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The hardboiled genre of crime fiction evolved from the mystery crime novels of the early 20th century - closely associated with the US pulp magazines, these cynical and unsentimental stories of desperate criminals and social corruption were both influenced by and an influence on the golden era of film noir.

As their popularity waned in the US, the hardboiled genre remained hugely popular and relevant throughout the 1960s and 70s in France, thanks to the successful Serie Noire imprint and a succession of new translations. In Alain Corneau’s early films, he sought to continue the noir tradition in his native France, and was both directly and indirectly inspired by titans of hardboiled genre, including Kenneth Fearing and Jim Thompson. A heady combination of classic noir and 70s grit, these three darkly thrilling films are vastly underrated and important works in the canon of crime cinema.

In Police Python 357, Yves Montand (The Wages of Fear) plays a tough cop who, when his lover is found murdered, finds himself implicated in her death and in a battle of wits with a powerful rival, in the second screen adaptation of Kenneth Fearing’s The Big Clock.

Série noire adapts Jim Thompson’s A Hell of A Woman to the banlieues of Paris: in an astonishing performance, Patrick Dewaere (Themroc) attempts to save a young girl from prostitution, with murder the only solution.

In Choice of Arms, Yves Montand heads an all-star cast, including Catherine Denueve and Gerard Depardieu, as a former crook pulled out of retirement when a gang on the run turn to him for shelter after a prison break.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

4K restorations from the original negatives by Studio Canal, presented on three discs

Uncompressed mono PCM audio for each film

Audio commentary by Mike White on Police Python 357 (2024)

Maxim Jakubowski on Police Python 357’s source novel and adaptation (2024)

Archival interview with Alain Corneau and François Périer about Police Python 357 from Belgian Television (1976)

Série noire set interviews with Alain Corneau, Patrick Dewaere and Miriam Boyer from Belgian Television (1981)

Série noire: The Darkness of the Soul - An archival documentary featuring cast and crew on the making of the film (2013, 53 mins)

Archival interview with Alain Corneau and Marie Trintignant about Série noire (2002, 30 mins)

A visual essay about Jim Thompson adaptations for the screen by Paul Martinovic (2024)

Introduction by documentary filmmaker Jérôme Wybon (2024)

Shooting Choice of Arms - interviews with the cast and crew including behind-the-scenes footage (1981)

Interviews with Deneuve, Montand and Depardieu from the set (1981)

Interview with Manuela Lazic on Yves Montand in the 1970s (2024)

Trailers

Optional English subtitles for each film

Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters

Limited edition 80-page booklet featuring new writing by Andrew Male, Nick Pinkerton, Charlie Brigden, and newly translated archival writing

Limited edition of 2500 copies, presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and marking

UK/US

Serie Noire is a wonderful film and it's about time it got a release outside of the US. I don't know the other two films and the press quotes are only for Serie Nore.

Hated Python (pictured on the cover), enjoyed Serie noire, haven’t seen the third one yet. Wish this included his excellent Melville remake, which would have fit the theme perfectly— maybe if this set sells well we’ll get a second volume

Regarding Série noire, there is the old 2013 French BD edition of course. In the UK edition of the Radiance set, Série noire will have some short BBFC-related cuts, unfortunately.

Are you sure of that, or assuming? Surprised it’s getting a US release since the Serie noire Blu is still in print here, as far as I know

Fran confirmed minor cuts to pass the BBFC. The US edition will be uncut.

Interesting, thanks. I assume it’s Trintignant’s nude scene? I don’t remember any animal cruelty

Yes, it is now confirmed for this film. There are some cuts due to nudity, Marie Trintignant was still a minor when the film was made.

Fran got asked on the other forum why this isn't part of World Noir #3 (a baffling question honestly):

Because it's a US release as well and people in the US don't want a vol 3 of a series they can't buy in full!

We also have plenty more World Noir to come...

I am happy to report that Le choix des armes is by far the best of the lot. I greatly enjoyed Corneau's literal Melville remake of Le Deuxième Souffle, but part of what made that one work was how he took all of Melville's material and completely reconfigured it into something else entirely while still embodying an ethos of style above everything else-- Corneau was so effective that his remake was surprisingly much better than the original. Here, however, he has literally given us a lost Meville film, not in pastiche or homage but in form, function, and effect. Impossibly labyrinthine levels of criminals and cops, inscrutable loyalties and changes of heart, and the inexhaustible forward drive of the impossibly doomed, it's all here. One big difference, of course, is that there's no world in which Melville would ever let Depardieu go so untethered as he is here. But that's okay, this isn't actually a Melville film-- I just loved it as much as one!

I'm interested to hear why you didn't like Police Python 357. I haven't seen it for years, but out of the three here, this is my favourite. As much as I like Patrick Dewaere I was a bit disappointed by Serie Noire. In any case I'm delighted Radiance is releasing these!

It runs a bit with a lot of other French policier/conspiracy thrillers I was watching at the time, but I remember finding it quite shrill and obnoxious, as I did his France, societe anonyme— it didn’t help that I don’t really like any of the adaptations of this source text. Perhaps I will revisit with this set and be able to offer more details or maybe even reevaluate it upwards.

Corneau is an interesting director who is all over the place for me, and my favorite film of his has virtually nothing in common with any of these genre pics (other than Depardieu). I’ve only seen about half of his oeuvre, so certainly an area for further study for me

Police Python 357 isn't very good - it's slow and overstays its welcome during the first hour, and then struggles to keep investment up in the back half during the 'action' portions. I don't think the source is very strong, but this could've been a lot more fun if whittled down to a lean 90. Comparatively, Choice of Arms has an entirely different strategy - a long, no-fat noir that's constantly shapeshifting with unexpected turns that still follow an internal logic, trusting the audience to stay current and buy in. The revolving plot points keep up with each other all the way down to its clean, perfect ending. It's been a few years since I watched Série noire, but I recall finding it an imperfect but intoxicating bit of lunacy - an externalization of its antihero I suppose

A shame that the set will be cut in the UK, but it is a lot more understandable this time.

Nick Pinkerton wrote an entry in his Substack about Police Python 357; behind a paywall now, but some people should be able to access it.

Grand Wazoo wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 2:28 pm Fran confirmed minor cuts to pass the BBFC. The US edition will be uncut.

I wonder if this would be a player determined A/B switch rather than separate disc masters? I just got my July-Dec bundle and noticed for the first time a number of discs with no BBFC rating mark on the obi (a sticker on the back says they were made in Poland) so I assume these were destined for US retailers. I typically watch them with my region B player but are there other Radiance titles with BBFC imposed cuts I should be on the watch for?

ikms wrote: Sat Jan 11, 2025 9:17 am I just got my July-Dec bundle and noticed for the first time a number of discs with no BBFC rating mark on the obi (a sticker on the back says they were made in Poland) so I assume these were destined for US retailers.

Radiance recently started sending the US editions to subscribers of the UK packages located in the US

ikms wrote: Sat Jan 11, 2025 9:17 am

Grand Wazoo wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 2:28 pm Fran confirmed minor cuts to pass the BBFC. The US edition will be uncut.

I wonder if this would be a player determined A/B switch rather than separate disc masters? I just got my July-Dec bundle and noticed for the first time a number of discs with no BBFC rating mark on the obi (a sticker on the back says they were made in Poland) so I assume these were destined for US retailers. I typically watch them with my region B player but are there other Radiance titles with BBFC imposed cuts I should be on the watch for?

They didn't do that with the last title requiring cuts for the UK by the BBFC.

viewtopic.php?p=827344#p827344

As people like MichaelB have pointed out elsewhere, the legal implications for breaching the Protection of Children Act 1978 are severe enough that no label will release a disc containing material that the BBFC have determined to be at risk. In these cases locking the material behind region coding is always going to be out of the question.

swo17 wrote: Sat Jan 11, 2025 9:22 am Radiance recently started sending the US editions to subscribers of the UK packages located in the US

Even in Japan I suppose. I am trying to remember automatic A/B switches in other discs, for example the Arrow/FlickerAlley release of Woman on the Run / Too Late for Tears where the boutique branding menus would shift, but I am sure there have been others.

Amazon says US release has been pushed back by two weeks

Was surprised that this arrived in a rather slim box with a single wide case inside-- I haven't bought a box set from Radiance since the Nero one, is this their new shelf-saving format?

EDIT: Forgot about the Bunuel set, that was the last one for me (also not fun sized)

They have talked on Discord about being mindful of shelf-space issues, but I think this is the first one that's been so compact

domino harvey wrote: Wed Apr 09, 2025 1:16 am Was surprised that this arrived in a rather slim box with a single wide case inside-- I haven't bought a box set from Radiance since the Nero one, is this their new shelf-saving format?

This is the 'hard box with single case and book' combo that is the same form as the packaging for Haxan and Planet of the Vampires. There is then the 'hard box with two cases' form that the Bounty Hunter Trilogy and Shinobi Trilogy have. And then there is the 'hard box with three cases' form of the World Noir, Commedia all'Italia, Cosa Nostra, End of Civilization, Daniel Gothic and Bunuel sets