Official Film Noir on Blu-ray Thread

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by ergumat

Any news on more Bogart? Difficult to understand how great classics like Key Largo, To have and to have not, The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, In a Lonely Place etc haven't yet had a release. The Letter with B Davis and Mildred Perce w J Crawford are other great titles I would pick up on bluray (if and when released).

Warner is supposed to be working on upgrades of one or more Bogart films for the coming year. Most fans seem to be hoping for an upgrade of the Bogie & Bacall box. If that's all we get in 2015 for Bogie, I'll consider it a win.

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Warner is supposed to be working on upgrades of one or more Bogart films for the coming year. Most fans seem to be hoping for an upgrade of the Bogie & Bacall box. If that's all we get in 2015 for Bogie, I'll consider it a win.

I would considered it a win too as it would almost double the Bogart we have on blu now but I would ideally like another title or two as well(of course!).

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by ergumat

Any news on more Bogart? Difficult to understand how great classics like Key Largo, To have and to have not, The Big Sleep, Dark Passage, In a Lonely Place etc haven't yet had a release. The Letter with B Davis and Mildred Perce w J Crawford are other great titles I would pick up on bluray (if and when released).

I hope we will see some of the more obvious titles soon, as well as the not so obvious. We are missing a lot of noir in HD, and some of my favourites were not even available on DVD like I Walk Alone. It's a real shame that a title like The Big Heat was sold off to Twilight Time, and is now unavailable at a reasonable price. Also a shame that films like The Big Sleep and In A Lonely Place can have an HD master available but no blu-ray has been produced of them! I had to import Gilda, and that was over a year ago I believe!

[The Great Owl]

Merry (Noir) Christmas, everyone!





(No, this is not a Blu-ray announcement, but I'm just getting into the spirit of things.)

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Merry (Noir) Christmas, everyone!





(No, this is not a Blu-ray announcement, but I'm just getting into the spirit of things.)

hahah as I was scrolling down my heart jumped, I thoguth it was a blu ray! I am watching some noir this holiday too, although not as organized/themed as you. Watched Brute Force blu and now gearing up to watch Naked City. My 2nd time with the latter since I got it, these are such great releases. Here's to more noir in 2015 !

[revgen]

Originally Posted by ergumat

Any news on more Bogart?

Deadline U.S.A (1952) is coming from Alive AG in Germany on February 6, 2015.

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00PHCJWP0/

[Vlad Draculi]

I got some Film Noirs for Xmas:



BTW, I saw on the front page they have John Wick listed as a Neo Noir. Wouldn't A Walk Among the Tombstones be more Noir than Wick?

[Mansinthe]

Im gonna finally watch "Out of the Past" today

[The Great Owl]

Last night, after I came home from visiting family, I watched the Criterion DVD of Blast of Silence. Released in 1961, this movie was a latecomer to the noir genre, but it conveys that classic-era film noir spirit through and through. The fact that it takes place during Christmas is icing on the cake.

I'd love to see Blast of Silence upgraded to Blu-ray someday.

[MifuneFan]

Deep Discount currently has a 15% off site-wide sale. There are some really good prices on noir titles with it. The sale is good for the next 3 days.

Apply code MYGIFT

Here's a few (prices are after coupon):

Ace in the Hole (Criterion Collection) - $19.72
Force of Evil - $13.92
Kiss Me Deadly (Criterion Collection) - $19.22
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye - $13.94
Out of the Past: $10.67
Secret Beyond the Door - $13.71
Strangers in the Night - $12.01
Sweet Smell of Success (Criterion Collection) - $19.49

[The Great Owl]

Last night, I watched the region free Italian Blu-ray of Gilda.

The transfer of Gilda on this disc looks great, and it sounds quite good on the audio front. The improvement over my old DVD is notable enough to justify my recommendation of this import for everyone on these shores who is interested in the film. The short special feature, an analysis of the movie by Martin Scorsese and Baz Luhrmann, is also in English.

Gilda is a noir masterpiece, and it's one of the most smolderingly sexy films in the history of cinema. No other actress looked quite like Rita Hayworth at the time, but, more importantly, no other actress moved quite like her at the time. It's impossible to take one's eyes off of the screen. In turn, Glenn Ford delivers an edgy and somewhat shady turn in his lead role that may remind contemporary viewers of the edgy Brad Pitt roles during the early 1990s. The music in the film is perfect, just perfect.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Last night, I watched the region free Italian Blu-ray of Gilda.

The transfer of Gilda on this disc looks great, and it sounds quite good on the audio front. The improvement over my old DVD is notable enough to justify my recommendation of this import for everyone on these shores who is interested in the film. The short special feature, an analysis of the movie by Martin Scorsese and Baz Luhrmann, is also in English.

Gilda is a noir masterpiece, and it's one of the most smolderingly sexy films in the history of cinema. No other actress looked quite like Rita Hayworth at the time, but, more importantly, no other actress moved quite like her at the time. It's impossible to take one's eyes off of the screen. In turn, Glenn Ford delivers an edgy and somewhat shady turn in his lead role that may remind contemporary viewers of the edgy Brad Pitt roles during the early 1990s. The music in the film is perfect, just perfect.

Damn shame this has been ignored in the states; 5 star classic film. I have watched the German blu countless times since I got it, and the transfer looks great! An extras packed US release seems like a no brainer for Sony. If they pass it to twilight time I will go straight to the liquor store and buy $35 of rye

I agree about Hayworth, this might be her best role in my opinion. Her acting here is extraordinary. This is also top noir storytelling, as you are as unsure about the two leads as everyone else until midway through the film and even then it isn't explicitly stated or hand fed to oyu.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Warner is supposed to be working on upgrades of one or more Bogart films for the coming year. Most fans seem to be hoping for an upgrade of the Bogie & Bacall box. If that's all we get in 2015 for Bogie, I'll consider it a win.

Agreed. I'd really love to get some of the classics on blu-ray. Now I must go home and watch Key Largo and To Have and Have Not.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by lordmorpheus72

Agreed. I'd really love to get some of the classics on blu-ray. Now I must go home and watch Key Largo and To Have and Have Not.

If they drop the Bogart Bacall box I'd be too excited. Hope they don't leave us hanging

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Last night, after I came home from visiting family, I watched the Criterion DVD of Blast of Silence. Released in 1961, this movie was a latecomer to the noir genre, but it conveys that classic-era film noir spirit through and through. The fact that it takes place during Christmas is icing on the cake.

I'd love to see Blast of Silence upgraded to Blu-ray someday.

Have seen Blast of Silence on the Criterion DVD a couple of times, and was impressed each time - incredible movie. Great atmosphere, acting, period jazz score, and location. Early 1960′s NYC is as much of a character in the film as Frankie. Setting & filming the movie in winter added to the intentional starkness; even the daytime scenes were gloomy and morose. And, also setting the film at Christmas-time emphasized the alienation/loneliness of the main character.

The second-person narration took some getting used to, but I found it very appropriate & unnerving.

I also think the casting was spot-on; I can't imagine anyone other than Baron in the lead role. He played a stoic very appropriately, and had little dialogue.

I also thought the film was extremely well-done for something that was so low-budget.

Really liked the scene in the nightclub with the singer playing the drums?! - the lyrics to the song he was singing were appropriately grim, given the noir nature of the film.

Being a fan of Taxi Driver, IMHO there are lot of connections (either intentional or not) between both films.

[maely]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Last night, I watched the region free Italian Blu-ray of Gilda.

The transfer of Gilda on this disc looks great, and it sounds quite good on the audio front. The improvement over my old DVD is notable enough to justify my recommendation of this import for everyone on these shores who is interested in the film. The short special feature, an analysis of the movie by Martin Scorsese and Baz Luhrmann, is also in English.

Gilda is a noir masterpiece, and it's one of the most smolderingly sexy films in the history of cinema. No other actress looked quite like Rita Hayworth at the time, but, more importantly, no other actress moved quite like her at the time. It's impossible to take one's eyes off of the screen. In turn, Glenn Ford delivers an edgy and somewhat shady turn in his lead role that may remind contemporary viewers of the edgy Brad Pitt roles during the early 1990s. The music in the film is perfect, just perfect.

Indeed, the Italian release of Gilda (region free) should be must-own for the regulars in this thread. Obviously Rita Hayworth speaks for herself here, but Glenn Ford as her foil shouldn't be overlooked either. Great film.

On my last viewing, the film struck me as having some uncanny similarities to Casablanca with its war context, its settings, its characters, its plot elements, and even its ending. Swap Casablanca for Buenos Aries. Rick's cafe for Ballin's casino. Captain Renault for Detective Obregon. The short, moustachioed character for Ugarte (Peter Lorre's character). And at the end,

[Show spoiler]"Major Strasser's been shot. Round up the usual suspects." for "A man can only die once, and Mundson killed himself three months ago."

And yeah, I would love to watch Blast of Silence again. That's a film I haven't seen in years; I sold all my DVDs several years back, so if any given film still hasn't been upgraded to Blu, then I probably haven't seen it in close to a decade.....

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by maely

Indeed, the Italian release of Gilda (region free) should be must-own for the regulars in this thread.

Just a note for anyone who hasn't picked up Gilda - the available releases are all region free, have the same single extra and share the same transfer. So basically pick which one is cheapest for you!

[Vlad Draculi]

Is it in English on all releases? Just wondering since some releases of movies tend to be only in the language of the country that disc is released in.

BTW, I have a list of Film Noirs that considers Notorious one, but I watched it last night and it didn't really feel like a Film Noir. It was good, but it felt more like a romantic spy thriller than Noir.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Vlad Draculi

Is it in English on all releases? Just wondering since some releases of movies tend to be only in the language of the country that disc is released in.

BTW, I have a list of Film Noirs that considers Notorious one, but I watched it last night and it didn't really feel like a Film Noir. It was good, but it felt more like a romantic spy thriller than Noir.

Yes, English language is on all releases. Sony's discs tend to be the same world wide. Blu-ray.com did a review of the Italian disc here:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Gilda.../91882/#Review

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by Vlad Draculi

Is it in English on all releases? Just wondering since some releases of movies tend to be only in the language of the country that disc is released in.

BTW, I have a list of Film Noirs that considers Notorious one, but I watched it last night and it didn't really feel like a Film Noir. It was good, but it felt more like a romantic spy thriller than Noir.

Yes, english on all. Think it's the same exact disc in all territories, just different artwork printed on it. I thought I'd mention it because when I picked it up the Spanish release was more money, looked on amazon germany and it was much cheaper for the German release. I actually like the blue cover artwork better as well on that one.

As far as Hitch and noirs, I never really put that label on any of his films. Certain noir elements pop up in most all of them, but liek you said I would say Notorious is a bit of a reach to label film noir. I'd say the original Man Who Knew Too Much is closer but that's just my take on it