Warner Film Noir Collections

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cafeman · #76 Post by **cafeman** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 4:19 pm

Langlois68 wrote:And I'm straight with bad gaydar.

Same here. (Although, I was aware of the fact that he was gay in the book before watching the movie, but expected that it`s completely changed to Jewish).

As for the young soldier, I don`t detect any homosexuality in him, but certainly he is a lost man on a downward spiral of selfdestruction and obviously feels greatly comforted by Samuels` words, so I`m thinking he also just has a bad gaydar

Ashirg · #77 Post by **Ashirg** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:15 am

So far confirmed:
Lady in the Lake (news from The Digital Bits and chat)

Possible titles:
They Live by Night - Eddie Muller recorded a commentary with Farley Granger
Crime Wave - Eddie Muller recorded a commentary with James Ellroy

More rumors from the chat:
Mitchum RKO film (His Kind of Woman, Angel Face, Macao, Where Danger Lives, The Big Steal, or Blood On the Moon)
an MGM film you might not expect (several possibilities, but it may be Party Girl that is being released by Warner in France in March)

Derek Estes · #78 Post by **Derek Estes** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 7:07 am

I would also guess Undercurrent. It recently screened at the NW Film Center during their last Noir fest. I think it would be a suprise MGM film...and also includes Robert Mitchum.

jcelwin · #79 Post by **jcelwin** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:02 am

I wish warner would release these more often; is there a reason that they only release one a year? They must have quite a few good noir? And, I hope this time they 'more' noir than the last box.

#80 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:01 pm

jcelwin wrote:I wish warner would release these more often; is there a reason that they only release one a year?

I think that the reason would be that they have a diverse library of titles that they want to release, and before the initial volume (which sold very well) came out, they didn't know what the market would be like for this type of release. Presumably based on the success of the first two volumes, Warner has announced that 2006 will see the release of Volumes 3 and 4.

pzman84 · #81 Post by **pzman84** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:31 pm

They probably will not have both They Live by Night and Party Girl in the same box set. It would be too much Ray (not that you can have too much Ray). Warners probably would want 5 different directors for 5 different films. My guess is Party Girl will be released the same way Point Blank was for Film Noir Vol. 2-as a seperate disc.

Ashirg · #82 Post by **Ashirg** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 11:51 pm

From here:

Legendary tough guys and femme fatales collide in The Film Noir Classic Colleciton Volume Three, debuting Summer 2006 from Warner Home Video. The Collection includes five classics, all new to DVD and all digitally remastered: Border Incident, His Kind of Woman, Lady in the Lake, On Dangerous Ground and The Racket.

cafeman · #83 Post by **cafeman** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:52 pm

Mann, Ray, Two Mitchums and Lady in the Lake...sounds like a slam dunk to me. I guess they`ve been reading the griping about the second box.

Derek Estes · #84 Post by **Derek Estes** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 12:12 am

This is going to be fantastic! And, considering vol 4 is also planned for this year is outstanding. I read that Side Street is a possibility for that set. That would make 3 Mann films from Warner this year, counting The Naked Spur in the Stewart set. I can't wait for the official announcement!

tryavna · #85 Post by **tryavna** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 8:12 pm

cafeman wrote:Mann, Ray

I did a double-take when I first read your message. I thought, "Man Ray did film noir? And Warner is releasing it? Huh?"

Anyway, I'm particularly pleased about On Dangerous Ground. It features one of Bernard Herrmann's very best scores -- supposedly one of his own personal favorites and one of the few that he consciously borrowed from for later scores. I also hope they include some info on just how much of the film Lupino actually directed.

Godot · #86 Post by **Godot** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:21 am

And I'm particularly pleased about His Kind of Woman, an odd but wonderful noir. I disliked it on first viewing (perhaps because it's so unique among noirs), but it stayed in my mind and I loved it after seeing the second time. It has real menace and sadism (I particularly like Raymond Burr's gangster entering as he's described over the radio, and the beatings are brutal), but undercut with wacky humor as Mitchum's loser mingles with wealthy layabouts at a Mexican resort (Vincent Price as a hammy actor, Jim Backus as Thurston Howell). The plot is simple (Mitchum is the patsy to supply Burr with a new cover, literally), there's lots of sexual banter and tough-guy dialogue, and even some reflexivity (the fakery of film heroism contrasted with "real" action/violence). And it closes with a great visual sexual joke.

Highly recommended.

#87 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:22 am

From OnVideo.org:

The Film Noir Classics Collection: Volume 3 All new to DVD and all digitally remastered: "Border Incident," "His Kind of Woman," "Lady in the Lake," "On Dangerous Ground" and "The Racket." Available exclusively with the set will be a bonus documentary, "Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light"-- a vital companion piece that contains an elucidating overview, complete with clips and expert commentary - and "Vintage Shorts": "Women in Hiding," "You, the People," "Forbidden Passage" and "A Gun in his Hand." The six-disc collection will be sold as a set only for $49.92. (Warner).

* Border Incident (1949) Dir.: Anthony Mann; Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Howard Da Silva, James Mitchell. Extras: Commentary by film historian Dana Polan, trailer.
* His Kind of Woman (1951) Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price, Tim Holt, Charles McGraw, Marjorie Reynolds, Raymond Burr, Jim Back. Extras: Commentary by film historian Vivian Sobchack.
* Lady in the Lake (1947) Dir.: Robert Montgomery; Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames, Jayne Meadows. Extras: Commentary by film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini , trailer.
* On Dangerous Ground (1952) Dir.: Nicholas Ray; Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond, Charles Kemper, Ed Begley. Extras: Commentary by film historian Glenn Erickson, trailer.
* The Racket (1951) Robert Mitchum, Lizabeth Scott, Robert Ryan, William Talman. Ray Collins Extras: Commentary by film historian Eddie Mueller, trailer.

Due: 7-18-06

Godot · #88 Post by **Godot** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 2:10 am

That set looks wonderful, another high value offering. I'm very excited to see those short features, and the noir documentary may be entertaining (especially if it follows the format of previous docus like the American Cinema segment). DVD Savant did such a great job on the commentary for CC's Night and the City, I'm really looking forward to hearing his ideas on the Ray film. Polan's BFI monograph on In a Lonely Place was interesting. It's an all-Left Coast commentary lineup (and all L.A. residents, except S.F.-native Mueller); I suppose that makes it easier to arrange for the recording time.

cafeman · #89 Post by **cafeman** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 7:09 pm

I'm especially happy about the Savant commentary. His commentary on Gun Crazy was one of the best tracks I`ve ever heard.

Fletch F. Fletch · #90 Post by **Fletch F. Fletch** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:53 pm

Ashirg wrote:Possible titles:
They Live by Night - Eddie Muller recorded a commentary with Farley Granger
Crime Wave - Eddie Muller recorded a commentary with James Ellroy

Muller confirmed the Crime Wave disc (and commentary) in a recent interview, here: http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-rev ... 42178.html

If the co-commentator is James Ellroy, who wrote the novel "L.A. Confidential" and who worked with Muller on the forthcoming DVD of "Crime Wave," "his knowledge of L.A. in that era (the early '50s) is immense. Just hold on to the reins and let him run."

#91 Post by **Jeff** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 5:25 pm

slipcase art

Gigi M. · #92 Post by **Gigi M.** » Tue May 02, 2006 10:20 am

Pre-order at Amazon.com

souvenir · #93 Post by **souvenir** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 9:24 am

I'm thinking this set may be packaged in thinpaks. I saw a promo on TCM that showed a picture of the set and it looked like thinpaks plus the titles will not be available individually, a requirement that WB mentioned in the HTF chat for introducing sets in thinpaks. If this is the case I would be very happy because the Warner boxsets tend to take up a lot of space unless you break them up individually.

Also, if you compare the picture for this set with the Tough Guys collection photo on Amazon it appears that the Film Noir packaging is much thinner despite both having six titles.

#94 Post by **Jeff** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:01 pm

souvenir wrote:I'm thinking this set may be packaged in thinpaks. I saw a promo on TCM that showed a picture of the set and it looked like thinpaks plus the titles will not be available individually, a requirement that WB mentioned in the HTF chat for introducing sets in thinpaks. If this is the case I would be very happy because the Warner boxsets tend to take up a lot of space unless you break them up individually.

Also, if you compare the picture for this set with the Tough Guys collection photo on Amazon it appears that the Film Noir packaging is much thinner despite both having six titles.

All of the pictures I've seen have made them look like thin packs. Here is what Warner said in the chat:

They make sense. We may not use them on every set, but certainly on the sets where the titles will ONLY be available in the box, a la BUSBY BERKELEY or THIN MAN (even though we weren't able to make this change in time for Berkeley). Jury is still out on GANGSTERS 2, as we may issue those as singles as well. Fred & Ginger V.2 will be standard Amaray in a box so that it matches V.1

You would think that following their Fred and Ginger logic, they would want to make future noir sets match the earlier ones, but I guess not. I would have liked thin packs for The Thin Man set and the That's Entertainment set because those are series. I keep them in their boxes, and it would be nice if they took up less space. I don't like the idea of thin packs for any of the other WB releases though, because I usually pitch the flimsy, ugly box, occasionally sell off the crap films, and alphabetize the rest.

backstreetsbackalright · #95 Post by **backstreetsbackalright** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 6:01 pm

Jeff wrote:I would have liked thin packs for The Thin Man set

As would I. Seemed appropriate, no?

rwaits · #96 Post by **rwaits** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 6:14 pm

Were the discs from the previous sets available available individually upon release, or a few months later? Basically I'm wondering if these films will be released on their own, or if I'll just need to go ahead and pick up the box to get the ones I want...

FilmFanSea · #97 Post by **FilmFanSea** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 7:03 pm

rwaits wrote:Were the discs from the previous sets available available individually upon release, or a few months later? Basically I'm wondering if these films will be released on their own, or if I'll just need to go ahead and pick up the box to get the ones I want...

The titles in Volumes 1 and 2 were all available individually on the same street date as their respective box sets. While I would like to have Nick Ray's On Dangerous Ground and maybe Anthony Mann's Border Incident, the other three don't interest me at all (especially not the gimmicky Lady in the Lake). So, I think I'll be passing on this collection.

There is an adequate French version of On Dangerous Ground available.

#98 Post by **Jeff** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:14 pm

Herb Kane has a very positive review up at Home Theater Forum. The discs are indeed in slim cases.

souvenir · #99 Post by **souvenir** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:36 pm

DVD Beaver review. The transfer for On Dangerous Ground looks disappointing as it was the most anticipated for me and I'm sure many others as well.

Floyd · #100 Post by **Floyd** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:33 am

Those DVDBeaver caps make these transfers look pretty awful to say the least. Lots of combing evident and in general are not so great. Looks like a surprisingly lack of effort from Warner just seeing them.