33-35, 67-69, 100-102, 119-121, 192-194 World Noir

[swo17]

Reminds me how I only got into movies because I was a big fan of Thomas Edison's other invention the lightbulb

[domino harvey]

I have not seen this film but considering I hated the three Decoin films I have seen, he was probably better served staying in the water

[ryannichols7]

I legitimately had no idea Peter Lorre directed a movie, that shows me!

Calvin has been a big booster for Girl With Hyacinths and Hasse Ekman for awhile, I've been excited to check out his work. glad I'll be able to with a new restoration! very solid box once again, this series has paid dividends so far. I believe this is Imogen Sara Smith's first Radiance appearance?

excited for World Neo-Noir at the end of the year. could be really exciting

[diamonds]

I have not seen this film but considering I hated the three Decoin films I have seen, he was probably better served staying in the water

If he had, you may not have gotten Michel Deville! I believe Deville got his start working as an assistant on Decoin's sets.

[therewillbeblus]

I legitimately had no idea Peter Lorre directed a movie, that shows me!

I discovered this maybe two days ago and put it in my queue, weird timing

Girl with Hyacinths is good. Here's a bit of discussion from the 50s project

[Red Screamer]

I love Girl with Hyacinths (as twbblus’ link attests) but — and I feel like I say this once a week now — it’s not really a noir, just a dark melodrama. Though in its Swedish way, it’s quite a bit bleaker than many classic noirs, so I imagine many viewers will get their feelbad money’s worth anyhow.

I caught up with Un témoin dans la ville tonight and enjoyed it a lot. It has a great progression from the minimal, satisfying symmetry of Ventura’s first crime to the digressive cat and mouse game of his stalking, which creates tension though extended detours that double as fun tableaux of Parisian life, to the chaotic, sleep-deprived desperation of a final act which kept going time and time again after I thought it was about to end — but in a good way! The location shooting is indeed a main draw, well exploited for genre setpieces like the use of 50s metro logistics to structure a chase scene, and this use of the city is also thematized by the film, since the plot is driven forward almost entirely by the interconnectedness of city life and its routines.

[Calvin]

I am thrilled that we are getting Girl with Hyacinths, though I'm slightly worried that having Ekman's best known (although I use that term loosely) film in a World Noir volume does not bode well for further releases of his work. I'd love to see The Girl from the Third Row, Wandering with the Moon, and Flames in the Dark.

[Lowry_Sam]

Girl With Hyacinths is a 10/10 for me, I'm ecstatic to get this on disc. Looks like the other 2 will make this the best set to date. The only thing I see topping this would be one with Le Monte Charge & Die Mörder Sind Unter Uns.

[Finch]

Released in the UK: September 15th.

While the United States can indisputably lay claim to being the birthplace of film noir, arguably France and French cinema is almost as important to the development of the genre. The term ‘film noir’ - literally, ‘dark film’ - was first applied to the Hollywood crime movies of the 40s and 50s by French critic Nino Frank, who was believed to have been inspired by the French publishing imprint Serie Noire, which published translated editions of American hardboiled fiction to great commercial success. It was the French who would popularise the use of the term and in turn, create the genre framework that has become so important and influential to the history of cinema.

Arguably, the story of noir is one of the cinema of France and the USA in conversation with one another, and presented in this set are three classic French noirs from the 50s and 60s that clearly take their inspiration from the Golden Age of Hollywood noir: Henri Decoin’s Chnouf (1955), Édouard Molinaro’s Back Against The Wall (1958), and Marcel Bluwal’s Paris Pick-up (1962).

CHNOUF

Henri (Jean Gabin, Touchez pas au grisbi) is brought in following a successful stint in the US to head up operations by gang boss Lisky. Tasked with increasing sales and reforming the drugs distribution network he unpicks every aspect of the business, but pushers don’t want to change and the cops are on his tail. From the creator of Rififi, Auguste Le Breton, and brought to the screen by Henri Decoin (Not Guilty), the influence of American noir is given a French translation as we see the then nascent drugs trade depicted in remarkable detail. Out of the inky shadows scenery chewing support is given by a rich cast of wonderful character actors including Lino Ventura (Illustrious Corpses), Albert Rémy (The Train) and Magali Noël (Rififi).

BACK TO THE WALL

Jacques, a rich industrialist, sneaks around an apartment where he bundles up and disposes of a dead body. His troubles started three months ago, his wife, Gloria, was having an affair... To get his revenge he sends Gloria anonymous letters in a scheme to turn her against her lover, a scheme that leads to murder. Ingeniously plotted, this methodical noir by Édouard Molinaro (Witness in the City) bathes in atmospheric chiaroscuro while its pulpy thrills, adapted from the novel by Frédéric Dard (Paris Pick-up), keeps the audience guessing until the final moments. Starring Jeanne Moreau (The Bride Wore Black) as the adulterous wife, this twisty noir is made available in the UK for the first time.

PARIS PICK-UP

Recently released ex-convict Robert Herbin (Robert Hossein, Rififi) meets Marthe (Lea Massari, L’Avventura), a beautiful Italian woman and her daughter. They share some flirtatious glances and then she invites him back to her home where they discover her husband’s dead body. Unable to bear witness to a crime due to his parole Robert flees. Guilty about her situation Robert stays close by where he discovers the body has inexplicably disappeared. With its tender depiction of character and relationships director Marcel Bluwal engineers gripping tension with the expertise of Hitchcock or Clouzot. Adapted from the novel by celebrated crime writer Frédéric Dard (Back to the Wall), Paris Pick-up is released for the first time outside of France.

BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES:

2K restorations for each film by Gaumont

Original uncompressed mono PCM audio for all films

Newly improved optional English subtitles for all films

Newly designed artwork based on original posters

Limited edition 80-page perfect bound book featuring archival pieces and new writing by critics and experts including Imogen Sara Smith, Farran Nehme, Jake Cole and more

Limited Edition of 3,000 copies presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases for each film and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

CHNOUF

Audio commentary by Nick Pinkerton (2019)
Archival interview with Henri Decoin on Jean Gabin (1960)
New visual essay on Chnouf and drugs in film noir by Frank Krutnik (2025)
Trailer

BACK TO THE WALL

New audio commentary by Daniel Kremer (2025)
Archival retrospective interview with Édouard Molinaro (2011)
Trailer

PARIS PICK-UP

New audio commentary by Tim Lucas (2025)
Archival interview with director Marcel Bluwal
Archival behind-the-scenes report on Paris Pick-up (1962)
Archival interview with actor Robert Hossein and writer Frédéric Dard about their play (1963)
Inspector Leclerc Investigates: The Grey Jackets - episode of 1962 TV crime serial directed by Marcel Bluwal

Year: 1955 / 1958 / 1962
Cert: TBC
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD120BDLE
EAN: 5060974682379
Release date: 15/09/25

[andyli]

Le Monte-charge! Sweet.

[domino harvey]

My god, they did it! If I had a list, this would have been one of my top ten most wanted subbed French films on disc, so this is obviously news of the year for me

Le monte-charge (Marcel Bluwal 1962)
We finally solve the mystery of what happened to Lea Massari in L’avventura— she got picked up by Robert Hossein in a French movie theatre! What happens next and why (or perhaps more correctly, how) in this Christmas-set tale is best left discovered from the film. While it’s hard to discuss in detail when the film's pleasures are best revealed by going in blind, I can safely say that for much of the running time this film made me so uncomfortable in how it relayed an unexpected situation with unerring tension, gave no obvious markers for what would happen next for the totality of the first two acts, and then utterly delighted me in revealing a logical and brilliant explanation for everything that came before. This is an incredible movie, a wonderful noir that develops and maintains a consistent level of dread throughout. Hossein deserves special credit for his performance here— he takes a role that could so easily be misplayed and turns it into a subtle portrayal of a not great guy in a not great situation who maintains the precise right amount of audience sympathy/empathy once things move beyond Le notti bianche territory. And of course Hossein had quite a career behind the camera during this time directing film noirs in addition to starring in them! Not that I’ve really seen that many films yet since the project started, but this is handily the best so far. Highly recommended.

The Molinaro is okay, the Gabin movie is awful, but it doesn’t matter, we’re getting the Bluwal!

[ChunkyLover]

I watched Back to the Wall earlier this year. I thought it was decent. I would consider a double-dip if Radiance tweak the subs a bit; I found some lines on the Kino to move to fast or an odd over-translation (ex: one character clearly, bluntly, says just "whiskey" but the subs are "whiskey, please").

[zedz]

In Paris, the s'il vous plait is silent.

[senseabove]

...the Gabin movie is awful...

Conversely...

Razzia sur la chnouf (Henri Decoin, 1955) The third 50s feature in this year's Noir City is a kind of inverse procedural, following, instead of the cops piecing together a drug cartel, Jean Gabin as a mob boss brought in to take over and overhaul one. It's very lightly motivated, just sort of drifting through the entire production line, from the train the raw opium arrives on, to the lab where it's cooked, to the distributors who get it to dealers, to the dives where it's sold and consumed, and the various mobsters who need to take people out or be taken out in the process. The highlight is a sequence of entrancing street-level scenes, carried by a wonderfully broken-down performance from Lila Kedrova, who leads Gabin through a series of shady bars: classy lesbian, upscale dance hall, back-room Arab, divey gay (where a young man gives Gabin the most overt "fuck me, Daddy" eyes I've ever seen in black and white). My first, hesitant instinct is that this deserves to be mentioned alongside Touchez Pas au Grisbi, and I'm very much looking forward to picking up the Kino Lorber release to give it another spin as a double-feature with it.

Did a quick search to see if anyone else has talked about this one, and barryconvex was as enthusiastic about it as I am.

[domino harvey]

I have not seen this film but considering I hated the three Decoin films I have seen, he was probably better served staying in the water

Well, I guess fourth lap was the charm as I quite enjoyed Non coupable. Part of that is because the film goes in the opposite direction a set up like this typically goes, and indeed the film only starts to falter in the last fifteen minutes by almost arbitrarily deciding that Simon must finally feel some form of guilt for what he’s doing. But that turn is an error in construction here, because the great joy of the film when it is working is found in the novel reversal of the detective story— here instead of a detective who figures things out far quicker than anyone possibly could, now we have a murderer who executes perfect murders with the same degree of impromptu and improbable prowess. Guilt or introspection doesn’t enter into it at all, and this is where the interest lies. If this film had ended after the final murder, it might have been a great film (and we’d be spared the moralistic and cheap final gag). As is, it must settle for it being a merely good one. But that is much more than I expected from Decoin, so this is still a big W.

[pistolwink]

I thought the film sticked the landing almost 100%. Did you watch the alternate ending on the Blu-Ray? It's hilarious.

[domino harvey]

I love Girl with Hyacinths (as twbblus’ link attests) but — and I feel like I say this once a week now — it’s not really a noir, just a dark melodrama. Though in its Swedish way, it’s quite a bit bleaker than many classic noirs, so I imagine many viewers will get their feelbad money’s worth anyhow.

Having caught up with it, I enthusiastically agree with your assessment of the film’s noir bonafides— if this is a noir, then so is something like the Song of Bernadette. But I understand “noir” is just marketing these days for home video releases, so I won’t belabor the point. That said, I have to be the dissenting voice on the film, which I hated for the broadness of its performances (everyone the writer meets on his journey is playing to the back rows, especially key roles like the painter) and for the cheap “deep” resolution to the central non-mystery. Perhaps this film would be better served if it did try to show us the fundamental unknowability of those we meet or even think we know in our day to day life, but that’s not ultimately what transpires here. Instead we get fashionable miserablism and an ending twist that reinforces modern mores and what an audience today wants to hear (and the road to get there is occupied by dull scenes and scenarios and, again, bad acting). Hard pass from me, though, unfortunately.

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

Re: Girl with Hyacinths

Spoiler

I think the film plays better when you know that she's a lesbian from the get-go, something that's actually not that subtle if you're alert to it, and clears the way for the real reason for the main character's suicide.

[reaky]

My god, they did it! If I had a list, this would have been one of my top ten most wanted subbed French films on disc, so this is obviously news of the year for me

We finally solve the mystery of what happened to Lea Massari in L’avventura— she got picked up by Robert Hossein in a French movie theatre! What happens next and why (or perhaps more correctly, how) in this Christmas-set tale is best left discovered from the film. While it’s hard to discuss in detail when the film's pleasures are best revealed by going in blind, I can safely say that for much of the running time this film made me so uncomfortable in how it relayed an unexpected situation with unerring tension, gave no obvious markers for what would happen next for the totality of the first two acts, and then utterly delighted me in revealing a logical and brilliant explanation for everything that came before. This is an incredible movie, a wonderful noir that develops and maintains a consistent level of dread throughout. Hossein deserves special credit for his performance here— he takes a role that could so easily be misplayed and turns it into a subtle portrayal of a not great guy in a not great situation who maintains the precise right amount of audience sympathy/empathy once things move beyond Le notti bianche territory. And of course Hossein had quite a career behind the camera during this time directing film noirs in addition to starring in them! Not that I’ve really seen that many films yet since the project started, but this is handily the best so far. Highly recommended.

The Molinaro is okay, the Gabin movie is awful, but it doesn’t matter, we’re getting the Bluwal!

I had Paris Pick-Up (Le Monte-Charge) lined up for a while to watch near Christmas, and while it delivered on the Christmas trappings, I wasn’t prepared for the kind of film it was. As Domino says, in the interest of not spoiling anything, it’s difficult to describe in any depth, but let’s just say that it’s a noir in the same way that Vertigo and Mulholland Dr are noirs. I’m surprised it didn’t get a standalone release.

[TMDaines]

My god, they did it! If I had a list, this would have been one of my top ten most wanted subbed French films on disc, so this is obviously news of the year for me

We finally solve the mystery of what happened to Lea Massari in L’avventura— she got picked up by Robert Hossein in a French movie theatre! What happens next and why (or perhaps more correctly, how) in this Christmas-set tale is best left discovered from the film. While it’s hard to discuss in detail when the film's pleasures are best revealed by going in blind, I can safely say that for much of the running time this film made me so uncomfortable in how it relayed an unexpected situation with unerring tension, gave no obvious markers for what would happen next for the totality of the first two acts, and then utterly delighted me in revealing a logical and brilliant explanation for everything that came before. This is an incredible movie, a wonderful noir that develops and maintains a consistent level of dread throughout. Hossein deserves special credit for his performance here— he takes a role that could so easily be misplayed and turns it into a subtle portrayal of a not great guy in a not great situation who maintains the precise right amount of audience sympathy/empathy once things move beyond Le notti bianche territory. And of course Hossein had quite a career behind the camera during this time directing film noirs in addition to starring in them! Not that I’ve really seen that many films yet since the project started, but this is handily the best so far. Highly recommended.

The Molinaro is okay, the Gabin movie is awful, but it doesn’t matter, we’re getting the Bluwal!

I had Paris Pick-Up (Le Monte-Charge) lined up for a while to watch near Christmas, and while it delivered on the Christmas trappings, I wasn’t prepared for the kind of film it was. As Domino says, in the interest of not spoiling anything, it’s difficult to describe in any depth, but let’s just say that it’s a noir in the same way that Vertigo and Mulholland Dr are noirs. I’m surprised it didn’t get a standalone release.

Hoping to get this for Christmas, so will keep that in mind!

[therewillbeblus]

Le Dos au mur is pretty involving for a film about an uninteresting, unlikeable guy taunting two uninteresting and unlikeable people, but the pace and narrative devices keep one invested until a small 'twist' leads us into a less than satisfying final short act. I guess there was no reason to expect anything else, and the film does end on a darkly cathartic grace note - that would be moving if not for the above mentioned lack of care for its principals. A very watchable 90 minutes but I can't see myself eager to revisit it anytime soon. Making the film longer to bolster the development of a personality or two could've gone a long way here

[zedz]

My god, they did it! If I had a list, this would have been one of my top ten most wanted subbed French films on disc, so this is obviously news of the year for me

Le monte-charge (Marcel Bluwal 1962)
We finally solve the mystery of what happened to Lea Massari in L’avventura— she got picked up by Robert Hossein in a French movie theatre! What happens next and why (or perhaps more correctly, how) in this Christmas-set tale is best left discovered from the film. While it’s hard to discuss in detail when the film's pleasures are best revealed by going in blind, I can safely say that for much of the running time this film made me so uncomfortable in how it relayed an unexpected situation with unerring tension, gave no obvious markers for what would happen next for the totality of the first two acts, and then utterly delighted me in revealing a logical and brilliant explanation for everything that came before. This is an incredible movie, a wonderful noir that develops and maintains a consistent level of dread throughout. Hossein deserves special credit for his performance here— he takes a role that could so easily be misplayed and turns it into a subtle portrayal of a not great guy in a not great situation who maintains the precise right amount of audience sympathy/empathy once things move beyond Le notti bianche territory. And of course Hossein had quite a career behind the camera during this time directing film noirs in addition to starring in them! Not that I’ve really seen that many films yet since the project started, but this is handily the best so far. Highly recommended.

The Molinaro is okay, the Gabin movie is awful, but it doesn’t matter, we’re getting the Bluwal!

Agreed on all this: it's a superb film. It unfolds like a weird dream that you know will turn out to be some kind of a trap, but, like Hossein's character, you have to stick it out because you need to solve the puzzle. The film plays absolutely fair by keeping our level of knowledge exactly the same as Hossein's throughout, which makes him a great focal character even though he's not especially prepossessing.

I would have been completely satisfied if the film had ended at the reveal of the underlying scheme, and initially thought the additional explanation and added twists were going to dilute the film's impact, but they play out with a similar level of invention. Every role is vivid, well cast and contributes to the film's total effect, and the noir photography and careful delineation of place - which is crucial to the efficacy of the plot - is masterful.

More evidence that you will never stop finding hidden masterpieces unless you stop looking.

[TMDaines]

Both my wife and I really enjoyed Le Monte-Charge. Feels a like a noir from the classic period with a splash of Hitchcock, set on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. As others have said, you will enjoy this more going in blind, but I would highly recommend.

[TechnicolorAcid]

I’ll add to the praise of Le Monte-Charge, which surprised so much in how it turns from a fairly conventional noir to just an utterly disorienting nightmare before managing to somehow offer a perfectly logical and realistic explanation to what you just spent the last hour unfolding before you. It’s just a really smart and tense little noir & I’m curious to know if any of Bluwal’s other films live up to the excellence he displays here.

[swo17]

Check out Carambolages and Dom Juan, which are also very good but in different veins