Film Noir - LIST (1 Viewer)

[WillardK]

I'd also recommend the Questar set. The transfers are as good or nearly as you can currently find from what I understand, especially those for Scarlet Street, Detour and Killer Bait (whose supposedly identical transfer was just released on a much more expensive Dark City disc). The featurettes aren't that great, but the real prize of this set is the trailer compilation. It's possibly alone worth the price.

Times are getting better maybe for B-Movie fans. Public domain titles from bargain labels in 'as good as what's available' condition are a welcome treat (until proper restorations are done, if ever). Note that most of the Questar titles are also included in a 50-pack mystery set, which also looks to be a bargain and probably uses the same transfers.

 

[Randy A Salas]

but the real prize of this set is the trailer compilation.

Yes, indeedy. It's just a pity that, at 78 minutes, it doesn't have a chapter stop for each trailer.

 

[Greg Patenaude]

Film Noir Nuts,

I'm definitely a newbie when it comes to Film Noir so was wondering if I could get some recommendations for 'must see' film noir. I'm talking classics, not neo film noir. I should say that I have seen The Big Sleep and Maltese Falcon, the latter being one of my all time favorite movies. I have also ordered the Warner Film Noir Collection: Vol I and the four Universal films coming out next week. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Herb (Kane) for his Herculean effort on THE LIST!

thanks

Greg

 

[Paul_D]

Greg,

My top picks would be:

Some big ones:
Double Indemnity
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Out Of The Past
Kiss Me Deadly

Personal favs:
The Big Heat
In A Lonely Place
Sweet Smell Of Success
Anything with Richard Widmark, especially Kiss of Death

Some great films in this genre!

 

[Walter Kittel]

Some of my favorites, currently in print on DVD, include:

The Big Heat - Terrific noir that anticipates films such as Dirty Harry with Glenn Ford as Sgt. Dave Bannion; a cop who will do whatever it takes to stop a crime syndicate. Gloria Grahame and Lee Marvin are both very effective in this film.

Detour - The aptly name Ann Savage is one of the great femme fatales in this film. The old Image disc is kinda rough in spots, but this is a great low budget feature.

Force of Evil - Poetic dialog, great performances by John Garfield and Thomas Gomez, and wonderful cinematography by George Barnes make this a must see. For my money, one of *the* definitive noirs and film that I would place in my top ten favorite noirs.

The Killers - Solid two film treatment by Criterion ( the original Robert Siodmak feature, and Don Siegel's remake are featured ) makes this well worth your time.

Pickup on South Street - Samuel Fuller, Richard Widmark. That's reason enough to see this film.

Gilda - Worth seeing if for no other reason than Rita Hayworth performing the electric 'Put the Blame on Mame'. Great chemistry between Glenn Ford and Hayworth on display in this film. Another favorite, despite a weak ending that betrays the film's ambitions.

- Walter.

 

[Marko Berg]

Just want to chime in to say this is an excellent thread. This year is looking very good as far as Noir titles are concerned.

Thank you Walter Kittel for your review of Force of Evil which I bought on your recommendation. It's an excellent film and the presentation is quite acceptable.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Thanks Marko. I appreciate your post, and I'm gratified to hear that you enjoyed this film, which I consider one of the gems of the noir canon.

- Walter.

 

[Glenn R]

I second Big Sleep, Detour, Gilda, In a Lonely Place, Double Indemnity, Killers, Out of the Past . . . and add Murder, My Sweet (in the Warners set) and Strangers on a Train.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Yes, indeedy. It's just a pity that, at 78 minutes, it doesn't have a chapter stop for each trailer.

I couldn't believe they did that. I'm thinking about ripping that file and breaking each one up into individual chapters. In fact I am thinking about adding several of the noir trailers that Warner recently released as well as those from Criterion. Could make for a fun compilation DVD.

 

[Oliver_Groth]

Herb,

I have all of the three BFI Preminger discs. The quality is good, not Casablana, but those are good solid transfers. Check out the review at dvdbeaver.com including screenshots.

Regarding the Montparnasse discs: I only have their edition of Murder my sweet and it's an ok transfer, similar to the Artisan disc of Force of Evil.

Great thread and thanks for all the info.

Oliver

 

[richardWI]

Are there any reviews up for the Film Noir box set (The Asphalt Jungle / Gun Crazy / Murder My Sweet / Out of the Past / The Set-Up) that comes out next week?

edit: Duh, I found it, never mind!

 

[Greg Patenaude]

Thanks for the recommendations Guys. I'll be picking up Pickup on South Street and Kiss me Deadly soon. I picked up Force of Evil but haven't watched it yet. I realized that this is probably one of the only (if not THE only) version out there but it's pretty sad that on the back they advertise Full Frame as a special feature! Oh well, at least I have the movie. Some of you may have noticed that I started a thread regarding Film Noir Titles (which I should have posted here...oops). What I want to know is what your favorite film noir titles are? I'm not talking about the movie but the actual name of the movie.

My Warner set has shipped so I'm anxiously waiting.

later

Greg

 

[Walter Kittel]

For me, names that evoke the aesthetics I associate with noir tend to work best - cityscapes, shadows, dark themes, etc. Some of the titles that I like, solely on that basis are:

The Asphalt Jungle

Just about all of the 'The Big' titles, especially
The Big Combo
The Big Heat
The Big Sleep

Bury Me Dead
Chicago Confidential
City of Shadows
Dark City
Dial M for Murder
The File on Thelma Jordan - Perhaps my favorite title. On another topic, I certainly wish that Paramount would release this film.
The Glass Key - Very distinctive.
Hell Is A City - Evocative characterization of the film's environment.
House of Bamboo
I Was A Communist for the FBI - Splendid B movie title.
Johnny Angel
Kansas City Confidential - Another 'Confidential' title.
The Man With the Golden Arm
Murder, My Sweet
The Naked City
Out of the Past
The Public Enemy
Scarlet Street
So Dark the Night
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
Sweet Smell of Success
To Have and Have Not
Where the Sidewalk Ends


Speaking of favorite titles, my alltime favorite SF title would work in the context of noir. Phillip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said.

- Walter.

 

[Herb Kane]

Oliver, thanks for posting. Glad to hear they look pretty good and judging by Gary's screencaps, they do. I went ahead and ordered the three BFI titles as well as the five French Éditions Montparnasse titles including Macao (1952) which I wasn't aware of its R2 release. Of course these are all Warner controlled, so after having ordered them, you know darn well what 5 titles will be announced in the next set...

I'm not sure I'd be able to list a group of interesting titles but a list of my favorites (in no particular order) are:

- The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
- The Big Heat (1953)
- D.O.A. (1950) - Edmond O'Brien... pound for pound, perhaps the best actor in the genre - Duryea comes close.
- Dark Passage (1947) - my favorite of the many San Francisco noirs
- Double Indemnity (1944) - one of the perfect examples of film noir
- In a Lonely Place (1950) - Bogie & Grahame are superb
- The Killers (1946) - though I'm not fond of the '64 version
- The Killing (1956) - another great Sterling Hayden heist film
- Laura (1944) - hoping this leads the pack of the upcoming Fox line, till then a ratty vhs fills the void
- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
- Out of the Past (1947) - perhaps the perfect example of film noir
- Pickup on South Street (1953)
- A Place in the Sun (1951)

These are the titles I find myself returning to the most, although that changes almost monthly... Oddly, two titles that are highly regarded in the genre are Kiss Me Deadly and The Night Of The Hunter, neither of which really do it for me. To look at it from another angle, I have all but a couple of the DVDs that have been released and the only one I would suggest to avoid like the plague is Roger Corman's, Teenage Doll (1957) - just a terribly silly film IMO.

Herb.

 

[Oliver_Groth]

Herb,

that's exactly what happend to me with Murder My Sweet.

Another Company worth checking out is Wild Side from France, they have released a great looking T-Men/Raw Deal set and some other Noirs. Only problem with their releases, besides high prices and limited availability, are their non-removable french subtitles. The french are big noir fans and there are a lot of great releases out there.

You might also like to check out the German release of Leave Her To Heaven (German title: Todsünde)

Oliver

 

[John Hodson]

Herb, I'm almost sorry (almost) to suggest this. Could you indicate in the list on the front page which discs are not up to par transfer wise, or is that a daft idea?

 

[Herb Kane]

John... Yes I was planning to go through the list eventually and rate the discs accordingly, especially now that many of the R2 discs have started showing up - many of which are pretty impressive. In fact I've added almost a dozen R2 releases to the list in the last couple of days.

Herb.

 

[John Hodson]

Even better

 

[Steve Phillips]

I'd love to see Universal release THE GLASS WEB on DVD, especially with a field sequential 3-D option.

I was able to see five of the films on your Noir list in the original dual projector polarized 3-D format at a film festival last year (THE GLASS WEB, I, THE JURY, INFERNO, DIAL M FOR MURDER and MAN IN THE DARK) and they were amazing in the original format.

The latter was a bit cheesy and gimmicky, (but still tremoundously entertaining) but the others used the stereoscopics quite well and in a stylish way perfectly suited to the noir style. The 3-D versions were much more impressive than flat showings on TV. If you ever get the chance to see these in stereo, do so!

I've been checking out a lot of the films in this week's Noir festival on TCM too. Most of them are new to me.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I did a forum search and came up with nothing.

Which company is currently offering the best a/v quality transfer:

- Image



- Gotham Distr.




Have there been any official announcements and if not, which one should I pick up?

Thanks!