20th Century Fox's 'Film Noir Classics' DVD Series (1 Viewer)

[JohnPM]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the August group the next to the last promised quarterly offering of noir from Fox? As I recall, the original commitment was for two years and 24 titles. Will these continue beyond 2006? I hope so, as there are several titles yet to be announced ...
http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/

 

[Herb Kane]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the August group the next to the last promised quarterly offering of noir from Fox? As I recall, the original commitment was for two years and 24 titles. Will these continue beyond 2006? I hope so, as there are several titles yet to be announced ...


I hope so John... here is a list of the titles I have my fingers crossed for:

13th Letter, The (1951)
Backlash (1947)
Blueprint for Murder, A (1953)
City of Chance (1940)
Cry of the City (1948)
Girl in 313 (1940)
Hangover Square (1945)
I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
Inferno (1953)
Man Who Cheated Himself, The (1950) - perhaps an even better contender for a PD release title in light of the Shock announcement
Moontide (1942)
Night Without Sleep (1952)
Other Woman, The (1954)
Road House (1948)
Seven Thieves (1959)
Strange Triangle (1946)
3rd Voice, The (1960)
Violent Saturday (1955)

 

[Mario Gauci]

Herb,
Isn't I WAKE UP SCREAMING (1941) coming out next month on R1 DVD? I sure hope so because I've just ordered it from Deep Discount DVD...along with the rest of Fox's "Film Noir" DVD series of which, uncharacteristically (but luckily) for me, I hadn't purchased any yet!!
I do second several of your wants, though:
Moontide (1942)
Hangover Square (1945)
Cry Of The City (1948)
Road House (1948)
The Thirteenth Letter (1951)
A Blueprint For Murder (1953)
Inferno (1953)
Violent Saturday (1955)
Seven Thieves (1960)
The Third Voice (1960)

 

[Robert Crawford]

Herb,
Isn't I WAKE UP SCREAMING (1941) coming out next month on R1 DVD? I sure hope so because I've just ordered it from Deep Discount DVD...along with the rest of Fox's "Film Noir" DVD series of which, uncharacteristically (but luckily) for me, I hadn't purchased any yet!!
I do second several of your wants, though:
Moontide (1942)
Hangover Square (1945)
Cry Of The City (1948)
Road House (1948)
The Thirteenth Letter (1951)
A Blueprint For Murder (1953)
Inferno (1953)
Violent Saturday (1955)
Seven Thieves (1960)
The Third Voice (1960)

Yes, the title "I Wake Up Screaming" is coming out on June 6th.
Crawdaddy

 

[Herb Kane]

Sorry 'bout that - forgot to remove that one from my list.

 

[RafaelPires]

Herb, in addition to your list:

Man Hunt (1941)

Swamp Water (1941)

The Lodger (1944)

Dragonwyck (1946)

Daisy Kneyon (1947)

The Iron Curtain (1948)

Slaterry's Huuricane (1949)

5 Fingers (1952)

 

[Herb Kane]

Absolutely Rafael... in fact I got tired of waiting and picked up the R2 version of 5 Fingers and just last week I received Swamp Water from the UK. The Fox series is without question, one of my favorites of the format and I hope it continues as I will buy each and every one of these.
Herb.

 

[Thomas T]

In case anyone doesn't know, Vicki is a remake of I Wake Up Screaming with Jeanne Crain in the Betty Grable role. Too bad Fox didn't do it as a double bill.

 

[GlennH]

No mention of the deleted scenes for BOOMERANG, which is a remarkable semi-documentary film based on a true story from the 1920s. It was once announced as forthcoming as one of the original "Studio Classics" vhs releases, but it was abruptly pulled two weeks before (cover art already posted) without reason or replacement. I always wondered if that was the result of pressure from family members or survivors from the actual case. Dana Andrews was a very underrated and understated actor, as well as being what now appears to be the quintessential noir performer. Hope to see other Andrews films (I WANT YOU, THE PURPLE HEART, EDGE OF DOOM, NORTH STAR, DAISY KENYON, MY FOOLISH HEART, THE IRON CURTAIN, CANYON PASSAGE, BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, and WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS) released on dvd.

Well, now it looks like the scheduled 6/6/06 DVD release of BOOMERANG has been cancelled by Fox.

 

[seanOhara]

Well, now it looks like the scheduled 6/6/06 DVD release of BOOMERANG has been cancelled by Fox.

That's awfully short notice -- I wonder if Fox will have time to come up with a replacement.
I also wonder what Deep Discount DVD will do for everyone who ordered it as part of their buy-two-get-one-free sale.

 

[Charles H]

I NOTICE THAT IT IS STILL UP FOR SALE ON AMAZON, DEEP DISCOUNT, DVD EMPIRE, AND DVD PLANET, BUT HAS BEEN TAKEN OFF MOVIES UNLIMITED. I WISH THERE WAS SOME ACCOUNTABILITY FROM THE STUDIOS AS TO WHY THESE THINGS HAPPEN. I AM STILL REELING FROM THE CANCELLATION OF PARAMOUNT'S 'MARTIN AND LEWIS COLLECTION' BUT I SUSPECT THAT THAT IS BECAUSE THEY WILL RELEASE INDIVIDUALLY. IMPROMPTU MARKETING?

 

[Dave GR]

Eddie Muller, over at the Blackboard, says the Boomerang problem is a legal issue:

For some legal reasons not yet clear, the next "Wave" of noir from Fox Home Entertainment will be one film short. "Boomerang," already printed and packaged, is being withdrawn from distribution. Only "I Wake Up Screaming" and "House of Strangers" will be released in June.

Bloody annoying this close to street date, and I'm another who's got this batch of Fox noirs as 3-for-2 from Deep Discount. On my account page, the other 2 are still "Preorder", but Boomerang has now changed to "Backorder".

 

[Charles H]

The original Dahme case happened in Bridgeport CT in the early 1920s, but Fox was forced to do their location shooting in Stamford. Homer Israel (who was arrested and acquitted of Father Dahme's murder) co-operated with the making of the film was paid $18,000 by Fox but insisted that his name not be used. Nellie Adams Trafton, the waitress at the diner in BOOMERANG threatened a libel suit against Fox over the portrayal of the waitress in the film. The studio paid her $1200.

Fulton Oursler whose fictionalized version of the Dahme case (first published in READER'S DIGEST) was the source material for BOOMERANG was threatened with a plagiarism by Fred Stanton who had written a factual account for TRUE DETECTIVE magazine.

Amazing that more than 80 years after the actual case and 60 years after the movie itself there are still legal issues. This would be a great subject matter for a docudrama.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The original Dahme case happened in Bridgeport CT in the early 1920s, but Fox was forced to do their location shooting in Stamford. Homer Israel (who was arrested and acquitted of Father Dahme's murder) co-operated with the making of the film was paid $18,000 by Fox but insisted that his name not be used. Nellie Adams Trafton, the waitress at the diner in BOOMERANG threatened a libel suit against Fox over the portrayal of the waitress in the film. The studio paid her $1200.
Fulton Oursler whose fictionalized version of the Dahme case (first published in READER'S DIGEST) was the source material for BOOMERANG was threatened with a plagiarism by Fred Stanton who had written a factual account for TRUE DETECTIVE magazine.
Amazing that more than 80 years after the actual case and 60 years after the movie itself there are still legal issues. This would be a great subject matter for a docudrama.

While growing up in Bridgeport during the 1960s, I watched this film and afterwards asked my grandfather about this case, his recollection of it wasn't so good, but the case and the film always interest me.
Crawdaddy

 

[GlennH]

... This would be a great subject matter for a docudrama.

Yes, but ironically, they probably can't make one without being sued!

 

[Deepak Shenoy]

Boomerang! was the title I was looking forward to the most in the next Fox Noir wave (especially after seeing clips from the film in the Elia Kazan documentary included on the Streetcar Named Desire DVD). I hope it is just a temporary delay and that the DVD will eventually be released (along with the next wave, maybe ?).

-D

 

[oscar_merkx]

it's interesting to see that releasing an olderfilm on dvd these days can still cause people to be upset.

Why can't people just move on ?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Boomerang! was the title I was looking forward to the most in the next Fox Noir wave (especially after seeing clips from the film in the Elia Kazan documentary included on the Streetcar Named Desire DVD). I hope it is just a temporary delay and that the DVD will eventually be released (along with the next wave, maybe ?).
-D

I have a DVD-R copy of it from Fox Movie Channel and I know they're playing it again next month. The presentation isn't as good as a DVD, but it will at least hold you over to when it finally gets released.

• June 3rd at 12:00 p.m. ET
• June 28th at 1:00 p.m. ET

 

[Robert Crawford]

it's interesting to see that releasing an olderfilm on dvd these days can still cause people to be upset.
Why can't people just move on ?

Since, the principals are dead their relatives probably smell money.

 

[Steve...O]

Since, the principals are dead their relatives probably smell money.

Isn't that the truth? There are a whole list of movies that are in limbo because of this. At least this can still be shown on TV.
Since the DVD has already been produced and is presumably in Fox's warehouse as we speak (per Eddie M.'s comment above) Fox's attorney's must have thought they were on strong ground to move ahead with this project and hopefully the issues will get resolved shortly. Either that or they were asleep at the wheel to begin with.