Official Film Noir on Blu-ray Thread

[AlexHarvey]

A very good noir that I didn't see listed (apologies if I missed it) is Robert Siodmak's " Criss Cross " (1949) with Burt Lancaster, Yvonne de Carlo, and Dan Duryea. This film has many of the classic noir ingredients including doomed lovers, greed, robbery, murder, and an unhappy ending.

The Rough Guide to Film Noir by Ballinger and Graydon calls Criss Cross the most underrated noir. A quote from the book.
" Criss Cross is arguably the most complete noir of the classic era. It contains archetypal characters - a doomed protagonist, a calculating femme fatale, a reptilian hoodlum - with the tale of a meticulously planned then botched heist, all seasoned by a complex flashback and Lancaster's self-deluding voice-over. For the perfect introduction to classic Los Angeles noir there can be no better place to start than here, in the rundown streets of the Bunker Hill district - noir's most quintessential locale. "

I just noticed that this thread is for noir's on Blu-ray only, so it is perfectly understandable that Criss Cross is not listed. I sure hope this film comes out on BD someday soon.

[GoldMotel]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I never heard the term proto-noir before. What is that-a blueprint for future films? I've always thought of You Only Live Once as an early true noir, not a prototype. All the ingredients are there and that Armored Car scene is a knockout! Stranger On the Third Floor-early, prototype, or expressionist?

Any noir type film released before 1940 are typically considered as proto-noir (aka precursor to class noir).

German expressionist films and Italian neorealist films (among other 1920s/1930s films that noir aesthetic were influenced from) are not classified as noirs, proto or otherwise.

As You Only Live Once was released in 1937, it it generally considered a proto-noir, although it has been included as a classic noir in some "top" noir film lists and academic sources.

Stranger On the Third Floor is actually most commonly cited as the first "true" noir, and its 1940 release date is what many academics use as a gauge between proto and classic noir.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by AlexHarvey

A very good noir that I didn't see listed (apologies if I missed it) is Robert Siodmak's " Criss Cross " (1949) with Burt Lancaster, Yvonne de Carlo, and Dan Duryea. This film has many of the classic noir ingredients including doomed lovers, greed, robbery, murder, and an unhappy ending.

The Rough Guide to Film Noir by Ballinger and Graydon calls Criss Cross the most underrated noir. A quote from the book.
" Criss Cross is arguably the most complete noir of the classic era. It contains archetypal characters - a doomed protagonist, a calculating femme fatale, a reptilian hoodlum - with the tale of a meticulously planned then botched heist, all seasoned by a complex flashback and Lancaster's self-deluding voice-over. For the perfect introduction to classic Los Angeles noir there can be no better place to start than here, in the rundown streets of the Bunker Hill district - noir's most quintessential locale. "

Thanks for the info on that film. I don't think Criss Cross is on Blu-ray though, so that's why it didn't get listed

[AlexHarvey]

Yes, it's not on Blu-ray. Sorry MifuneFan, I didn't notice the Blu-ray qualification until after I posted.

[Dumbhuman]

Any film noir fans in the San Francisco area should be sure to check out the Noir City Film Festival that began tonight with screenings of The Third Man and Journey Into Fear. The rest of the film list might be worth a look to others for discussion purposes.

Unfortunately I've got obligations in LA preventing me from using that festival as the perfect excuse to visit San Francisco for a few days.

[Blu-Velvet]

I agree that "M" should certainly qualify as a proto-noir. I'd probably also put THE PETRIFIED FOREST in the proto-noir category (and if it ever gets to Blu-ray, the great HEAT LIGHTNING as well). I'm hoping that Cecil B. DeMille's CARMEN (1915) makes it to Blu-ray soon, as it is most definitely a proto-noir, if not a full-fledged noir some 30 years ahead of its time.

Another film that might fit into the noir category is STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (1944), which starts out as a straight war movie, switches to wounded-vet movie, then WWII romance movie and briefly a disaster film, but settles into Gothic Thriller until the last quarter when it shifts into film noir mode. (It's also a film, that despite some obvious faults, I never seem to tire of watching!)

I just watched THE HOUSEMAID (1960), and while it's mostly a thriller, it has quite a few film noir characteristics, from its gorgeous B&W cinematography and jazzy music score to its creepy and ultimately monstrous femme fatale opposite the typically clueless male, to various murder plots, some successful and others not.

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet

Another film that might fit into the noir category is STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (1944), which starts out as a straight war movie, switches to wounded-vet movie, then WWII romance movie and briefly a disaster film, but settles into Gothic Thriller until the last quarter when it shifts into film noir mode. (It's also a film, that despite some obvious faults, I never seem to tire of watching!)

I just watched THE HOUSEMAID (1960), and while it's mostly a thriller, it has quite a few film noir characteristics, from its gorgeous B&W cinematography and jazzy music score to its creepy and ultimately monstrous femme fatale opposite the typically clueless male, to various murder plots, some successful and others not.

I've never heard of The Housemaid; I'll have to check it out. IMDb has the aspect ratio listed at 1.55.1, which if correct is certainly an unusual aspect ratio.

Also, Strangers in the Night is listed in the thread's opening post. It certainly manages to touch on quite a few genres in its 54 minute running time.

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

I've never heard of The Housemaid; I'll have to check it out. IMDb has the aspect ratio listed at 1.55.1, which if correct is certainly an unusual aspect ratio.

Also, Strangers in the Night is listed in the thread's opening post. It certainly manages to touch on quite a few genres in its 54 minute running time.

I must have missed STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT in that opening post of boxcovers.

Also, THE ATOMIC CITY (1952) might be considered by some to be a noir, although it's more of a straight police procedural (as is HIGH AND LOW, for that matter).

I'd also definitely add THE TRAP (1959), which may be Technicolor and set in a daytime desert town, but is as much a noir at heart as NIAGARA and SUDDENLY.

THE HOUSEMAID is listed as a 1.60:1 aspect ratio on Criterion's boxcover, and seems to be about that on the screen, certainly wider than 1.33/1.37 and narrower than 1.66 (I didn't measure it). So far it's only available on Blu-ray in the World Cinema Project volume 1 box set. I wish the 2010 remake were available on an English-friendly Blu-ray.

[BobbyMcGee]

Hmm...what about Killing Them Softly (2012) for neo-noir?

[hoytereden]

I can remember, in the '60s, watching late night movies on our local channels and seeing these different looking films. I'd never heard the term Noir or had any inkling these were a genre of their own. The first titles I remember seeing were Crossfire, Deadline at Dawn, Stranger On the Third Floor, and The Window. What I noticed they all had in common was: they were all RKO films*, they were all dimly lit, and they all had shadows and staircases. So I called them "Shadow and Staircase" films. They just had a gritty visual look that fascinated me. Years later when I started branching out into more and more types of films and reading about those genres is when I finally found they had an official name.



*RKO films shown back then had replaced title credits that read-C&C Television Presents....

[CRSearle]

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet

THE HOUSEMAID is listed as a 1.60:1 aspect ratio on Criterion's boxcover, and seems to be about that on the screen, certainly wider than 1.33/1.37 and narrower than 1.66 (I didn't measure it). So far it's only available on Blu-ray in the World Cinema Project volume 1 box set. I wish the 2010 remake were available on an English-friendly Blu-ray.

The Korean BD of the 2010 remake is Region A with English subtitles.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-H...Blu-ray/33056/

[theprestige85]

I wish that there would be a box set collection of the best film noirs 40's-50's. I dunno about some of those noir tags to the featured films on the first page. I have never looked at Heat as a noir.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by theprestige85

I wish that there would be a box set collection of the best film noirs 40's-50's.

If you don't mind delving back into DVD territory, Warner's Film Noir Classic Collection: Volumes 1-5 box sets can be found for an inexpensive price. Of those films, Gun Crazy is the only one that has seen a Blu-ray upgrade (in France). I overplayed the first Film Noir Classic Collection set quite a bit until it was destroyed in a flood in 2009, and I used to borrow a few of the other films in the subsequent sets from time to time.

Since I'm not holding my breath on domestic Blu-ray upgrades of those Warner RKO films, I decided to replace Film Noir Classic Collection: Volume 1 last month, and I also found the other four box sets for low prices from third party Amazon dealers.

There are also some key film noirs that are only available on Universal DVD (Criss Cross, This Gun For Hire, etc), Fox (Where the Sidewalk Ends, Nightmare Alley, etc.), Image (Detour, D.O.A., etc.), Columbia Pictures, and such. Unfortunately, I'm not holding my breath for most of those to see Blu-ray anytime soon either.

On the upside, most of these DVDs still look pretty sharp on a high definition television.

I hope that I am wrong, and I'd love to upgrade all of the above films if and when they see the light of day on Blu-ray. They need to be seen in some form or fashion, though, and DVD is all that we've got right now for most of them.

This particular thread is not about film noir DVDs, but the above choices deserve a casual mention.

[theprestige85]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

If you don't mind delving back into DVD territory, Warner's Film Noir Classic Collection: Volumes 1-5 box sets can be found for an inexpensive price. Of those films, Gun Crazy is the only one that has seen a Blu-ray upgrade (in France). I overplayed the first Film Noir Classic Collection set quite a bit until it was destroyed in a flood in 2009, and I used to borrow a few of the other films in the subsequent sets from time to time.

Since I'm not holding my breath on domestic Blu-ray upgrades of those Warner RKO films, I decided to replace Film Noir Classic Collection: Volume 1 last month, and I also found the other four box sets for low prices from third party Amazon dealers.

There are also some key film noirs that are only available on Universal DVD (Criss Cross, This Gun For Hire, etc), Fox (Where the Sidewalk Ends, Nightmare Alley, etc.), Image (Detour, D.O.A., etc.), Columbia Pictures, and such. Unfortunately, I'm not holding my breath for most of those to see Blu-ray anytime soon either.

On the upside, most of these DVDs still look pretty sharp on a high definition television.

I hope that I am wrong, and I'd love to upgrade all of the above films if and when they see the light of day on Blu-ray. They need to be seen in some form or fashion, though, and DVD is all that we've got right now for most of them.

This particular thread is not about film noir DVDs, but the above choices deserve a casual mention.

Thanks for the advice. I feel like the moment I buy the DVD box set a hi def version will be released shortly after. Seems to be a common theme around here! I'll hold out just a bit longer.

[frittscs]

How about adding Band of Outsiders to the list?

[MifuneFan]

Updated with the N.A. editions of Touch of Evil, and Double Indemnity

(Still fine-tuning the list, and adding some stuff)

[silverlakephil]

I hope you can add Bound (1996) and The Driver (1978) to the Neo-Noir list.

[KOQ24]

angel heart is pretty clear neo-noir to me

[Le Samourai]

http://www.amazon.it/Signora-Di-Shan...s=Orson+Welles

Great news for Europeans

[MifuneFan]

Nice, it didn't have cover art when I looked earlier.