Official Film Noir on Blu-ray Thread

[BlueRagtop]

Alfred Newman, who composed the score for Street Scene in 1931, was Musical Director at 20th Century Fox from 1940-1960. During that time, his theme appeared in I Wake Up Screaming, Cry of the City, The Dark Corner, Kiss of Death, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Gentlemen's Agreement and How to Marry a Millionaire -- all Fox pictures; all set in NYC. The head of Fox, Darryl F. Zanuck, reportedly loved the theme. I guess Newman didn't have a problem with re-using it, and is actually credited with the score of several of those films.

The first re-use of the theme is in the opening credits of I Wake Up Screaming.

I Wake Up Screaming (1941) title sequence - YouTube

[MifuneFan]

Official details for Kino's Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XV have been posted:

Coming July 11th!
https://www.kinolorber.com/product/f...tattered-dress

FILM NOIR: THE DARK SIDE OF CINEMA XV
• Brand New HD Masters – From a 2K Scan of the 35mm Fine Grains
• NEW Audio Commentary for Man Afraid by Film Historian David Del Valle and Filmmaker David DeCoteau
• NEW Audio Commentary for The Girl in the Kremlin by Film Historians Emma Westwood and Paul Anthony Nelson
• NEW Audio Commentary for The Tattered Dress by Professor and Film Scholar Jason A. Ney
• Theatrical Trailers for Man Afraid and The Tattered Dress (Newly Mastered in 2K)
• 3 TV Spots for The Girl in the Kremlin (Newly Mastered in 2K)
• Optional English Subtitles

MAN AFRAID (1957) B&W 84 Minutes 2.35:1 Not Rated
Noir greats George Nader (Six Bridges to Cross, Appointment with a Shadow) and director Harry Keller (The Unguarded Moment, The Female Animal) come together for Man Afraid, a heart-stopping CinemaScope noir about a preacher ensnared in fear. When Reverend David Collins (Nader) and his wife Lisa (Phyllis Thaxter, Act of Violence) catch a burglar in their son’s room, the ensuing struggle ends with an injury to Lisa’s eyes and David unintentionally killing the thief. The Collins struggle with the resulting publicity, David’s own conscience, Lisa’s temporary blindness…and the burglar’s vengeful father (Eduard Franz, Cyborg 2087) who begins to stalk their son Michael (Tim Hovey, Queen Bee). The tense revenge-noir Man Afraid features a score by the great Henry Mancini (Touch of Evil).

THE GIRL IN THE KREMLIN (1957) B&W 81 Minutes 1.85:1 Not Rated
Moscow, 1953. Four terrified women prisoners are brought before Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who picks the beautiful Dasha and proceeds to punish her by shaving off her long, black hair. Moments later, a plastic surgeon leads Stalin into an operating room and transforms his face into something new. So begins the story of the world’s greatest conspiracy: The Girl in the Kremlin, a harrowing Cold War noir starring Lex Barker (The Price of Fear, The Girl in Black Stockings) and Zsa Zsa Gabor (Touch of Evil, Picture Mommy Dead). When Stalin alters his appearance, fakes his own death and vanishes, ex-O.S.S. agent Steve Anderson (Barker) and Lithuanian refugee Lili Grisenko (Gabor) lead the manhunt across Europe. Directed by Russell Birdwell (The Come On) and featuring Maurice Manson (The Creature Walks Among Us) in a chilling performance.

THE TATTERED DRESS (1957) B&W 93 Minutes 2.35:1 Not Rated
In this CinemaScope film noir from director Jack Arnold (The Incredible Shrinking Man, Man in the Shadow), top lawyer James Blane (Jeff Chandler, Red Ball Express, Female on the Beach) is a man known to do anything it takes to win a case. But when Blane defends a socialite on trial for the murder of a bartender who made a pass at his wife, a scheming sheriff (Jack Carson, The Tarnished Angels) frames Blane for bribing a juror (Gail Russell, Calcutta, Night Has a Thousand Eyes) and exposes the hidden evil simmering beneath the surface of their quiet desert town. The Tattered Dress boasts powerful performances by its never-better cast, which includes Jeanne Crain (Man Without a Star), Elaine Stewart (Night Passage), George Tobias (Rawhide), Edward Andrews (The Unguarded Moment) and Phillip Reed (Klondike Annie).

[mogwai_macabre]

Has there been any word on Indicator releasing more volumes of the Universal sets? It seemed like the Columbia ones came every couple of months, but it's been awhile since Universal #1.

[rmihai0]

Originally Posted by mogwai_macabre

Has there been any word on Indicator releasing more volumes of the Universal sets? It seemed like the Columbia ones came every couple of months, but it's been awhile since Universal #1.

Columbia Noir came out about 5 months apart ... So yes, indeed, it seems Universal Noir 2 will be out pretty soon.

[koberulz]

Pretty sure the Columbia Noirs were supposed to be spaced further apart, but got used as schedule-fillers when COVID made other releases harder to complete.

[MifuneFan]

Details for Kino's release of Force of Evil (1948) have been posted. It'll be from a new 4K restoration, and feature a new commentary from Imogen Sara Smith.

Coming July 11th!
https://www.kinolorber.com/product/f...pecial-edition

FORCE OF EVIL (1948)
• 2022 4K Restoration by Paramount Pictures, UCLA and The Film Foundation
• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Imogen Sara Smith
• Introduction by Martin Scorsese (3:33)
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Art
• Limited Edition O-Card Slipcase
• Optional English Subtitles

B&W 79 Minutes 1.37:1 Not Rated
This gritty and quintessential film noir is drenched in greed, cynicism and corruption of the soul, as embodied by John Garfield (The Postman Always Rings Twice, He Ran All the Way) in one of his most memorable roles. Garfield is perfectly cast as Joe Morse, a lawyer whose connection to a ruthless racketeer has nearly destroyed his sense of morality. His participation in a rigged numbers racket could prove disastrous for his high-strung brother (superbly played by Thomas Gomez, Key Largo), whose small-time policy bank stands to go broke when the rigged numbers pay off. Writer and director Abraham Polonsky (in his masterful directorial debut) was later victimized by the Hollywood blacklist, curtailing his career for decades until he directed Robert Redford in 1969’s Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here. Force of Evil also features a scorching supporting cast which includes Beatrice Pearson (Lost Boundaries), Paul Fix (Guns, Girls and Gangsters), Howland Chamberlain (House by the River) and film noir queen Marie Windsor (The Killing).

[MifuneFan]

Today I learned of a new, and oddly specific portmanteau:

From the back of Arrow's release of The Big Combo



Apparently, it's something that Muller calls himself, of course besides the "czar of noir", and who knows what else

Here's his explanation for it (source):

TBD: What exactly is a noircheologist? (Spell check really hated that word!)

EM: I dig through the past to rescue and revive this stuff. That’s the mission of the Film Noir Foundation, which I founded in 2006. We rescue and restore films, specifically noir, that have slipped through the cracks and disappeared. There are a lot of savvy small publishers who are noircheologists on the literary side, but I’m the guy when it comes to film. We recently resurrected a terrific 1956 noir film from Argentina, Los tallos amargos (The Bitter Stems), and preserved a sensational picture from 1952 called El vampiro negro; it’s an Argentine reworking of Fritz Lang’s M. I’m on a crusade now to show that film noir was not specifically an American thing.

[rmihai0]

He might have misspelled it? "Narcisaeologist" maybe?

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Today I learned of a new, and oddly specific portmanteau:

From the back of Arrow's release of The Big Combo



Apparently, it's something that Muller calls himself, of course besides the "czar of noir", and who knows what else

Here's his explanation for it (source):

[dr727]

Originally Posted by koberulz

Pretty sure the Columbia Noirs were supposed to be spaced further apart, but got used as schedule-fillers when COVID made other releases harder to complete.

More context for those who missed this in the Indicator thread:

Originally Posted by Indicator

[…] there were specific lockdown-related reasons for [the rapid release of the Columbia Noir sets] (in fact, they were something of a lifesaver in this respect, as we were forced to delay more hands-on projects like the Pemini Organisation), and we certainly didn't originally intend to release them that close together.

But there will certainly be more Universal Noir boxes (plural), and at least one will be out later this year.

[MifuneFan]

Very happy to announce that Warner Archive will be releasing three film noir titles for June!

Angel Face (1953)

Synopsis
Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons star in this film noir thriller about a man trapped in the web of an alluring, deadly, remorseless woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants and who conceals the evil within behind her beautiful Angel Face. Heiress Diane Tremayne (Simmons) arranges for an ambulance driver to whom she's attracted, Frank Jessup (Mitchum), to be hired as her family's chauffeur. And Diane lures Frank away from his girlfriend even as she becomes increasingly jealous of her stepmother. When Diane's parents die in an automobile accident--and the police find evidence of tampering to the car--Diane and Frank are arrested as prime suspects. After Diane convinces Frank to marry her in jail, the two are both acquitted of murder. Now, as Diane realizes that she may have been able to seduce Frank but cannot make him truly love her, she decides she would rather kill again than lose him...

Special Features: Commentary by Eddie Muller

Caged (1950)

Synopsis
Eleanor Parker delivers an Oscar-nominated performance as an girl swept into a petty crime--and a life behind bars--in this dramatic and realistic look at the effect that life inside prison has on a young woman. Marie Allen (Parker) becomes hardened by life inside a corrupt and dehumanizing penitentiary ... until she reaches the point that she will do anything to survive the place and the life inside which she is Caged!

Special Features: Screen Director's Playhouse Radio broadcast 8/2/51; Classic Warner Bros. cartoon BIG HOUSE BUNNY; Original Theatrical Trailer

The Damned Don't Cry (1950)

Synopsis
Oscar-winner Joan Crawford stars as a woman who uses and abandons men--clawing her way from poverty to wealth and social status--a woman who knows that The Damned Don't Cry! Crawford gives one of her best performances as Ethel Whitehead, an empowered woman who leaves her laborer husband and squalid factory town behind to find a new, better life. She uses a quiet accountant who adores her to meet a rich gangster, learns to carry herself as a socialite and leads a life of wealth and luxury as the kept woman of the mobster. But her ambition doesn't stop there, and she engineers a rivalry between the city's two leading underworld kingpins--a rivalry that will lead to the ruin of everything she has fought to gain.

Special Features: Commentary by Director Vincent Sherman; Featurette: The Crawford Formula: Real and Reel; Screen Director's Playhouse radio broadcast 4/5/1951; Original Theatrical Trailer

[dressedtokill]

Caged and The Damned don't Cry are considered noirs?

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by dressedtokill

Caged and The Damned don't Cry are considered noirs?

They are. Mixed with prison house drama and melodrama respectively, but still considered noir (or perhaps noir-stained like Flamingo Road, as Muller states for The Damned..)

Noir Alley: Caged (1950) intro 20180513 - YouTube

Noir Alley: The Damned Don't Cry (1950) intro 20181014 - YouTube

[usuallee]

Angel Face!! Great news. One of my most anticipated bluray debuts.

[Show spoiler]One of the darker endings in noir for sure.

I'm so happy I won't even say "where's Act of Violence, Warner Bros??". Haha seriously though, where would we be without Warner Archive?? They're doing such great work.

Not as excited about the noirish melodramas, although I'd put Clash By Night in that category, and that film is f-ing great. So Caged and The Damned Don't Cry might be worth a look too. I'd heard of the former in a noir context but the latter was completely unknown to me before today.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by usuallee

Not as excited about the noirish melodramas, although I'd put Clash By Night in that category, and that film is f-ing great. So Caged and The Damned Don't Cry might be worth a look too. I'd heard of the former in a noir context but the latter was completely unknown to me before today.

George Feltenstein from Warner Archive talks highly The Damned Don't Cry in this new podcast from The Extras.

Around the 7 min mark:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4wG...7f78e4b73&nd=1

[RiFiFi1955]

Angel Face was high up there for me so this is great news!!!!

[CBHampson]

Angel Face is an A+ announcement. Fantastic film

[Noir Black Schwarz]

Is The Lady from Shanghai ever going to get the 4K treatment?

Anyway, I can't believe those noir box sets are already up to number 15. I haven't picked up anything since 6.

I did finally watch Witness to Murder, which reminded me of a Tales from the Crypt episode. It was quite good, though some parts dragged on a bit while others could have used a bit more meat to them. The ending was kind of abrupt too. Still, it might be one of my favorites from these sets that I've watched so far.

[filmlover22]

Originally Posted by Noir Black Schwarz

Anyway, I can't believe those noir box sets are already up to number 15. I haven't picked up anything since 6.

IIRC, they plan to release at least 24 of these.

[Gunsnroses092789]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

IIRC, they plan to release at least 24 of these.

Why not? All the suckers like me will pick the entire line up I have I through XII so far. Smart on their part to pair some real gems with some more mediocre titles, and mostly obscures films too, often without previous home video releases.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

As already posted in the WAC thread, "Caged" has a fantastic Max Steiner soundtrack which I recommend everyone to check out. The soundtrack can be found on a CD collection of Max Steiner Noir scores that was put out by Brigham Young University Film Music Archives and Screen Archives (https://www.screenarchives.com/title...X-STEINER-3CD/).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2bh5RmFhNg