Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics II
Studio: Sony/Columbia
Years: 1954-1959
Rated: Not Rated
Program Lengths:
Human Desire 90 minutes
Pushover 88 minutes
Nightfall 78 minutes
The Brothers Rico 91 minutes
City of Fear 75 minutes
Aspect Ratios: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Languages: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
The Program
Film noir aficionados are no doubt rejoicing about the fact that Sony and Warner still seem to be committed to releasing classic film noir on DVD. Sony’s latest entry is Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics II, which consists of five films which were made in the mid-to-late fifties, toward the end of the American noir period. Included are performances by actors such as Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak, Richard Conte, Aldo Ray, Anne Bancroft, Brian Keith and Vince Edwards.
Human Desire (1954)
Jeff Warren (Glenn Ford) is a railroad engineer who has just returned to his job after serving in the Korean War. He rents a room from his friend and co-worker, Alec Simmons (Edgar Buchanan). Alec has a daughter, Ellen (Kathleen Case), who has matured during Jeff’s absence and who now has obvious romantic designs on the returning veteran. Carl Buckley (Broderick Crawford) is a gruff railroad man who is fired after getting into an argument with his boss. Buckley knows that his young wife, Vicki (Gloria Grahame), has influence with one of the railroad’s most important shippers, Mr. Owens (Grandon Rhodes). Vicki does not want to ask Owens to intervene, but her husband pleads with her and she relents. This leads to a violent encounter which strains their marriage, and Vicki begins to have a relationship with Warren, the just-returned engineer. Warren then finds himself unwittingly caught in a web of deception and revenge. The film benefits from exceptional direction by Fritz Lang and superb black and white cinematography by Burnett Guffey.
Pushover (1954)
Fred MacMurray stars as Paul Sheridan, a police detective who is given the assignment of striking up a relationship with Lona McLane (Kim Novak), the girlfriend of a bank robber who is on the lam. Sheridan’s objective is to find out if Lona knows where her boyfriend is. The police have also rented a room in Lona’s apartment building, where Sheridan and his partner, Rick (Phil Carey) keep her under surveillance. In a plot which is reminiscent of Double Indemnity, Sheridan falls for Lona and together they hatch a plan to get rid of the boyfriend and make off with the loot from the bank robbery. This is film noir, so complications are sure to ensue. The supporting cast includes E.G. Marshall and Dorothy Malone, and the film boasts solid direction by Richard Quine and atmospheric photography by Lester White. This was Kim Novak’s first major screen role.
Nightfall (1957)
Jim Vanning (Aldo Ray) is the quintessential film noir protagonist, an innocent man who is ensnared by circumstances beyond his control. At a Los Angeles nightclub he meets a model in distress, Marie Gardner (Anne Bancroft). They have dinner together, but upon leaving the club Vanning is accosted and abducted at gunpoint by two bank robbers, John (Brian Keith) and Red (Rudy Bond). John and Red have reason to believe that Vanning has or knows the location of a large stash of money which the two men had stolen but subsequently lost. Vanning also is being followed by Ben Fraser (James Gregory), an insurance investigator for the company which had to cover the bank’s loss. Fraser’s company believes that Vanning was complicit in the robbery, but after conducting extended surveillance Fraser begins to think that Vanning may be innocent. The catch is that Vanning needs to find the money in order to prove his innocence, but even he is not sure where the money is. The action takes Vanning from downtown Los Angeles to an oil field on the Pacific coast to a snow-covered valley in the mountains of Wyoming. The film benefits from a taut script by Stirling Silliphant and superb cinematography by Burnett Guffey. Director Jacques Tourneur keeps the action moving at a rapid clip.
The Brothers Rico (1957)
A former mob accountant, Eddie Rico (Richard Conte), has gotten out of a life of crime and now owns a successful business in Florida. Although the head of the rackets, Sid Kubik (Larry Gates), has long been a close Rico family friend, Eddie discovers that even his friendship will not allow him to completely extricate himself from his past. He learns that his brothers Gino (Paul Picerni) and Johnny (James Darren) were involved in a mob hit and are now in hiding. Kubik is nervous, because the police are looking for the Ricos and he is worried that they will talk to the authorities if they are captured. Eddie Rico is summoned to meet with his former mob boss, who tells Eddie that he will get the brothers out of the country if Eddie can find them before they are caught by the police. But will Eddie really be helping his brothers, or is he actually placing them in greater danger? The Brothers Rico is based upon a story by Georges Simenon and is directed by Phil Karlson.
City of Fear (1959)
This is the weakest film in the collection. City of Fear contains some elements of film noir, but basically it is a standard and uninspired crime drama. Vince Ryker (Vince Edwards) has broken out of San Quentin with a canister which he believes contains a pound of pure heroin. In fact, the canister contains Cobalt 60, a highly radioactive substance in granular form. If Ryker opens the canister and allows the Cobalt 60 to spread, the entire city of Los Angeles would be imperiled. He steals a car and cleverly makes his way to Los Angeles, where he reunites with his girlfriend, June Marlowe (Patricia Blair). Ryker’s plans to sell the "heroin" hit a snag when he is unable to open the canister and he begins to get sick from radiation exposure. In the meantime, the L.A. police run around town with Geiger counters, trying to locate Ryker before it is too late. The predictable plot developments do not always flow smoothly, which may have something to do with the running time. Various sources report that this film was released with a running time of 81 minutes, but this version runs for just 75 minutes. Are six minutes of footage missing? I have nothing to compare this with and have never seen it before, so I cannot say with any authority, but I have my suspicions. The film is directed by Irving Lerner and features performances by familiar characters actors such as Lyle Talbot and John Archer
The Video
The video quality of this DVD set is excellent. These black and white films are generally very sharp, with solid blacks and very good contrast. An appropriate level of film grain has been retained in all five features. The 1.85:1 framing fills the screen and looks fine, although I note that some sources report that these films were originally shown at 1.37:1. In any event, all five of the films look very good even though the oldest films in the set were released 56 years ago.
The Audio
The Dolby Digital mono audio is nothing to get excited about, but it does the job with clear, intelligible dialogue and no noticeable distortion.
The Supplements
Each film in this collection is accompanied by its original theatrical trailer, which are variable in condition but all are in at least decent shape. There are also three featurettes:
“Martin Scorcese on The Brothers Rico” is a brief and admiring discussion about the film by the legendary director.
Emily Mortimer provides some interesting insights into the genre of film noir in “Terror and Desire,” a featurette which accompanies Human Desire. She talks about how Gloria Grahame, while not a classic Hollywood beauty, nevertheless was able to portray an intense sexuality which served her well in film noir roles.
“Pulp Paranoia” is a discussion about the influence of film noir by director Christopher Nolan. Although this featurette accompanies City of Fear, the content is more about the genre in general.
The Packaging
Each of the five features is on its own disc. The five discs are in a three-section gatefold package, so two of the discs are securely overlapped. The gatefold packaging is encased in a slipcase. The slipcase lists the major credits and a brief summary of each film. The gatefold packaging includes some evocative still photos from the collection.
The Final Analysis
My caveats about City of Fear notwithstanding, the box set Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics II is a welcome addition to the DVD library of any fan of film noir. Sony is to be commended for continuing to give first-class treatment to its library of older films.
Equipment used for this review:
Toshiba HD-XA-2 DVD player
Panasonic Viera TC-P46G15 Plasma display calibrated to THX specifications by Gregg Loewen
Yamaha HTR-5890 THX Surround Receiver
BIC Acoustech speakers
Interconnects: Monster Cable
Release Date: July 6, 2010
