in the genre.

I cannot wait for this one to be released on Blu-ray.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

I know it's not a noir but speaking of Jazz I have to give a shout out for John Carpenter's The Fog. I love the obscure Jazz tunes that Adrienne Barbeau plays job her radio show in that film. Really adds a lot to the classy style and mood of the flick.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just watched Fritz Lang's The Blue Gardenia (1953) on TCM while visiting my mother. It's a good little film noir that stars Richard Conte, Raymond Burr, and the always gorgeous Anne Baxter.

Anne Baxter (All About Eve) plays a telephone operator, who, upon receiving a break-up letter from her military boyfriend, makes a spur-of-the-moment decision to go out for a date with Harry, a smooth ladies man played by Raymond Burr (Rear Window, Perry Mason television series). She gets tipsy, he tries to take advantage, there is a confrontation, she passes out, and goes home later. The next morning, Harry is found murdered, and she has no idea what happened. With the help of a newspaperman, played by Richard Conte (The Godfather, The Big Combo), the mystery of the murder is solved, after a few cool narrative curveballs.

This movie may not be Fritz Lang firing on all cylinders, but it's still pretty great. It's strange to see Richard Conte playing a good guy.

Good supporting cast too with wise-cracking Ann Southern, George Reeves and Nat King Cole singing the title song.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Im watching Murder, My Sweet right now and I'm 17 minutes into it and I noticed a strange moment that looks to be slow motion when Dick Powell gets out of his car to look around but it also looks like it could be a disc issue. Can anyone confirm this?

[jetthead]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Im watching Murder, My Sweet right now and I'm 17 minutes into it and I noticed a strange moment that looks to be slow motion when Dick Powell gets out of his car to look around but it also looks like it could be a disc issue. Can anyone confirm this?

It's not just you. It was discussed here (starting at post #66):

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...=265963&page=4

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Se.Vero

unfortunately, at least in the screen caps, this looks quite bad:

http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=2&x=...6&l=0&i=5&go=1

look at the cheeks, there is no grain, just noise and bad compression.

That's probably just a result of Shock's poor as usual encoding. The underlying master looks good though and I am reasonably sure we will see at least a UK Arrow Academy version later this year, given the other Universal noirs they have released.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Just finished The Big Sleep and Murder, My Sweet. Both great film noirs that I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed the neo noir touch to Murder, My Sweet. It really grabbed me. I also loved The Big Sleep's pretty much incomprehensible plot that makes me very eager for repeat viewings. Also thought it was one of Bogart's best performances.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Just finished The Big Sleep and Murder, My Sweet. Both great film noirs that I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed the neo noir touch to Murder, My Sweet. It really grabbed me. I also loved The Big Sleep's pretty much incomprehensible plot that makes me very eager for repeat viewings. Also thought it was one of Bogart's best performances.

What do you mean by 'Neo-noir touch to Murder My Sweet'? I think that one is about as classic noir as they come.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by nitin

What do you mean by 'Neo-noir touch to Murder My Sweet'? I think that one is about as classic noir as they come.

With its style such as great shots of city lighting at night and the ocean through the beach house at night. It's definitely classic noir but I found those moments very neo noir.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

With its style such as great shots of city lighting at night and the ocean through the beach house at night. It's definitely classic noir but I found those moments very neo noir.

Eh no offense brother but you have a pretty muddled understanding of what constitutes "neo-noir" (a phrase/concept I can't stand and actively disavow anyways.)

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Good supporting cast too with wise-cracking Ann Southern, George Reeves and Nat King Cole singing the title song.

Nat King Cole also sings in Michael Curtiz's The Scarlet Hour from 1956, a very average noir. In the tradition of The Great Owl, this was my review (mild spoiler alert)

[Show spoiler]

The Scarlet Hour follows firmly in the footsteps of Double Indemnity and Pushover (and probably a ton of others) with a well worn crime-gone-wrong plot. It's not terrible by any means, but suffers from a lack of star power and an oversupply of poor acting. The delicious Carol Ohmart is far and away the best thing about the film, all sultry and sexy as the money hungry femme fatale. Unfortunately everyone else is as stiff as a board, especially the guy who plays her husband, who seems like he might have been doing amateur theatre the week before. EG Marshall is wasted in a menial cop role, only there to stay one step behind the action and make ridiculous leaps in logic so he can brandish the obligatory handcuffs at the end.

He also got a small speaking part in Istanbul a year later, he wasn't a bad actor. Another very average film - kind of a thriller more than noir - featuring a very ragged-looking Errol Flynn

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

Eh no offense brother but you have a pretty muddled understanding of what constitutes "neo-noir" (a phrase/concept I can't stand and actively disavow anyways.)

Im aware that Murder, My Sweet is a 40s film noir. However, there is no difference between the neon city streets in Taxi Driver vs. Murder, My Sweet. It's elements of Neo Noir (a term that was created after the 50s due to differences in subjects and characters) but doesn't mean that the film noirs of the 40s and 50s don't have Neo Noir elements. Neo Noir is just another name for film noir. Just decidedly modern noir. Without Film Noir there may never be Neo Noir.

I'm a huge Neo Noir fan so we will obviously disagree on this by default.

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Im aware that Murder, My Sweet is a 40s film noir. However, there is no difference between the neon city streets in Taxi Driver vs. Murder, My Sweet.

But that's just because the latter has borrowed from the former. It would be like saying the 1933 King Kong has elements of Kong:Skull island.

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Neo Noir is just another name for film noir. Just decidedly modern noir.

I guess there are many definitions of film noir, but I don't agree with that one. Personally, I think film noir is of its time, and anything beyond the "classic" noir period you can call neo-noir, but it's not film noir. Chinatown might be considered the most noir-y film of the last 40 years or so, but for me, it's not film noir. Noir was usually made on a tiny budget with short shooting schedules. Today (and even back in 1974 when Chinatown was made), films need to be produced and directed to within an inch of their lives, with hundreds of people working on them.

I'm with SeanJoyce - neo-noir is often just a way for proponents of a movie to borrow and abuse the cachet of film noir to try to elevate the film's coolness factor.