WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Just saw the announcement at DVD Times. The ten titles are as follows ---

Act of Violence/ Mystery Street; Crime Wave/ Decoy; Illegal/ The Big Steal; They Live By Night/ Side Street; and Where Danger Lives/ Tension.


Looks like a wonderful set!


http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/

Re: Film Noir Volume 4 Coming July 31 From Warners

For those of us interested in reading about the specs.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=64624

Re: Film Noir Volume 4 Coming July 31 From Warners

I have seen all 10 and cannot wait for them to be released!!! My favorites among those are The Big Steal, Where Danger Lives and Act of Violence. but they are ALL really masterfully done films. Really thrilled about the extras. WOW!

Thank you WHV for making July a month we classic film fans will never forget!!!

Re: Film Noir Volume 4 Coming July 31 From Warners

I'm there.... of course.

Re: Film Noir Volume 4 Coming July 31 From Warners

Christ, they've really gone all-out on this set - what with 10 titles instead of the usual 5, all of which are accompanied by Commentaries and Featurettes! Granted, I've only watched 4 of the 10 films - but 3 of them are easily the most highly-regarded of the lot: THEY LIVE BY NIGHT (1948), ACT OF VIOLENCE (1949) and THE BIG STEAL (1949); the other one I'm already familiar with is WHERE DANGER LIVES (1950). I haven't yet picked up Vol. 3, but come July I'll have to remedy that and add to it this new mouth-watering set...

Re: Film Noir Volume 4 Coming July 31 From Warners

Great to see that there is a commentary for every film.

Re: Film Noir Volume 4 Coming July 31 From Warners

July is going to be really an expensive month just for what Warners is offfering. This is the 3rd set they've announced for July, plus the Popeye set and I am not complaining. With Mickey & Judy coming in August, I'm so curious to know what else is coming for summer.

WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Double the Jeopardy! Double the Entertainment!

The Film Noir Classic Collection
Volume 4

Five Double Feature Classics
Act of Violence/Mystery Street ~ Crime Wave/Decoy ~ Illegal/The Big Steal ~ They Live by Night/Side Street ~ Where Danger Lives/Tension

All Ten Films Digitally Remastered for their
July 31 DVD Debuts


BURBANK, Calif., April 16, 2007 – Warner Home Video (WHV) doubles the stakes in
The Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 4, debuting July 31, with legendary Hollywood tough guys and femme fatales once again colliding, this time in ten smoldering suspense classics, all new to DVD. Titles include Act of Violence/ Mystery Street; Crime Wave/ Decoy; Illegal/ The Big Steal; They Live By Night/ Side Street; and Where Danger Lives/ Tension.

The new movies, which have all been digitally remastered for this collection, star film noir icons Robert Mitchum, Edward G. Robinson, Robert Ryan, Van Heflin, Ricardo Montalban, Claude Rains and Farley Granger, among others. The five-disc collection, will be available for $59.92 SRP and single titles will sell for $20.97 SRP and are a real entertainment value, with twice the amount of films at the same price as previous collections.

It was only three years ago that Warner Home Video released its first Film Noir Collection, re-awakening America’s fascination with the unique genre and garnering acclaim from critics nationwide. This led to a revival of film noir throughout the entire video industry as well as two more successful volumes from Warner Home Video in 2005 and 2006.

About The Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 4

Act of Violence (1948)/ Mystery Street (1950)
This grim melodrama stars Van Heflin as former World War II pilot Frank Enley, a respected contractor and family man, whose wife is played by Janet Leigh. When his troubled, crippled bombardier (Robert Ryan) shows up with a gun and a score to settle, it becomes apparent that perhaps neither man is what he seems to be. Director Fred Zinnemann (The Day of the Jackal) guides a searing Act of Violence, “the first postwar noir to take a challenging look at the ethics of men in combat” (Eddie Muller, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir).”

Murder lives on Mystery Street. John Sturges (The Great Escape) directs a revealing-“CSI”-type film about a Boston cop (Ricardo Montalban) called upon to solve the mystery surrounding a skeleton found on a Cape Cod beach with the help of a Harvard forensic expert (Bruce Bennett).

Special Features:
Act of Violence
Commentary by Dr. Drew Casper
Act of Violence: Dealing With the Devil.
Theatrical Trailer

Mystery Street
Commentary by Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward
Mystery Street: Murder at Harvard
Theatrical Trailer


Crime Wave (1954)/ Decoy (1946)
Legendary director Andre de Toth (House of Wax) was at the helm of this outstanding, but little-known L.A. noir about three escaped convicts from San Quentin who rob a gas station and kill a motorcycle cop. The hardboiled cop heading the manhunt is Sterling Hayden (The Asphalt Jungle).

Recent Film Noir festivals have provided an opportunity for audiences to rediscover truly forgotten films. Such is the case with Monogram Pictures Decoy, in which a drop-dead gorgeous dame Margo Shelby, played by British newcomer, Jean Gille, revives her gangster boyfriend after he dies in the gas chamber, not because she’s so fond of him, but because he knows where the loot is buried. This is a film that very few people have ever seen, but will likely be the subject of much cinephile discussion after its broad availability in this new Film Noir V.4 collection.

Special Features:
Crime Wave
Commentary by James Ellroy and Eddie Muller
Crime Wave: The City is Dark
Theatrical trailer

Decoy
Commentary by Stanley Rubin and Glenn Erickson
Decoy: A Map to Nowhere
Theatrical trailer


Illegal (1955)/ The Big Steal (1949)
When his career as a D.A. unexpectedly collapses, tenacious Victor Scott turns to defending criminal lowlifes. Edward G. Robinson plays Scott in this snappy remake of The Mouthpiece (1932) directed by Lewis Allen (The Uninvited). Film buffs’ moments include Jayne Mansfield’s scenes and real-life art expert Robinson’s comments on a crime lord’s collection of paintings.

Out of the Past’s Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer reteam in The Big Steal, speeding along Mexican roadways in pursuit of a grifter who has a suitcase that may be stuffed with cash. This film, both tense and humorous at the same time is directed by Clint Eastwood’s filmmaking mentor, Don Siegel.

Special Features:
Illegal
Commentary by Nina Foch and Patricia King Hanson
Illegal: Marked for Life
Behind the Cameras: Edward G. Robinson
Theatrical trailer

The Big Steal
Commentary by Richard B. Jewell
The Big Steal: Look Behind You


They Live By Night (1948)/ Side Street (1950)
Young escaped convict Bowie (Farley Granger) and Keechie (Cathy O’Donnell) just want to let their new love blossom. But thugs like Chicamaw 'One-Eye' Mobley (Howard da Silva) have other ideas, forcing Bowie to be their accomplice. They Live By Night, a story of doomed and desperate love is director Nicholas Ray’s (Rebel Without a Cause) debut, and is “one of the most poignant and unforgettable noirs ever made” (The Movie Guide).

In Side Street, Granger and O’Donnell team again as struggling marrieds in an unforgiving Manhattan. In a moment of weakness, the letter carrier gives in to temptation and steals what he thinks is a few hundred dollars. But its $30,000, tied to some ruthless blackmailers, and Granger’s attempt to return it puts him in deeper peril. Anthony Mann (Border Incident) directs with a flair that makes the city a key player in this noir nerve-jangler.

Special Features:
They Live By Night
Commentary by Farley Granger and Eddie Muller
They Live By Night: The Twisted Road
Theatrical trailer

Side Street
Commentary by Richard Schickel
Side Street: Where Temptation Lurks .
Theatrical trailer


Where Danger Lives (1950)/ Tension (1950)
Robert Mitchum, playing a doctor smitten with desire for a beautiful patient (Faith Domergue) who’s brought in after an attempted suicide, journeys Where Danger Lives when the would-be lovebirds go on the lam. Ahead is Mexico, miles back is the husband’s (Claude Rains) corpse. But the final destination for the illicit pair could be a dead end in this dark gem of a film directed by John Farrow (The Big Clock).

Noir favorite Audrey Totter (The Set-Up) leaves her mousy but devoted spouse (Richard Basehart) for another man, and the Tension mounts as he plots revenge, then sees his plan take an unexpected turn. Cyd Charisse, Barry Sullivan and William Conrad co-star in a bitter tale of the postwar American dream frayed into nightmare.

Special Features:
Where Danger Lives
Commentary by Alain Silver and James Ursini
Where Danger Lives: White Rose for Julie
Theatrical Trailer

Tension
Commentary by Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward with Audrey Trotter
Tension: Who’s Guilty Now? .
Theatrical Trailer

The Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 4
Street date: July 31, 2007
$59.92 SRP (Collection)
$20.97 SRP (Single Titles)
All Films Are Not Rated; All Films are B&W


Act of Violence / Mystery Street
Run Time: 82 minutes/93 minutes
Crime Wave/ Decoy
Run Time: 73 minutes/75 minutes
Illegal/ The Big Steal
Run Time: 88 minutes/72 minutes
They Live By Night/ Side Street
Run Time: 95 minutes/82 minutes
Where Danger Lives/ Tension
Run Time: 80 minutes/91 minutes

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

This is another outstanding set.

Great that they have included Nicholas Ray's masterpiece, "They Live By Night", and one of Sterling Hayden's best, "The Crime Wave", and two of Robert Mitchum's best, "Where Danger Lives", and "The Big Steal". Also looking forward to the Monogram entry, "Decoy".

With the inclusion of the 2 Mitchum films in this set, it now means that all of the major 7 crime thrillers that Mitchum did for RKO are now on DVD. 'Out of the Past" was included in the Film Noir volume 1 set. "His Kind of Woman" and "The Racket" were included in the Film Noir volume 2 set. "Angel Face" and "Macao" were included in the Robert Mitchum collection set.

The only mild dissappointment was that 'Cornered" with Dick Powell didn't make the cut, however they have to have some left over for next year.

Dick Powell was one of the major players in the crime films of that era, however so far he is only represented on DVD in this genre with "Murder My Sweet" in Film Noir Volume 1. Besides Cornered, Warners also has in its library the great norish western crime thriller "Station West" which Powell did at RKO, and the historical crime drama "The Tall Target", which Powell did at MGM. Columbia has in its library the oustanding Powell crime thrillers, "To the Ends of the Earth", and "Johnny O'Clock". Lionsgate has the excllent Powell crime drama "Cry Danger", and the film noir masterpiece "Pitfall", and Universal has "Rogue's Regiment". It would be nice if some of these oustanding films are finally released.

c Jim Bur

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Thank goodness WHV has so many great noirs in its vast library since it's the only studio (unless Fox gets back on the band wagon) that really capitalizes on the popularity of noirs across many generations of fans right now. And the extras seem tremendous to boot.

Greatly looking forward to all these superb examples of the genre

Jim, I second that about Dick Powell. Very under-represented as a noir actor on DVD right now. I especially miss PITFALL.

Re: Film Noir Volume 4 Coming July 31 From Warners

I might add that Crime Wave is quite a winner - very documentary-like in many ways and boasting an excellent performance by WB song-and-dance man Gene Nelson. Sterling Hayden is solid too as always.

Re: Film Noir Volume 4 Coming July 31 From Warners

I take it these are double sided discs rather than being 2 films crammed onto a DVD9?

Re: Film Noir Volume 4 Coming July 31 From Warners

this is really great

I have not seen any of them.

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

This is one outstanding set. Getting contributions from Nina Foch and Audrey Totter is a real coup in my opinion. At Costco pricing this will be about $4 per film; an unbelievable value!

If I recall correctly, Warners said in an interview elsewhere they had enough material for 10 Noir collections so I would suppose that any fan favorites not on this set will show up later.

Steve

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Wow, 10 noir collections??? If all future ones contain 10 films, then that's 60 noirs. * dies and goes to noir heaven.*

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

More props for Dick Powell. A personal favorite is CRY DANGER, the tagline for which was "Powell's on the prowl!"

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Don't put the cart before the horse; they're not released yet. Also, remember that 3 volumes have already been released. Finally, there's no guarantee that future ones will contain 10 films. I suppose it all depends on sales and how deep they can go into the catalog and have some marketable titles in each set. The good thing from a Warners perspective is that they're likely to have the noir market cornered since Fox has seemingly abandoned their noir line.

For the record and so there is no misrepresentation of Mr. Feltenstein's comments, here's the relevant portion of the article that was published in October 2006.


Steve

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

The best out of this is the fact they are releasing 10 films in one shot!

I wish they would release mass collections like this for B-westerns, and epics. In my opinion the transfers don't have to be completely perfect when you are only paying US$4 per film.

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Hence why I used the keyword "if." That makes all the difference.

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Artwork added:
Noir Vol. 4

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Thanks for the artwork. Usual Warner class.

Maybe it's just the angle of the pictures, but it looks like Warners has gone back to full size cases for Vol 4. I rather liked the slimlines for Vol 3 (and the other recent collections). It's definitely been a lot easier to store my recent purchases because of the smaller packaging.

Steve

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Boxsets are slim cases, but individual releases are regular cases. That was the case with Robert Mitchum Collection.

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Hmm... it's good to see individual releases though the MSRP is a bit high for standard def, but in the case it's probably cheaper for me to get the set.

Act of Violence, They Live by Night, Side Street and Tension are the better noirs in this set (from the ones I've seen).

Mystery Street, The Big Steal and Where Danger Lives didn't impress me much.

Looking forward to Crime Wave, Decoy and Illegal.

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Are these flipper discs? or two films on the same side? Just curious.

It's a generous collection by any standard. I've seen all the films and each one is a good solid noir worth owning.


My sentiments exactly. But the studios seem to be at a loss what to do with westerns. Why not treat them like any other genre.


... although I would still expect a clean transfer from the best elements for my money.

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

All the films are relatively short in terms of playing time and there are five discs for ten films, so if you read the specs that are linked earlier in this thread, you would probably conclude that each disc would contain two movies on the same side.

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

I read the links. They don't state one way or another, so I thought I'd ask here.

I know the lengths are short. I've bought discs that paired double-features both ways, and I've bought some Universal discs that pair multiple films both ways at the same time.

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

It's always possible that they could be flippers, but I would think two films with a total running time of three hours or less along with two audio commentaries and a couple of short features can fit on a DVD-9 disc.

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

We don't know either way at this point. The films are short, but a number of them come with featurettes, for which we do not know the length. Warner recently went the DVD-18 route with "The Prisoner of Zenda" double feature, so these could be DVD-9s, DVD-10s, DVD-14s, DVD-18s, or some combination of all of the above.

Regards,

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Ken,
That's a good point about the DVD-18 with "The Prisoner of Zenda". I would think that Warner would try to keep both features on the same side of the disc, especially with DVD-14 or DVD-18 available to use for them. Again, not one of these double features has a total running time of 3 hours. Also, I don't expect each featurette to be more than 15-30 minutes in length.

Re: WHV Press Release: The Film Noir Collection Volume 4

Another reason I was suspecting the possibility of DVD-18s is because the MSRP of the individual titles is a dollar more than is typical for recent catalog releases, but it could just be inflation, too.

Regards,