Film Noir - LIST

Another thing, TCM in Canada has a little different schedual than the US counterpart.

http://turnerclassicmovies.com/Sched...int/0,,11-2005|0|CAN,00.html

The theme nights and such are the same, just the odd movie gets swapped. Of course, 2 that I set tapes for based on the US schedual are the ones that got swapped ("Thunder Road" and "Lon Chaney: The Man Of A 1000 Faces"). Otherwise, they appear to be the same, uncut, un-interupted and even in OAR on some films.

Now if they can dump the stupid Golf channel for Drive In Classics, I'd be the happiest man in Western Canada!

Damn.. no Shaw on the East Coast.


To tell you the truth, I don't even have a television right now. I moved into a new condo development this past June and my summer was spent focusing on the HT setup. Now that I have front projection, I just watch DVDs all day long.

I want to eventually put a plasma or LCD in my bedroom so that I can lie in bed at night and watch TV, but it's ouy of my budget right now. That's why I didn't even bother with cable. I'm looking into the different programming packages that satelite (DTV and Sympatico) have to offer.. but to be honest, the only channels I ever watch anyway are the 6:00 CTV/ABC news, Discovery, A&E.. and than with satelite when I'm at my mom's, Comedy Nework (Tivo The Daily Show), TCM and the occasional movie here and there.

I used to love Boomerang until they started rerunning the same post-45 and colorized cartoons every other day along with crap like Baby Looney Tunes, etc.

I just don't feel like paying all that extra money for two channels (TCM and Comedy Network).

And I don't feel like paying cable bills either to watch the 6:00 news and the odd Discovery channel special, especvially when all I have is DLP proj. right now. It'll look like crap blown up on a 100" screen.

So I stick to my pj and ~1500 odd DVD titles for now.

But if Videotron picked up TCM, I'd have a subscription tomorrow morning.

For those interested in the 2 new Kino Noirs...

Kino - Region 1- NTSC "Scarlet Street" vs. Paramount - Region 0 - PAL vs. Eureka Video (UK) - Region 0 - PAL vs. Alpha - Region 0 - NTSC

We have reviewed House by the River and it is also non-progressive and on a single layered DVD. Unfortunately they appear to be the best DVD editions available.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/

Best,
Gary

3 titles were announced to be released March 7 as part of Fox Film Noir collection, as noted in the topic dedicated to it -
Fallen Angel
No Way Out
The House on Telegraph Hill

Another Robert Wise noir, Criminal Court, is getting released in Spain as Juzgado Criminal on December 14.

2 more public domain releases -
The Crooked Way was released by Geneon Entertainment and Guest in the House is getting released by Alpha in the end of December.

I hope Warners releases Lady In The Lake with their next Film Noir box set. I just saw the VHS for the first time yesterday, and it blew me away. Audrey Totter!

Added to our Calendar some R2 Noir.

Body And Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947) Second Sight R2 UK
Call Northside 777 (Henry Hathaway, 1948) Second Sight R2 UK
Force of Evil (Abraham Polonsky, 1948) Second Sight R2 UK

Best,
Gary

Does anyone have a copy of Alias Nick Beale they would be interested in selling or making a copy? Its one of my wifes favorite movies and I would like to surprise her for ther birthday. I live in the US, so ti would have to be Region 1 dvd or vhs (Canada, US). Copies are ok as long they are of fairly good quality. Thanks!

Joseph H.

For those who missed the Oscars on the weekend, the following is a clip of the Film Noir tribute which was introduced by Lauren Bacall. Great to see more exposure for the genre/movement.

(Be patient - it takes a few seconds to download).

http://homepage.mac.com/juddbloch/.P...NoirOscars.mov



Will update the list in the next few days - lots of new releases to look forward to.

Paramount is releasing their some film noirs on May 16th.



http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=60827

Regarding the upcoming VCI noir titles mentioned earlier in the thread, inthebalcony.com is reporting the following:



We were recently visited here In The Balcony by the fine folks at VCI Entertainment, who brought us exclusive news about some of the films noir they’re going to be releasing on DVD through their deal with Kit Parker Films.

Some of the most-requested titles (including Black Tuesday, New York Confidential, and The Stranger on Horseback) are still being finalized, but they’re going forward with two series beginning in March, Hammer Noir and Forgotten Noir. Both series are double features, and although titles may still be “tweaked”, here’s what we’re looking at so far:

The Hammer Noir Series

(Note that most of these had alternate titles for the U.S. release)

Bad Blonde (a/k/a The Flanagan Boy) (1953) Directed by Reginald Le Borg. A fight promoter’s slutty wife (Barbara Payton) talks her lover into killing her husband.

The Glass Tomb (The Glass Cage) (1959) Dir. Montgomery Tully. Murder in the carnival, with Honor Blackman and John Ireland.

#2

The Black Glove (Face the Music) (1954) Dir. Terence Fisher. A trumpet player (Alex Nicol) is accused of killing a singer.

The Big Deadly Game (Third Party Risk) (1954) Dir. Daniel Birt. While vacationing in Spain, an American (Lloyd Bridges) gets mixed up with a smuggling ring.

#3

Heat Wave (The House Across the Lake) (1954) Dir. Ken Hughes. Mystery writer Alex Nicol is ensnared in a plot by Hillary Brooke to kill her husband.

Paid to Kill (Five Days) (1954) Dir. Montgomery Tully. Dane Clark hires a hit man to kill himself, but eventually tries to call the deal off.

#4

Man Bait (The Last Page) (1952) Dir. Terence Fisher. Bookstore owner George Brent gets involved with his sexy clerk Marguerite Chapman, and somebody ends up dead.

The Gambler and the Lady (1952) Dir. Patrick Jenkins. A gambler (Dane Clark) tries to escape his seedy past when he falls for a beautiful high-class lady. Ooh, good title on this one, eh?

#5

A Stolen Face (1952) Dir. Terence Fisher. Doctor Paul Henreid loses his love, Lizabeth Scott, in the war, so he creates a new one through plastic surgery, only to be surprised when the first one shows up and he’s got two Lizabeth Scotts on his hands.

Blackout (Murder by Proxy) (1954) Dir. Terence Fisher. An American in England is invited to marry a gorgeous blonde he’s just met, but he should’ve been suspicious. Didn’t he ever see Homicidal?

#6

Terror Street (36 Hours) (1953) Dir. Montgomery Tully. Dan Duryea’s estranged wife has been murdered, and he’s been set up to take the rap.

Wings of Danger (Dead on Course) (1952) Dir. Terence Fisher. Zachery Scott is trying to clear his dead pal’s name from a counterfeiting charge.

The Forgotten Noir Series

#1

Portland Exposé (Allied Artists, 1957) Dir. Harold Shuster. A tavern owner, blackmailed by the Mob in a protection racket, fights back after one of the gang attacks his daughter. Ed Binns, Carolyn Craig, Frank Gorshin.

They Were So Young (Lippert, 1954) Dir. Kurt Neumann. Dubbed German film about slave traders in South America. Scott Brady, Raymond Burr.

#2

Scotland Yard Inspector (Lady in the Fog) (Lippert, 1952) Dir. Sam Newfield. An American in England is asked to help find a killer. Cesar Romero, Lois Maxwell.

Treasure of Monte Cristo (Lippert, 1949) Dir. William Berke. Crime and punishment on the streets of San Francisco, and check out this cast: Glenn Langan, Adele Jergens, Bobby Jordan, and Sid Melton!

#3

The Shadow Man (Street of Shadows) (Lippert, 1953) Dir. Richard Vernon. Did one of the nightclub owner’s two girlfriends kill the other one? Cesar Romero, Kay Kendall, and Victor Maddern.

Fingerprints Don’t Lie (Lippert, 1951) Dir. Sam Newfield. A man is dead, and the suspect’s fingerprints are on the murder weapon – can he possibly be innocent? Richard Travis, Sheila Ryan, Tom Neal, and Lyle Talbot.

#4

The Man from Cairo (Lippert, 1953) Dir. Ray Enright. A fortune in Nazi gold is hidden in the hills outside Algiers. Dubbed from Italian. With George Raft and several Italians.

Danger Zone (Lippert, 1951) Dir. William Berke. Hugh Beaumont is private eye Dennis O’Brien, hired to take on a couple of cases in two episodes of an unsuccessful TV series. With Tom Neal and Pamela Blake.

#5

Loan Shark (Lippert, 1952) Dir. Seymour Friedman. George Raft goes undercover to break up an extortion ring. With Dorothy Hart and John Hoyt.

Roaring City (Lippert, 1951) Dir. William Berke. Hugh Beaumont is back in two more episodes of Danger Zone. This time, helping him are Stanley Price and Anthony Warde.

#6

I’ll Get You (Escape Route) (Lippert, 1952) Dir. Seymour Friedman & Peter Graham Scott. An American agent (George Raft) goes to England to discover why scientists are being kidnapped and sent behind the Iron Curtain. With Sally Gray and Reginald Tate.

Pier 23 (Lippert, 1951) Dir. William Berke. Hugh Beaumont is back in two more episodes of Danger Zone. With Mike Mazurki, Ann Savage and David Bruce.

#7

F.B.I. Girl (Lippert, 1951) Dir. William Berke. A politician tries to cover up his shady past. The good cast includes Cesar Romero, George Brent, Audrey Totter, Joi Lansing, and the comedy team of Tommy Noonan and Peter Marshall!

Shoot to Kill (Screen Arts, 1947) Dir. William Berke. A crooked D.A. is framing people, and a beautiful woman goes undercover in his office to try and prove it. Luana Walters, Russell Wade, Nestor Paiva.

(Checks calendar.) Cutting it a little close, aren't they?

And are all thirteen of those double features for March, or is that just a general plan for the series? If the former, they really need to do box sets.

Set #1 of the Forgotten Noir Series streets April 25th.

It would appear as though the cat is out of the bag…

WB’s Film Noir Volume #3 will include:

Border Incident (1949)
His Kind of Woman (1951)
Lady in the Lake (1947)
On Dangerous Ground (1952)
The Racket (1951)

Five solid selections and Border Incident would be the “surprise” MGM selection.

American Cinematheque is reporting:

Legendary tough guys and femme fatales collide in The Film Noir Classic Colleciton Volume Three, debuting Summer 2006 from Warner Home Video. The Collection includes five classics, all new to DVD and all digitally remastered: Border Incident, His Kind of Woman, Lady in the Lake, On Dangerous Ground and The Racket. The American Cinematheque will be giving away some of Warner Home Video’s previous Noir DVD releases to new Cinematheque members!

Yes, I agree they're solid selections. Happy to see more of the Roberts on dvd, especially since a case can be made for them being the top two male actors of film noir.





Crawdaddy

On Dangerous Ground--awesome news!

Can anyone tell me who owns these three, and what their chances of being released are:
Underworld USA (1961, dir.Samuel Fuller)
Shack Out On 101 (1955, dir. Edward Dein)
The Reckless Moment (1949, dir. Max Opuls)

These are the noirs I'm really waiting for, along with Phantom Lady, which unfortunately is owned by Universal, who hasn't released any noirs in quite a while.

You've identified the upcoming titles in Warners film noir box set as being "Border Incident", "His Kind of Woman", "Lady In the Lake", "On Dangerous Ground", and "The Racket". If that information is correct, then I think Warners only got it 60% right. "His Kind of Woman", "Lady in the Lake", and "On Dangerous Ground", are outstanding films, and very welcome to DVD. "The Racket", while entertaining (almost any film with Mitchum and Ryan, and William Conrad to boot, has some merit), is in all due respect a rather disappointing film. I think the main problem with "The Racket" is that it is based on a stage play from the 1920's. The film seems static and claustrophic, especially the second half in which the setting seems almost completly limited to a precinct station house. A while back TCM showed the original 1920's silent version, and it also bogged down in the second half for the same reason. The 1951 remake is a slight improvement, largely because of the talented cast, however it's really nothing special. Also, it is debatable whether "The Racket" can really be classified as a noir film or just a mediocre gangster film without much action.

The other title, "Border Incident" is okay, but hardly among Anthony Mann's better works. I think there are a number of titles, to which Warners has the DVD rights, that would be far superior entries in their Noir series to either "The Racket", or "Border Incident".

I am amazed they are are not including "They Live By Night" (RKO/1949) , which is a masterpice, and arguably Nicholas Ray's best film. There are at least 3 other Robert Mitchum RKO noir films, which are far stronger than "The Racket". These films are Don Siegel's "The Big Steal" (RKO/1949) (which teams Mitchum with Jane Greer of "Out of the Past" fame), Otto Preminger's "Angel Face" (RKO/1953) (which is a worthy successor to the outstanding noir films Premminger made at Fox such as "Laura", "Fallen Angel", and "Where the Sidewalk Ends"), and John Farrow's underrated "Where Danger Lives" (RKO/1951), Even such minor, but highly enjoyable, crime films as "Armored Car Robbery (RKO/1950), with Charles McGraw and "The Devil Thumbs a Ride" (RKO/1947), with Lawrence Tierney, would be superior to either "The Racket" or "Border Incident" Also, for variety sake, Warners could have included one of the outstanding noirish westerns which were made at RKO in the 1940's such as the masterful "Blood On the Moon" (RKO/1948) with Robert Mitchum or the underrated gem "Station West" (RKO/1948) with Dick Powell and Jane Greer. Although it is not technically a noir film, if Warners wanted to include an MGM film directed by Anthony Mann, they might have stretched the envelope and considered the outstanding historical thriller "The Tall Target" (MGM/1951), with Dick Powell, since it is a better film than "Border Incident". Other MGM noir or crime films which are far superior to "Border Incident" include, among others, "The Bribe" (MGM/1949) with Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner, and Nicholas Ray's wonderful "Party Girl" (MGM/1958), which contains what is arguably the best role of Robert Taylor's long MGM career as the gangland mouthpiece.

In any event, Warners should be thanked for including "His Kind of Woman", "Lady In the Lake", and "On Dangerous Ground". If it's not too late, I hope Warners would reconsider including "The Racket" and "Border Incident", as they have far better films to offer.

c Jim Bur

It just goes to show you that Warner or any other studio just can't please everyone when they release boxsets containing various films.




Crawdaddy

I agree, Crawdaddy. While I will be happy when all the films in Jim Bur's list are released, I am also happy with what is imminent. Especially for "The Racket" which I remember loving last time I saw it some years ago.

Count me, in this instance, a glass half full person

Yup, me too Ted.

I'm ecstatic with the news of The Racket and consider it top tier noir. Truth be told, I enjoy it more than On Dangerous Ground. There's no question Border Incident is perhaps the weakest title among the group (although still a very good film), however, I don't expect - nor do I think it's reasonable for WB to include only their most sought after noirs in each collection. I'd much prefer to see them include a few lesser known titles along the way with the hope of the run lasting that much longer. Otherwise, many of these titles are never going to see the light of day... Great job.

Can't wait for this boxset!

Jim Bur - Warner plans on putting out more Film Noir boxsets in the future, so in all liklihood the Noirs you mentioned will probably make their way onto DVD.Thankfully Warner doesn't have Universal's mindset when it comes to their Film Noir library.

The only thing I haven't liked about the Warners Noir box sets is...the year-long wait until the next one gets released. One response in the HTF chat seemed to indicate the possibility that there would be more than one of them released in '06, but I think the wording was not definitive about that.

I'm glad to know which titles Warners are planning to include in their next "Film Noir" Box Set...and the only disappointment for me is that I've watched all 5 films already so there isn't really an incentive which would make me gleefully pre-order the collection!

Having said that, I'm looking forward to revisiting ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1951) since my one (and only) viewing of it a couple of years ago - via Italian TV - proved to be an underwhelming experience. I would have caught it on TCM when it was shown earlier this year but my hotel room's TV set proved to be problematic...!

As for THE RACKET, having now watched it twice, I too think it's a very satisfying film, worthy of inclusion in such a prestigious sequence of Box Sets.

I'm happy to be getting "lesser" noirs with better ones since, if Warners released only the 4-star films, the well would dry up faster. By mixing it up, we'll get more noirs on DVD and noir fans who don't get TCM will finally be able to see these. Oh, THANK YOU Warners!

Three "outstanding", one "entertaining" and one "okay" - I think that's going to make me quite happy.

To Herb Kane and Jay E.

Thanks for your comments. I think you make a good point- if I may paraphrase- that it's better to occasionally have a lesser film or two included if it means that the noir series can be stretched out longer-though, Warners looks like it has a pretty deep bench of good titles still available.

As a followup to Jay's comments-It's a shame that Universal hasn't continued with the Noir releases it began with in 2004. I'm still waiting for "The Glass Key", "The Blue Dahlia", "Ride the Pink Horse", "Ministry of Fear", et al.

UNDERWORLD U.S.A. is a Columbia film, currently controlled by Sony, which doesn't give that great of a chance for release anytime soon. Although, it is a Sam Fuller film, and stars Cliff Robertson, so maybe those factors will help it.

SHACK OUT ON 101 was originally distributed by Allied Artists, but was one of a few AA films that fell into Republic's hands. Republic released it on VHS several years ago. Paramount likely has it now. Hard to say whether we'll see it on DVD from them soon, though they are dipping into the Republic noir library fairly quickly. However, SHACK has a lower profile than BODY & SOUL, DARK MIRROR and even SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR, despite the presence of Lee Marvin. Who knows.

I may be quite wrong, but I think THE RECKLESS MOMENT is also a Republic-owned title, now with Paramount.

I'm ecstatic over the Film Noir Set #3 news, particularly the inclusion of HIS KIND OF WOMAN, ON DANGEROUS GROUND and BORDER INCIDENT.

I sure hope WB's set #4 will have TENSION, CRIME WAVE, and ACT OF VIOLENCE amongst its potential riches.

I was really hoping for Act of Violence in this group of film noirs. Never enough Zinnemann on DVD

This is great news - I am actually looking forward to this box set more than the second box set. I have not seen any of the films, and any box set that delivers more films of actress Ida Lupino (On Dangerous Ground) is a winner in my book.

Anthony Mann is a great director, and Border Incident is something I have never seen but always wanted to watch. I hope they can get the film's star, Ricardo Montalban, to talk about the film in a commentary track or on a documentary.

The Lady In The Lake is just a great film, period. It made an interesting movie to watch last year during the week before Christmas, and it has to be one of the few film noirs set at Christmastime.

Peter, you may get your wish. Check out FE's website (his DVD page). I absolutely love Crime Wave - to have it in Box #4, would be terrific.

http://eddiemuller.com/dvd.html


Herb.