Flicker Alley

[swo17]

The Duvivier set was unavailable from Amazon for a while, which I thought might be so they could remove the Fidelity in Motion credit from the booklet, but nope, it's still there!

[Finch]

Glenn Erickson on Repeat Performance

The years of delay in bringing the show to home video had nothing to do with image quality — the film elements appear to have been preserved in excellent shape. The lighting of camerman Lew O’Connell (Scarface, Decoy) is as rich as any big-studio noir. Composer George Antheil’s music underscores the drama with a slightly eerie flavor. Antheil’s film score career began with the avant-garde Ballet mécanique and proceeded through two dozen memorable films. (...)

Three video featurettes attack the show’s main points of interest with welcome efficiency — I’m getting a little weary of discs with big content overlaps in multiple ‘visual essays.’

Eddie Muller provides a fine introduction, expressing his keen interest in saving at-risk orphaned noirs. Muller diplomatically offers that Repeat Performance’s status as noir / not noir is an argument for purists. We at CineSavant are satisfied that it meets the standard: if it walks like a noir and quacks like a noir . . . you know. I recommend watching the intro after the movie, not before. A ‘first time cold’ policy works best: when an unseen title like The Turning Point appears on Muller’s TCM show, DVR the intro and watch it afterward.

In her authoritative video essay Farran Smith Nehme conveys the truth about Joan Leslie’s interesting career. Nehme’s remarks are clean and accurate. She doesn’t gush over Leslie’s accomplishments — the sixteen year-old stole scenes from WB’s biggest stars. She gives a fair assessment of the career risks Leslie faced when she took Jack Warner’s unfair contract to court. Nehme’s image of Ms. Leslie squares with what I know personally of the actress through a close relative. The star was indeed devoutly Catholic and very strong-minded.

[Finch]

The Guilty & High Tide double bill on May 24

THE GUILTY (1947)

The Guilty, released by Monogram Pictures, is a triumph of resourcefulness for its nomadic Viennese director, John Reinhardt. Based on a short story by legendary suspense writer Cornell Woolrich, this little-seen B movie centers on war veterans Mike Carr (Don Castle) and Johnny Dixon (Wally Cassell), roommates in a low-rent tenement. They are romantically entangled with twin sisters Estelle and Linda Mitchell (Bonita Granville, in a dual role). When one sister turns up dead, the boys are hounded by a suspicious police inspector (Regis Toomey)—although there’s no shortage of suspects. Working on only three sets, with a shoestring budget, Reinhardt and director of photography Henry Sharp evoke the dreadful, dead-of-night ambiance that was the domain of the era’s most prolific noir scribe, Cornell Woolrich.

Thanks to the dedication of the Film Noir Foundation, The Guilty has been restored from a 35mm nitrate composite fine-grain master by UCLA Film & Television Archive, and is now presented in this world-premiere edition.

HIGH TIDE (1947)

This forgotten noir, set in a spectacularly corrupt Los Angeles, is a crackling crime thriller rescued thanks to the combined efforts of the Film Noir Foundation, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and the British Film Institute. Restoration funding was provided by the Film Noir Foundation in conjunction with the Packard Humanities Institute. The action gets rolling with one of the greatest framing gimmicks in noir: a speeding car crashes onto a rocky shoreline and its occupants, newspaper editor Hugh Fresney (Lee Tracy) and private eye Tim Slade (Don Castle) recount the plot as the rising tide threatens to drown them. In flashback, we learn that Slade was brought in by muckraking editor Fresney as protection against a mobster (Anthony Warde) his paper is investigating. Things quickly get complicated as Fresney’s boss has a wife (Julia Bishop) eager to resume a smoldering romance with Slade. When a main character gets iced early, everybody becomes a suspect, and the double-crosses start multiplying at a breakneck pace.

High Tide was the second of two crime thrillers independently produced in 1947 by Texas oil tycoon Jack Wrather. It carries over from The Guilty the same screenwriter and cameraman, the same protagonist in actor Don Castle, and the same director, John Reinhardt, whose playful inventiveness enlivened several post-WW II films noir.

BONUS MATERIALS INCLUDE:

A Special Kind of Partnership: Jack Wrather, Bonita Granville, and Don Castle – An illuminating look at the personal and professional relationships of Jack Wrather, Bonita Granville, and Don Castle, featuring interviews with Chris Wrather, Gretchen (Castle) Bernfeld, and others
“Welcome to My Nightmare” – a short documentary exploring the life and work of Cornell Woolrich, featuring publishing legend Otto Penzler, Charles (“Hard Case Crime”) Ardai, and Woolrich’s biographer Francis M. Nevins
John Reinhardt: The Viennese Auteur of Poverty Row – A documentary featuring interviews with critic Dave Kehr, film historian and lecturer Maria Elena de las Carreras, former child actor Gordon Gebert, and writer and cinema historian Alan K. Rode
Audio Commentary for The Guilty – by prize-winning noir author and film studies instructor Jake Hinkson
Audio Commentary for High Tide – by film historian and biographer Alan K. Rode
Souvenir Booklet – containing an essay by Eddie Muller and a wealth of fabulous ephemera, including posters, lobby cards, and stills from both films

[domino harvey]

I've seen both of these. The Guilty is just okay, and High Tide isn't all that good but I've seen worse. Can't really recommend at Flicker Alley prices

[lzx]

Are the two stills from different movies? Because Don Castle seems to be wearing the exact same clothes in both

[dekadetia]

Are the two stills from different movies? Because Don Castle seems to be wearing the exact same clothes in both

Different coat, but it did make me do a double-take as well!

[mteller]

I love The Guilty! Not a big fan of High Tide though.

[L.A.]

The Silent Enemy (H.P. Carver, 1930) coming soon in the Flicker Fusion line.

July 1st is the release date.

[Derek Estes]

I finally picked up the Laurel OR Hardy collection, and was wondering if there is any word of the silent Laurel And Hardy films being released. I’m not sure if this is something Flicker Alley would release through Lobster films, or if this is something Kit Parker would handle like that blu-ray collection that was released a couple years ago. It seems that most of them are available on YouTube, though the aspect ratios are a mess.

[L.A.]

Casanova (Alexandre Volkoff, 1927) coming September 27th.

[L.A.]

El vampiro negro / The Black Vampire (Román Viñoly Barreto, 1953) in November.

[Finch]

FA are killing it with those Argentinian noirs and the reviews I've been able to find all suggest the film doesn't suffer in comparison with Lang's original (which I'm not a huge fan of anyway).

[domino harvey]

Flicker Alley's new calendar confirms deluxe Blu-ray releases of the following films...
The Juleen Compton Collection (Stranded - 1965, The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean - 1966, Buckeye and Blue - 1988)

Flicker Alley's Compton set will only contain her first two features

[ryannichols7]

quiet times around here. Flicker Alley's one sale of the year is this weekend!

everything is 25% off, not including MOD

[yoloswegmaster]

Flicker Alley to release the new restoration of Foolish Wives on blu in June:

[SeizureMilk]

Flicker Alley to release the new restoration of Foolish Wives on blu in June:

Hopefully this will lead to more Stroheim releases like The Wedding March or maybe Greed. Thank you for reading.

[What A Disgrace]

I'm delighted that the restoration is getting released, but I'll wait for that annual Flicker Alley sale. Just in case Masters of Cinema picks up the film (as they had done with the Paul Leni releases a couple of years ago).

[Finch]

Same here.

[ryannichols7]

preorder is up for $29.99, I think I'll have to go for this one. easy to support FA and hopefully they go for more. if MOC add a commentary or something I'll gladly double dip

[What A Disgrace]

I'll at least hang on to the old DVD for its audio commentary.

[What A Disgrace]

Foolish Wives has been delayed a couple of weeks to incorporate new extras. As far as I can tell, the listed supplements on their site are the same as what they were before, so I assume these new extras are TBA.

[Marwood]

I'll at least hang on to the old DVD for its audio commentary.

Yeah, and also Patrick Montgomery's 1973 feature-length documentary "The Man You Loved to Hate" which is another great extra missing from the Flicker Alley

[captveg]

Laurel & Hardy: Year One

Includes 15 silent shorts from 1921-1927.

Between this and the Kit Parker release from 2020, does this cover all their shorts on BD?

[What A Disgrace]

Frustratingly, no it does not. If 1927 is "year one", then it would be year two and three where the 'magic' really began, and none of their major films from that period are represented on Blu-ray.

[captveg]

Frustratingly, no it does not. If 1927 is "year one", then it would be year two and three where the 'magic' really began, and none of their major films from that period are represented on Blu-ray.

Gotcha. Presumably they have plans to have follow up releases.