Official Film Noir on Blu-ray Thread

[randian]

Originally Posted by Gunsnroses092789

Coming to Blu-ray 1/18 from The Film Detective

I guess more noir is always good, but Film Detective titles seem to always get terrible reviews.

[latehong]

Originally Posted by randian

I guess more noir is always good, but Film Detective titles seem to always get terrible reviews.

If you meant the films themselves, it's always debatable. But at least on the technical level, The Film Detective has redeemed itself lately. Not the best of the industry, of course, but far from terrible. They're doing more than a decent job of restoring obscure, often public domain titles. See their latest semi-noir release, for example:

[randian]

Originally Posted by latehong

If you meant the films themselves, it's always debatable. But at least on the technical level, The Film Detective has redeemed itself lately. Not the best of the industry, of course, but far from terrible. They're doing more than a decent job of restoring obscure, often public domain titles.

No, I meant video and audio quality, including the restoration (if any). If they're getting better that's great. I see that DVD Beaver has a very positive review of A Life at Stake.

[crazednoir]

Originally Posted by randian

No, I meant video and audio quality, including the restoration (if any). If they're getting better that's great. I see that DVD Beaver has a very positive review of A Life at Stake.

Film detective left a scene out of their blu-ray of Hollow Triumph where Muller talks to the washerwoman.

[Gunsnroses092789]

Originally Posted by randian

No, I meant video and audio quality, including the restoration (if any). If they're getting better that's great. I see that DVD Beaver has a very positive review of A Life at Stake.

Yeah, it seems their special editions are legitimate quality releases. They used to just release mediocre prints of PD titles on BD-R (though still better than a lot of garbage PD label releases), but it seems like they've started actually licensing and restoring films nowadays.

[randian]

Originally Posted by crazednoir

Film detective left a scene out of their blu-ray of Hollow Triumph where Muller talks to the washerwoman.

Great QA! Now I know not to get the FD version in lieu of the OOP Kino version.

[bonehica]

Two with black lettering, then two with white. I remember when the 3rd set showed up and my anal retentiveness started to act up. "WTF is with the change to white lettering?!" Now I see they may be going somewhere with this...

[MifuneFan]

Great news, Warner Archive will be releasing Nicholas Ray's Party Girl (1958) on November 30th.

Deft lawyer Thomas Farrell (Robert Taylor) has found himself a role successfully defending the crooked goons of crime boss Rico Angelo (Lee J. Cobb). When Thomas meets glamorous dancer Vicki Gaye (Cyd Charisse), he falls in love with her. Vicki makes Thomas realize that he should stop representing criminals, and he tries to break ties with Angelo. However, the mobster will not let Thomas free and kidnaps Vicki in order to keep the lawyer in his

Some good info on the film from Eddie Muller (recorded of a TV broadcast so quality isn't great)

Eddie Muller's intro to "Party Girl" (1958) on TCM Noir Alley - YouTube

Source

credit to Akijama

[Gunsnroses092789]

Caught a 35mm screening of Party Girl a few years ago and it was a nice treat. Definitely going to pick this up!

[MifuneFan]

Eureka have has announced a new Blu-ray release of Champion (1949), coming out on December 6th.

https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/champion/

SPECIAL FEATURES
1080p presentation on Blu-ray
Optional English SDH Subtitles
Brand new audio commentary by professor and film scholar Jason A. Ney
Stills Gallery
A collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Richard Combs; and a piece on boxing in cinema by author / screenwriter S. B. Cave

SYNOPSIS
The brutal and uncompromising Champion earned Kirk Douglas his first ever Oscar nomination and was a huge success for director Mark Robson (Von Ryan’s Express, Valley of the Dolls).

Michael “Midge” Kelly (Douglas) is a boxer whose fight to the top is unhampered by ethics or gratitude. A hero to his fans, his friends know him to be a selfish egomaniac who allows nothing to stand in his way. After winning a fight he was supposed to throw, Mike’s life is threatened by the mob, and he is only saved through the intervention of a woman who becomes yet another pawn in his climb up the ladder. Ultimately he is forced to re-enter the ring and confront his biggest opponent… himself.

Fully restored and featuring gorgeous black and white cinematography by Franz Planer (Breakfast at Tiffany’s), the Master of Cinema Series is proud to present Champion on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

[SeanJoyce]

I'll just stick with my Olive Blu, but I give my most enthusiastic recommendation to Champion, a tremendous boxing noir and brilliant showcase for Douglas. His ability to sniff out the right project was almost unparalleled, as he turned down a bigger payday in the star-studded The Great Sinner when he realized the potential of Midge Kelly. The result? His first Oscar nomination and the vehicle that propelled him into the stratosphere as a leading man while The Great Sinner was a great fizzle.

Would pair beautifully with Body and Soul, and makes for the first in an astonishing trifecta of roles for Douglas as a morally-deficient opportunist (Ace in the Hole, The Bad and the Beautiful.)

[MifuneFan]

Full details for Kino's Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema Volume V have been announced!

Originally Posted by Kino Lorber Insider

Coming December 14th!
https://www.kinolorber.com/product/f...-story-blu-ray

Film Noir: The Dark Side of Hollywood V

BECAUSE OF YOU (1952) B&W 95 Minutes 1.37:1 Not Rated
Loretta Young (The Stranger, The Farmer’s Daughter) and Jeff Chandler (Red Ball Express, Man in the Shadow) star in the noir romance Because of You. Blonde bombshell Christine Carroll (Young) finds out too late that her fiancé Mike Monroe (Alex Nicol, The Sleeping City) is a gangster—and she’s his unwitting accessory. Emerging from prison with dark hair and an interest in nursing, she becomes a nurse’s aide in a war hospital and soon marries a battle-fatigued patient, Steve Kimberly (Chandler). The happy couple have a daughter, Kim, but Christine’s secret past threatens to tear her family apart when Mike reappears, forcing Christine to help him escape across the Mexican border. Joseph Pevney, the director of Six Bridges to Cross, Foxfire, Female on the Beach and The Midnight Story, helmed this saga of love and sacrifice, shot by the great cinematographer Russell Metty (Touch of Evil). The title song was Tony Bennett’s first number-one hit and became one of his many signature songs.

Special Features:
• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles

OUTSIDE THE LAW (1956) B&W 81 Minutes 1.85:1 Not Rated
Ray Danton (The Night Runner), Leigh Snowden (The Square Jungle) and Grant Williams (The Incredible Shrinking Man) star in the riveting film noir Outside the Law. Ex-con Johnny Salvo (Danton) is given the chance to redeem himself, and revenge the murder of an old Army buddy, by going undercover and helping the authorities break up a ring of international counterfeiters who will stop at nothing, including murder, to protect their operation. But first, Johnny must earn the respect of his Treasury-man father (Onslow Stevens, O.S.S.) and the trust of his buddy’s widow (Snowden). Prolific filmmaker Jack Arnold, the director of It Came from Outer Space, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Man in the Shadow, No Name on the Bullet and The Mouse That Roared, helmed this action-packed crime drama that features cinematography by noir specialist Irving Glassberg (Larceny, The Price of Fear).

Special Features:
• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Richard Harland Smith
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles

THE MIDNIGHT STORY (1957) B&W 90 Minutes 2.35:1 Not Rated
Screen great Tony Curtis (The Vikings, The Great Impostor) gives a powerful performance in the superb ’50s film noir The Midnight Story. When beloved priest Father Tomasino is murdered in a San Francisco alleyway, traffic cop Joe Martini (Curtis) vows to catch the killer. Ordered off the case by homicide detective Kilrain (Ted de Corsia, The Killing), Martini turns in his badge and investigates alone. He follows a hunch that Italian restaurant owner Sylvio (Gilbert Roland, Thunder Bay) could be involved and decides to hide his previous life as a cop in order to become friendly with his suspect’s family. But as Martini starts to unravel the truth behind Father Tomasino’s murder, he falls in love with the suspect’s cousin (Marisa Pavan, The Rose Tattoo), and his world is torn apart by old and new loyalties. Joseph Pevney, the director of Because of You, Six Bridges to Cross, Foxfire and Female on the Beach, helmed this compelling psychological crime drama that boasts

Special Features:
• NEW Audio Commentary by Professor and Film Scholar Jason A. Ney
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles

Attachment 266497

[mdanderson]

Fury 1936 coming from Warner. Don't know if this is really considered noir.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Fury-Blu-ray/302232/

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by mdanderson

Fury 1936 coming from Warner. Don't know if this is really considered noir.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Fury-Blu-ray/302232/

It's a couple years before the commonly accepted period for film noir started, and is generally considered a "proto-noir", similar in that way to Lang's You Only Live Once (1937)

[Pecker]

Originally Posted by mdanderson

Fury 1936 coming from Warner. Don't know if this is really considered noir.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Fury-Blu-ray/302232/

Noir enough for me.

And far more deserving than some of the films discussed here as 'neo noir', for which it just has to be about a crime to qualify.

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

I've been inordinately busy over the last year, so I'm just now catching up with the fantastic news that Nicolas Winding Refn, director of Drive (2011) and ardent admirer of one of my favorite "lost" B noirs, Guilty Bystander (1950), tracked down the last known surviving 35mm print, personally financed its restoration, and has made it available in 1080p HD for free on his website. You can view it in all its glory here: https://www.bynwr.com/articles/guilty-bystander-1950

I hope this eventually leads to a blu-ray release.

Finally got around to watching Guilty Bystander, and I was blown away by it - fantastic cinematography and a great central performance by Zachary Scott, he genuinely looks like a man going through the wringer. This is high quality B noir, do yourself a favour and check it out.

Thanks for the recommendation noirjunkie - this one goes straight onto my most wanted list for a physical media release.

[kingdoxie]

For a fun way to watch film noir in November, check out the Noirvember 2021 challenge.

[playa787]

It's probably been mentioned here before, but I just had to mention how I bought Yasuzo Masumura's "Black Test Car" as a blind buy, and thought it was one of the coolest neo-noir films I've ever seen. Set during the era the where Japanese car companies were really coming into their own as the powerhouses they would become, the movie has vicious executives with questionable morals, war veterans conducting corporate espionage, prostitutes, bribes, frame jobs, the whole nine yards. Excellent moody cinematography with the score to match. If you like Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well, you'd dig this. Definitely recommend checking it out, even if you can just rent it. Great cover art by the amazing Tony Stella as well. It's part of the current Arrow sale I believe.

[TylerDurden389]

I know I'm gonna get the "people laughing gifs" for asking this but, is there ANY way to get "Kiss of Death" on blu that plays on Region A players? I watched it with my Dad the other day and I loved it. My Dad's dvd was foreign (both the covers, and when I put the DVD in, it automatically had foreign subtitles). I wanna get him (and myself) a better copy.

I'm guessing I'm gonna have to buy him a region free bluray player and get the UK release, right?

[filmlover22]

I believe you will need to 1) get a region free player (highly recommended!) or 2) pay insane price for TT on ebay.