Official Film Noir on Blu-ray Thread

[playingphysicist]

Well the one I care about the most definitely is a noir and that's One Way Street which I've mentioned on here before. Featuring the Great Dan Duryea.

Some of those are edge cases to be called noirs but there are at least four or five I see that are for sure.

[filmlover22]

I stopped worrying about whether these are truly "noir" or not a long time ago. Most are not, imho. I just accept them as good to very good crime dramas from the 1950s. I have enjoyed 95% of these so far and look forward to getting future sets.

As far as getting them 'dirt cheap,' on a Kino sale these typically go for $25 -that is about $8.33 a movie. To me, that is a bargain.

[Torgon]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

I stopped worrying about whether these are truly "noir" or not a long time ago. Most are not, imho. I just accept them as good to very good crime dramas from the 1950s. I have enjoyed 95% of these so far and look forward to getting future sets.

As far as getting them 'dirt cheap,' on a Kino sale these typically go for $25 -that is about $8.33 a movie. To me, that is a bargain.

Agree. Most of these are not true 'noir' but they are pretty good movies as you said. $25 or less is great for these sets. I've bought them for various prices through Amazon and Kino. I've got sets 1-7 and I'm tempted to buy 8 now, but might wait for Kino's next sale (help to use it for free shipping). As a completist, I'm obligated to buy all of these, lol.

[Quake1028]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

I stopped worrying about whether these are truly "noir" or not a long time ago. Most are not, imho. I just accept them as good to very good crime dramas from the 1950s. I have enjoyed 95% of these so far and look forward to getting future sets.

As far as getting them 'dirt cheap,' on a Kino sale these typically go for $25 -that is about $8.33 a movie. To me, that is a bargain.

Originally Posted by Torgon

Agree. Most of these are not true 'noir' but they are pretty good movies as you said. $25 or less is great for these sets. I've bought them for various prices through Amazon and Kino. I've got sets 1-7 and I'm tempted to buy 8 now, but might wait for Kino's next sale (help to use it for free shipping). As a completist, I'm obligated to buy all of these, lol.

1000000000% agree with everything you 2 fine people said.

[filmlover22]

the other nice things about these box sets is that there is never a problem getting free shipping

[GeoffOliver]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

I stopped worrying about whether these are truly "noir" or not a long time ago. Most are not, imho. I just accept them as good to very good crime dramas from the 1950s. I have enjoyed 95% of these so far and look forward to getting future sets.

As far as getting them 'dirt cheap,' on a Kino sale these typically go for $25 -that is about $8.33 a movie. To me, that is a bargain.

It’s a reasonable price. Still, I’d personally rather these be packaged in larger (but physically smaller) sets at a similar price point ala Kitt Parker/Mill Creek’s Noir Archive sets. 27 movies for a combined $70.

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by GeoffOliver

It’s a reasonable price. Still, I’d personally rather these be packaged in larger (but physically smaller) sets at a similar price point ala Kitt Parker/Mill Creek’s Noir Archive sets. 27 movies for a combined $70.

They don't have any special features, though. I'd rather pay the extra money and get the extras.

[playingphysicist]

While I'd like more extras, the way I look at the box sets, is that we're lucky to get some of those on bluray at all. Maybe the only way for Kino to make it bankable, not all of the noirs did well.

[Gunsnroses092789]

To be honest, I'm surprised the following films from Universal got individual releases and not part of box sets from Kino:

Among the Living
Larceny
The Accused
Woman In Hiding
Naked Alibi

They're all good, but none of them super great. About on par with the average title from their sets. Some of the films in the sets I prefer even I wonder how those individual titles did sales-wise.

The Web, So Evil My Love, Kiss The Blood Off My Hands, The Suspect, Shakedown, among others, I totally think deserved the individual releases they got.

[randian]

All these new Kino sets are 1950s movies. Surely the 1940s haven't been mined out yet? That's more the heyday of noir.

Speaking of these sets, I noticed that they don't collate correctly. "Dark Side of Cinema IX" appears in lists before "Dark Side of Cinema VIII", because it is being collated alphabetically and "IX" comes before "VIII" in that case. How can this be fixed?

[The Great Owl]

I have been ordering the Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema sets all along.

Except that I do not have a box for the first set, because the first batch of movies were released as standalone titles first before they were compiled into the set.

I sent an email to Kino Lorber Studio Classics a while back asking if there were a way that I could just buy the box itself for the first set, since I already own the titles, but I never heard back from them.

[playingphysicist]

Originally Posted by Gunsnroses092789

To be honest, I'm surprised the following films from Universal got individual releases and not part of box sets from Kino:

Among the Living
Larceny
The Accused
Woman In Hiding
Naked Alibi

They're all good, but none of them super great. About on par with the average title from their sets. Some of the films in the sets I prefer even I wonder how those individual titles did sales-wise.

The Web, So Evil My Love, Kiss The Blood Off My Hands, The Suspect, Shakedown, among others, I totally think deserved the individual releases they got.

I thought the Accused was good enough for it's own. Probably the best out of those.

[GeoffOliver]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

They don't have any special features, though. I'd rather pay the extra money and get the extras.

I think these just have one commentary per movie, and they're nice to have since a lot of these movies have very little info about them online, but I'd be happy with just the movies too, like the Noir Archive sets. (This doesn't count Vol. 1, which had zero extras, but 5 movies.)

Or maybe instead of 3-movie sets at $30, maybe 6-movie sets at $50 with a smaller case? They could also mimic the noir archive sets and do 9-movie sets, but for $70.

Either way, now that it looks like they're running out of Universal noirs to pull from, I'm wondering if future volumes will be from the Paramount and/or Sony catalogs. They could also maybe do another MGM set. So far, 16 of these sets have Universal titles and two have MGM.

[playingphysicist]

Kino Lorber Insider said there is going to be another Universal deal which they want to include another noir boxset in. What Universal noirs are left?

[filmlover22]

Originally Posted by GeoffOliver

I think these just have one commentary per movie, and they're nice to have since a lot of these movies have very little info about them online, but I'd be happy with just the movies too, like the Noir Archive sets. (This doesn't count Vol. 1, which had zero extras, but 5 movies.)

Or maybe instead of 3-movie sets at $30, maybe 6-movie sets at $50 with a smaller case? They could also mimic the noir archive sets and do 9-movie sets, but for $70.

Either way, now that it looks like they're running out of Universal noirs to pull from, I'm wondering if future volumes will be from the Paramount and/or Sony catalogs. They could also maybe do another MGM set. So far, 16 of these sets have Universal titles and two have MGM.

Yes. Having more movies in thinner cases would help, though at this point I doubt Kino will change their plans

[FantasticMrFox]

Does anyone read the Noir City Magazine from the Film Noir Foundation? They started to sell physical copies from Vol #31 up as print on demand via Amazon. This ist the latest issue #34:

https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B0B1F...s%2C265&sr=8-1

Thinking about getting them, but I already got plenty of great books about Noir, and also a digital Sight & Sound subscription. Not sure if it's worth or if I also just dig some of them digitally?

[crazednoir]

Originally Posted by FantasticMrFox

Does anyone read the Noir City Magazine from the Film Noir Foundation? They started to sell physical copies from Vol #31 up as print on demand via Amazon. This ist the latest issue #34:

https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B0B1F...s%2C265&sr=8-1

Thinking about getting them, but I already got plenty of great books about Noir, and also a digital Sight & Sound subscription. Not sure if it's worth or if I also just dig some of them digitally?

The Noir City Magazines are very good and would be a worthy supplement to your "great books about Noir"

[MifuneFan]

As mentioned in the Flicker Alley thread, the Argentine Noir El Vampiro Negro (The Black Vampire) (1953) which is a re-working of Fritz Lang's M, will be getting a Blu-ray release on November 1st.

https://www.flickeralley.com/classic...443/category=0

DELUXE 2-DISC BLU-RAY / DVD EDITION

A virtually unknown remake of M, Fritz Lang’s seminal 1931 thriller, El vampiro negro (The Black Vampire) is a revisionist take on the tale by Argentine director Román Viñoly Barreto. Thanks to the diligent efforts of the Film Noir Foundation, a stunning restoration of the film was created by UCLA Film & Television Archive, now presented in its first-ever home video release – with special thanks to Fernando Martín Peña and Argentina Sono Film.

Argentine beauty Olga Zubarry stars as a cabaret performer trying to protect her young daughter (Gogó) from a mysterious murderer while parrying the advances of the prosecutor (Roberto Escalada) pursuing the killer. Nathán Pinzón, who also appeared in Viñoly Barreto’s The Beast Must Die (La bestia debe morir) a year earlier, gives an impressive against-type performance as the disturbed pedophile hiding in plain sight.

This variation on Fritz Lang’s classic is a proto-feminist reimagining of the tale, focusing on the lives of female characters ignored in the earlier iterations. The film’s brooding cinematography (by Aníbal González Paz) enhances Olga Zubarry’s exceptional performance, which won her the Argentine Film Critics Association award for Best Actress. El vampiro negro (The Black Vampire) is a significant rediscovery in cinema history, and, thanks to the dedication of the Film Noir Foundation and its partners at UCLA Film & Television Archive, it is now available in a beautiful Blu-ray/DVD dual-format edition packed with special features.

BONUS MATERIALS INCLUDE:

• Introduction to El vampiro negro (The Black Vampire) – by author, film historian, and “noirchaeologist” Eddie Muller
• The 3 Faces of “M” – a critical comparison of the three versions of M, produced by Steven C. Smith and writer/film historian Alan K. Rode, and featuring interviews with writer/film historian Imogen Sara Smith, biographer Patrick McGilligan, biographer Stephen Youngkin, film critic Beth Accomando, Eddie Muller, and Alan K. Rode
• Art in the Blood – an interview with visual artist Daniel Viñoly, son of visionary director Román Viñoly Barreto
• Audio Commentary– by Argentina’s leading film archivist and cinema historian Fernando Martín Peña
• Souvenir Booklet – featuring an essay by Imogen Sara Smith, with rare original photographs, posters, and ephemera
• English Subtitles and Spanish SDH Subtitles

Credit to Gunsnroses092789

[jetthead]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I have been ordering the Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema sets all along.

Except that I do not have a box for the first set, because the first batch of movies were released as standalone titles first before they were compiled into the set.

I sent an email to Kino Lorber Studio Classics a while back asking if there were a way that I could just buy the box itself for the first set, since I already own the titles, but I never heard back from them.

I was in the same boat when that first box set was announced. The KL rep who was posting here at that time got me the slipcase after I sent him a PM with a pic of the 5 individual titles I had already bought. But that was a long time ago...

[Rafows]

Originally Posted by playingphysicist

Kino Lorber Insider said there is going to be another Universal deal which they want to include another noir boxset in. What Universal noirs are left?

There are several remaining titles, some of them with legal issues. Here is a (non exhaustive) list:

- I stole a million (1939)
- Nightmare (1942)
- Fly-by-Night (1942)
- Dr. Broadway (1942)
- Christmas Holiday (1944)
- The Unseen(1945)
- The Crimson Canary (1945)
- Inside Job (1946)
- Danger Woman (1946)
- Smooth as Silk (1946)
- Saigon (1947)
- Smash-Up, The Story of a Woman (1947)
- Ivy (1947)
- The Saxon Charm (1948)
- The Great Gatsby(1949)
- Chicago Deadline (1949)
- The Story of Molly X (1949)
- Illegal Entry (1949)
- City Across the River (1949)
- Borderline (1950)
- South Sea Sinner (1950)
- Iron Man (1951)
- Under the Gun (1951)
- Fat Man (1951)
- Steel Town (1952)
- Forbidden (1953)
- Girls in the Night (1953)
- Playgirl (1954)
- Running Wild (1955)
- Edge of Hell (1956)
- Mister Cory (1957)
- Slaughter on 10th Avenue (1957)
- Istambul (1957)
- Live Fast, Die Young (1958)
- Girls on the Loose (1958)