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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Double Indemnity -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Richard Gallagher

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"Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style" lists Josef von Sternberg's Underworld (1927) as the first film noir. Other early titles listed include City Streets (1931), Beast of the City (1932), The Scoundrel (1935), and Fury (1936).
 

rsmithjr

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Reed Grele said:
I Don't know how I missed the pre-order on this, but that omission was just rectified using the HTF link. :)
I missed the pre-order because I don't buy Universal products without reviews. Sony absolutely, Fox yes, but not Universal. Having read some reviews, I ordered today.
 

Jeffrey Nelson

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Best film noir? In my opinion, yes. First? Not a chance. If we're only counting talkies, my vote goes to THE SIN OF NORA MORAN (1933). If we have to start in the '40s, it's gotta be STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR (1940).
 

ThadK

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One thing gleamed from film histories and aficionados: no one will ever, ever, agree on the criteria for film noir.

"In a Lonely Place" would be my #1 for a Blu-Ray issue. "Stranger on the Third Floor", "Thieves' Highway", and "Gun Crazy" too.

I will certainly be grabbing the "Double Indemnity" Blu ASAP. Recent noir purchases: got "City That Never Sleeps" from Olive Films which was a solid but not great presentation, so I'm glad it was heavily discounted. I imported the Italian "Gilda" and thought the presentation was a disappointment. Rank heresy it be, but my '60s 16mm of it is sharper.
 

SeanAx

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The definition of film noir is squishy enough to encompass films that have strong noir elements to them, and vague enough that some folks toss in every crime movie made in the forties and fifties into the genre, regardless of style or attitude. "Stranger on the Third Floor" is the consensus pick for the first film noir and Eddie Muller, the founder of the Film Noir Foundation and the Noir City Film Festival, goes with that. "Underworld" is an important precursor to film noir, as it Fritz Lang's "M" and Marcel Carne's "Le Quai des brumes." Curiously enough, in their updated Film Noir Encyclopedia, Silver and Ursini began their "Chronology of Classic Period Film Noir" in 1940 and cut out any earlier films mentioned in the earlier edition of the book.

As was stated earlier, film noir was identified as a genre by the French as it was coming to an end in the U.S.. No director ever went into the studio saying he was making a making a film noir they he might say "I'm making a western" or "I want to do a musical." And it is curious for being the only genre that is defined by style and attitude more than by genre elements (horses, shotguns and six-guns, unsettled lands west of the modern cities, etc... in westerns, for example). So creating boundaries means stating your own definitions of noir.
 

Yorkshire

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Gromilini said:
Agreed. Though there is a deluxe blu set for Gun Crazy from Amazon.fr:
I can't remember the exact details, but that French distributor did an expensive boxed set/special edition for big money a while ago, then released a more basic Blu-ray Disc of the same title a while later.

I can't remember what the film was, or exactly how the long the gap was. But I can remember calculating that, if they did the same with Gun Crazy, and it had the same gap between releases, we'd see a more affordable version this December.

Steve W
 

Mark Booth

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I finally picked up 'Double Indemnity' at Barnes & Noble thanks to their sale and an extra 25% off coupon this morning! We'll be watching it this afternoon!

Mark
 

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