Crawdaddy's "Random Thoughts" about Home Video, Film & TV (16 Viewers)

[Matt Hough]

Tonight's Noir Alley "Nightmare Alley" is a must. Eddie says it's one if the most anticipated ones he's done.

Interestingly, is getting remade with Guillermo del Toro directing, film historian Kim Morgan writing, and Leonardo DiCaprio starring.

Yep, I'm greatly anticipating Nightmare Alley with hopefully a wonderful transfer AND Eddie's before and after comments. Will definitely be on my afternoon agenda.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yep, I'm greatly anticipating Nightmare Alley with hopefully a wonderful transfer AND Eddie's before and after comments. Will definitely be on my afternoon agenda.

Again, extend your recording time because the film runs 111 minutes long.

 

[Matt Hough]

Again, extend your recording time because the film runs 111 minutes long.

Yes, I did extend the recording time by 15 minutes. Nice to be able to do it on-line and not have to fire the TV/DVR back up again.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Since my first viewing of "Red River" and her brief scene in that great western, I always had a film crush on Colleen Gray. I always wished she switched roles with Joanne Dru as I wanted to see more of her in that film.

 

[Cranston37+]

I was never a fan of how Eddie essentially reworked that poster for his book. Not very original...

 

[Mysto]

I watched it again on DVD this afternoon. People should set their DVR for some extra time as this film is 111 minutes long as Eddie's after comments might come up missing if you don't extend your recording time. I liked this film, but there is something regarding Power's character I never bought into as this dude was too smart and conniving to make such a

Spoiler

fatal mistake.

I'll say more after some of you watch this movie.

The movie and book are favs for me. I also like the book monster midway telling about the world of the carney. We live about 20 minutes from Gibsonton Fl which was the winter home of the carnys and still has many living there.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I was never a fan of how Eddie essentially reworked that poster for his book. Not very original...

View attachment 58160

I wasn't a fan of Eddie's comments on Noir Alley about this film. One of the few times I was truly disappointed in them. Not nearly enough about the film's cast of supporting actors. Perhaps, it's just me.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This morning I watched "Hellfire" (1949) western from Republic that I recently bought in HD from iTunes. A weird western for sure, but I was thoroughly entertained and captivated by Marie Windsor. With this film, I can see why Eddie Muller thought so highly of her. She really looked in TruColor with her bedroom eyes. I'm glad I bought this blindly for $4.99 which is still the current pricing. I don't think this has ever been on disc and the video presentation is very good for the most part as it's another film title that Paramount has recently done some work on.

 

[bujaki]

I was not aware that Nightmare Alley had been in some sort of legal limbo for a very long time. The one time I saw this great film before last night was at a screening at MoMA a lifetime ago. Needless to say, MoMA showed their 35mm nitrate print.
The original ending is so obvious, and Power delivers it very convincingly. It would have been as hard hitting as the ending of I Am a Fugitive...

 

[Mark McSherry]

It is interesting that the NIGHTMARE ALLEY author's ex-wife was C.S. Lewis' companion, Joy Davidman (Gresham).

The UK bluray release of NIGHTMARE ALLEY keeps getting put off. At one time, it was to have been available this week. Now the date it set for the (it will be done, when it's done) date of 12/31/2019.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Nightmare Alley. Wake me up that's one cynical and bleak but riviting story. It was so obvious to me this time around that "nightmare alley" is a metaphor for alcoholism, and a powerful one at that. Yeah, the phony tacked on ending fools no one after the bottoming out moment of the "I was born to be one," line.

One contemporary twist in a tale 70 years old is how the woman psychologist gaslights Stan. But then again it makes sense in the context of someone tormented either directly or indirectly by alcohol that he would start to doubt his own senses or sanity.

I also couldn't help but feel this time around the similar rise and fall con man arc to the story in Elmer Gantry. And I started imagining Burt Lancaster chewing his prominent choppers into this piece. I think his charisma would have worked even better for the rise of the character early in this story, but props must go to Tyrone Power for bravely and non-commercially taking on about as unsympathetic character as Noir can offer.

And leave it to Leonardo DiCaprio and Guillermo Del Toro to tackle the remake that's coming...

https://www.slashfilm.com/nightmare-alley-remake/

Somehow, I don't think they will cop out on the original ending for this one.

 

[Matt Hough]

I wasn't a fan of Eddie's comments on Noir Alley about this film. One of the few times I was truly disappointed in them. Not nearly enough about the film's cast of supporting actors. Perhaps, it's just me.

Was it that they were just too short or did he say some things you disagreed with? With only a two hour time block, we kind of suspected his comments this time around would be brief. I would also have really wanted to know a lot of background on those great supporting players who especially gave the fairground sequences such great authenticity. And that great cinematography! The rise and fall of this con man couldn't have been captured any more brilliantly. The TCM transfer had some speckles, but it did appear to be HD. Looked wonderful for the most part.

When we look at films now that are celebrated as masterworks like Bringing Up Baby or Nightmare Alley, it's dumbfounding to think audiences didn't embrace them in their day. Didn't they see the greatness right in front of their eyes? I guess to see it, you had to get them into the theater, and they just weren't into the stars or the subject matter of these movies, I guess.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I was not aware that Nightmare Alley had been in some sort of legal limbo for a very long time. The one time I saw this great film before last night was at a screening at MoMA a lifetime ago. Needless to say, MoMA showed their 35mm nitrate print.
The original ending is so obvious, and Power delivers it very convincingly. It would have been as hard hitting as the ending of I Am a Fugitive...

They talk about it in the audio commentary on the DVD release as it was a dispute between the film's producer and Fox.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Was it that they were just too short or did he say some things you disagreed with? With only a two hour time block, we kind of suspected his comments this time around would be brief. I would also have really wanted to know a lot of background on those great supporting players who especially gave the fairground sequences such great authenticity. And that great cinematography! The rise and fall of this con man couldn't have been captured any more brilliantly. The TCN transfer had some speckles, but it did appear to be HD. Looked wonderful for the most part.

When we look at films now that are celebrated as masterworks like Bringing Up Baby or Nightmare Alley, it's dumbfounding to think audiences didn't embrace them in their day. Didn't they see the greatness right in front of their eyes? I guess to see it, you had to get them into the theater, and they just weren't into the stars or the subject matter of these movies, I guess.

They were too short without enough stuff about the supporting actors and cinematography.

 

[bujaki]

They talk about it in the audio commentary on the DVD release as it was a dispute between the film's producer and Fox.

Thanks for the info. I own the DVD but never watched it. As I stated earlier, my only time watching this film prior to last night's viewing was MoMA's print. And that was in the early to mid '70s.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Today, I'll be watching "Black Hawk Down" the extended cut on 4K/UHD disc. Also, I'll be watching "This Gun for Hire" on Blu-ray that is arriving in today's mail. However, I might have to watch Alan Ladd tomorrow morning as "Black Hawk Down" might be an all day thing for me due to the length of the movie and there being two cuts of the film, plus, a ton of bonus material. I need to do some bonus material comparisons to see if I can deleted some old DVDs.

Recently, I just placed an order for some Blu-rays from Twilight Time with the following titles:

The Whole Town is Talking
The River's Edge
The Snake Pit
Warlock

I wanted to order more, but at $29.95 a pop, I held back some titles for maybe June or July.

 

[Robert Crawford]

By the way, I bought "The Court Jester" HD stream from Vudu for $6.99. I know it's in its OAR, but not sure if it's an improvement over the DVD which I don't have, but will try to watch it sometime this week.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Today, I'll be watching "Black Hawk Down" the extended cut on 4K/UHD disc. Also, I'll be watching "This Gun for Hire" on Blu-ray that is arriving in today's mail. However, I might have to watch Alan Ladd tomorrow morning as "Black Hawk Down" might be an all day thing for me due to the length of the movie and there being two cuts of the film, plus, a ton of bonus material. I need to do some bonus material comparisons to see if I can deleted some old DVDs.

Recently, I just placed an order for some Blu-rays from Twilight Time with the following titles:

The Whole Town is Talking
The River's Edge
The Snake Pit
Warlock

I wanted to order more, but at $29.95 a pop, I held back some titles for maybe June or July.

Well, so much for plans. I got sidetracked by phone calls from different siblings so I ended up being on the phone for hours. Therefore, "Black Hawk Down" got a postponed viewing. However, I was able to watch "This Gun for Hire" a couple of times today on Blu-ray including the very informative audio commentary by Steve Mitchell and Alan K. Rode. The video presentation was excellent and fans of this fine early film noir should be very happy. A big thumbs up from me. Veronica Lake looked really beautiful in this film and Alan Ladd had one of his best acting performances as Raven. The Production Code had a fit about that particular role.

Also, I'm trying to finish "Cause for Alarm" on the TCM app as it's the last day for that particular movie on the app. An interesting movie to say the least as it has been many years since my last viewing of it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This week's Noir Alley selection has one of the greatest and most iconic acting performances ever seen in Movies. Cagney didn't even get a nomination similar to Robert Mitchum's not getting a nomination for "The Night of the Hunter" or John Wayne for "The Searchers". Cody Jarrett sure loved his mother so Eddie showing this film on Mother's Day weekend is very appropriate for the "Film Noir" genre.

03-09-19: D.O.A. (1950)
03-16-19: High Sierra (1941)
03-23-19: Lady in the Lake (1946)
03-30-19: Border Incident (1949)
04-06-19: 99 River Street (1953)
04-13-19: Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
04-20-19: M (1951)
04-27-19: Woman on the Run (1950)
05-04-19: Nightmare Alley (1947)
05-11-19: White Heat (1949)
05-18-19: Key Largo (1948)
06-01-19: The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
06-08-19: Nora Prentiess (1947)
06-15-19: Pickup on South Street (1953)
06-22-19: Shadow on the Wall (1950)
06-29-19: On Dangerous Ground (1951)
07-06-19: The Tattooed Stranger (1950)
07-13-19: The People Against O'Hara (1951)
07-20-19: While the City Sleeps (1956)
07-27-19: Dead Reckoning (1947)
09-07-19: The Big Clock (1948)
09-14-19: Nocturne (1946)
09-21-19: The Woman on the Beach (1947)
09-28-19: The Harder They Fall (1956)
10-05-19: The Bribe (1949)
10-12-19: Clash By Night (1952)
10-19-19: This Gun For Hire (1942)
10-26-19: A Woman's Secret (1949)
11-02-19: Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
11-09-19: Johnny Eager (1941)
11-16-19: The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
11-23-19: Kansas City Confidential (1952)
11-30-19: The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
12-07-19: Berlin Express (1948)
12-14-19: Criss Cross (1949)
12-21-19: I Died a Thousand Times (1955)
12-28-19: Repeat Performance (1947)
01-04-20: The Big Sleep (1946)
01-11-20: The Captive City (1952)
01-18-20: The Big Night (1951)

http://noiralley.tcm.com/images/pages/schedule/TCM-00125_NoirAlley-Schedule.pdf

 

[Robert Crawford]

Looking at the Noir Alley schedule I noticed "This Gun For Hire" on October 19th.