Sure do love The Lady From Shanghai.
"And you know, there wasn't one of them sharks in the whole crazy pack that survived."

Criterion's upcoming re-release of The Third Man is scheduled for May. This one derived from a new hi-def transfer.
http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=64

I just picked this up a month or so ago.

I only have the R2 release, which I bought at a bargain price a couple of years ago. This upcoming edition will be a substantial upgrade for me. A most excellent film.

Plus it's a good price for a Criterion DVD.

I have the old Columbia dvd of this film. It's a good quality transfer and still available. There is a review with caps at dvdbeaver.

The Long Night (1947) B&W 97 min
Dir: Anatole Litvak Studio: RKO Re-Release: Kino Video
Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel Geddes, Vincent Price, Ann Dvorak

The Long Night qualifies as a genuine film noir: the anti-hero (Fonda), a recently returned serviceman from WWII, shoots and kills a travelling magician (Price) in the opening scene. In a series of moody flashbacks, intertwined with the events of the next few hours spent trapped and pinned down by the police on the top floor of a walk-up hotel, we learn of his love of the good innocent young woman (Geddes, in her debut role) and somewhat less innocent but also good sometime Price side-kick showgirl (Dvorak).

Dimitri Tiomkin provides a capable taut, thematic score (Beethoven deserves a co-authorship); Tiomkin was a leading star composer at the time notable for several Capra films; he eventually won 3 Oscars out of 16 nominations.

Sol Polito is among the classic brooding cinematographers although his career stretched back to 1914. From I am a Fugutive in a Chain Gang, 'G' Men and The Petrified Forest in the 1930s through A Stolen Life, Cloak and Dagger and Sorry, Wrong Number in the 1940s, he delivers the goods in this film with a slightly dream-like stylized "Anytown, USA" and memorable shots of Fonda in the mirror and looking through a window.

John Wexley, a name you probably don't know, wrote the screenplay but was black-listed shortly after the film's release. He was an admitted member of the Communist Party, spoke German, and collaborated with Bertolt Brecht in Fritz Lang's Hangmen Also Die (also included in this set).

Fonda was also already a major star having made You Only Live Once, Jezebel, The Grapes of Wrath, The Ox-Bow Incident and My Darling Clementine. Wearing a recession-style cap and confused pout in the present, and good guy enthusiasm in the flashbacks, Fonda draws us in with his basic core values even though we are introduced to him as a murderer.

Price does his smary evil snake-oil salesman as magician Maximillian, a stronger and more dangerous baddy than Shelby Carpenter in Laura; he has to be since he's shot and killed in the opening sequence. In a sly reference to his sexuality, in one confrontational scene, Price and Fonda are in a bar verbally sparring over their interest in Bel Geddes; Fonda is handed a manly beer, and Price a girly drink by a sarcastic waitress.

The film is actually a "re-make" of great French director Marcel Carné's Le jour se lève and the DVD extras demonstrate some of the slavish reincarnations. The disk also features an interesting behind-the-scenes illustrated essay. Remastered from 35mm nitrate negative, it looks gorgeous throughout, save for brief sections, most notably the final couple of minutes, where the original negs must have been lost.

Recommended viewing for noir aficionados as well as lovers of film of American film of the period. Packaged by Kino Video as one of five films in "Film Noir: The Dark Side of Hollywood".

Sudden Fear (1952) B&W 110 min
Dir: David Miller Studio: RKO Re-Release: Kino Video
Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame

While nominated for four Academy Awards -- including for Best Actress (Crawford) and Best Actor (Palance) -- Sudden Fear won nothing on Oscar Night 1953 and has been since swallowed up in the mists of time. (Gloria Grahame, although not nominated in this film, won the Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in The Bad and the Beautiful.) Sometimes billed as "female-in-distress" type noir, it's a bit of a stretch to include it in the film noir canon -- although it is a cracker of a suspense thriller starting at almost exactly half way in. At the very least, screenwriters Lenore Coffee and Robert Smith offer enough twists to qualify it for repeat viewings.

Myra Hudson (Joan Crawford), a very successful New York playwright is about to launch yet another smash hit. Slotted to play the romantic lead in her latest epic is Lester Blaine (Jack Palance) but in the rehearsals Hudson fires Blaine on the grounds that the ruggedly handsome actor isn't "romantic looking enough". A few weeks later, Hudson is on a cross-country train to her home in San Francisco and Blaine, who has been stalking her, romances her successfully. In short order the penniless Blaine has seduced and married Hudson -- and her fortune. As the story unfolds, Blaine and girlfriend Irene Neves (Gloria Grahame), plot to inherit Hudson's fortune; however the older woman gets wind of the plot and makes plans of her own. The deft working out of the protagonists's cross-purposes will have you on the edge of your seat.

In one memorable sequence, we see a murder planned out, minute by minute, and carried out in the mind's eye of the murderer ... and then we return to real time to see how the plan actually works plays out. There are other devices in the film -- such as an elaborate dictation device Hudson uses -- employed with great effect even if they yield predictable results.

The smaller parts are well taken including by Bruce Bennett, a well-worn character actor of the day (and into 50s and 60s television), as Hudson's friend and lawyer. "Touch Connors" also has a small but crucial role. Touch later took the stage name "Mike Connors" and went on to TV stardom in Mannix. This role was his screen debut.

Alas, while Kino Video often produces excellent work, this print is third rate at best with no evidence on screen of why Charles Lang would be nominated for an Oscar for his contribution. There are some wonderful location shots of San Francisco and clearly carefully planned and shot night scenes to amplify the suspense; but too much is lost in this transfer. Someone must own a better source print!

Still, it's recommended viewing for noir aficionados and lovers of American film of the period. And, on the plus side, it is packaged economically by Kino Video as one of five films in "Film Noir: The Dark Side of Hollywood".

...the older woman gets wind of the plot and makes plans of her own. The deft working out of the protagonists's cross-purposes will have you on the edge of your seat.
Crawford was such a great actress. Gotta love that critical scene in Sudden Fear (now "public domain"), where she begins to set in motion her little scheme for revenge on Palance and Grahame:

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I went on a Joan binge a couple of years ago... watched every one of her films I could lay my hands on. Some great film noir in WB's, "The Joan Crawford Collection".

I think I own this: Film Noir: The Dark Side of Hollywood. Still shrinked wrapped though.

Watched the dvd over the weekend. It's a unique noir where-as New York City is the main character. The location shooting and camera work by William Daniels was ground breaking for it's time in American cinema, and very interesting to see 1940's New York as it actually was. Supporting actor Barry Fitzgerald was a delightful surprise ( at least for me ). The voice over narration at first seemed silly, but I got used to it as the movie progressed.

I enjoyed the film and of course the Criterion dvd is top notch. I'm going to watch this again very soon.

Naked City came in my mailbox yesterday. Will try to watch during the week.

I think I own this: Film Noir: The Dark Side of Hollywood. Still shrinked wrapped though.

Well, unshrink it then. :cool:

When did Naked City come out? I've been confusing this with another Jules Dassin film of the period, but shot in London, Night in the City with Richard Widmark in a very early role and Gene Tierney post-Laura. Hugh Marlow, Herbert Lom and the memorable bit player Mike Mazurski add lots of colour to this quintessential black and white film noir.

I think it came out a week today.

Dare I say it, I was a bit disappointed. I guess my expectations were too high... sure it has it's charms, but the longer I watched, the more I kept wishing that Richard Widmark would show up, in Tommy Udo mode, and light a fire under this picture. I thought ol' Barry's performance was the best part of the whole film.

As far as "police procedurals" go, there are several others I enjoyed more... The Street With No Name, The House On 92nd Street and T-Men for starters.

I just finished watching The Naked City. Not bad, I guess.

No regrets about buying it. It has its charm.

Behind Locked Doors (1948) B&W 62 min
Dir: Oscar Boetticher Studio: Aro Productions Re-Release: Kino Video
Richard Carlson, Lucille Bremer, Thom Brown Henry, Tor Johnson

It's hard to fathom why Kino would release this title. Aro Productions (or "Arc" as the main title plainly states) was connected with Eagle Lion Films aka "poverty row" film producers. This pot boiler, meant to "fill out" the entertainment value of a ticket to main feature, is hardly an example of noir other than much of it is shot at night and under dim lighting. Or, as the Kino jacket declares, "cleverly compensates for its budgetary limitations by bathing its sets in darkness". On the plus side, it is a crisp clean transfer.

Private Eye Ross Stewart (Richard Carlson), on his first case, is hired by reporter Kathy Lawrence (Lucille Bremer) who believes a rotten judge is hiding out at -- wait for it -- La Siesta Sanitarium; when the heat's off, he'll make his getaway. The carrot for detective is half of a $10,000 reward for turning the judge in. Stewart pretends to be married to Lawrence and gets himself declared unstable so he can be committed and can snoop around inside. Tor Johnson, whom you'll remember as the thug in Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space plays an uncredited role as a deranged boxer, locked up in solitary. Dr Clifford Porter (Thom Brown Henry) is a familiar character actor from the period who has a natural "vampire look"; other faces are familiar too but not credited. So desperate to find anyone in the cast worth mentioning, Kino boasts the presence of Dickie Moore (the lad Jim, a fellow inmate, who speaks not a single word but just looks handsome).

Bremer had a very short career -- nine films, and this was her last -- but had a decent part in as Fred Astaire's dancing partner in both Meet Me In St Louis and Ziegfield Follies. Alas, no singing or dancing here for her. Carlson graduated to cheap horror films (a starring role in It Came From Outer Space for example) but mostly did television for the balance of his career. The material he had to work with in this film was pretty weak; he rises fully to the occasion.

For a rainy Saturday afternoon, and a one off viewing, I guess it's worthwhile. But it could easily have been combined on one disk with Railroaded, also in this set. Packaged by Kino Video as one of five films in "Film Noir: The Dark Side of Hollywood".

Railroaded! (1947) B&W 74 min
Dir: Anthony Mann Studio: Producers Releasing Corp (PRC) Re-Release: Kino Video
John Ireland, Sheila Ryan, Hugh Beaumont, Jane Randolph

Anthony Mann is often cited as one of the key budget film noir directors whose work helped define the style. Nonetheless, Railroaded! surprises by its deftness, tautness and credible story telling. From top to bottom, here's a first rate example of what can be done with a B budget. Mann was about to graduate to Universal and MGM and had already done some work at RKO. He made Desperate, Railroaded!, T-Men, Raw Deal and He Walked By Night in 18 months, all of them memorable in the noir cannon.

Clara Calhoun (Jane Randolph) runs a ladies hair salon which houses a bookie operation in the back. Tough guy boyfriend Duke Martin (John Ireland) conspires with her to rob her of the week's take but when the robbery goes wrong, a cop is killed. Enter investigating officer Sgt Mickey Ferguson (Hugh Beaumont) who quickly focusses on the daytime driver of the getaway vehicle, Steve Ryan (Ed Kelley). An embroidered handkerchief of Steve's was left at the scene of the crime when Duke's side-kick gets shot; it had been used to hide his face during the robbery. Ferguson knows the Ryan family and falls quickly for Steve's sister, Rosie (Sheila Ryan). For a time, Steve looks like he's being railroaded but soon Mickey is hot on the trail of the real criminals.

Ok, so the story isn't classic noir -- an anti-hero trapped in circumstances that lead to his demise; it's more police drama since the story revolves around the gangster and inspector; and Steve spends most his time in jail. But the pacing and production values are decent and, unlike some films of its type and time, the writing and acting are professional and, occasionally, memorable.

Vancouver-born John Ireland is thoroughly convincing, a kinder gentler Humphrey Bogart. He clearly has his sadistic side, and is no stranger to crime or murder but he is more diamond than rough -- it's easy to see why the ladies fall for his charm. He'd already had a decent role in John Ford's My Darling Clementine a few months earlier and he'd return to work for Mann in Raw Deal a few months later -- already on his way to stardom. He has a couple of very strong scenes; while romancing Rosie at the nightclub he manages to be simultaneously eloquent and sinister.

Hugh Beaumont (aka Beaver's dad on TV) also doesn't miss a beat although his good guy portrayal lacks a little cynicism that you'd expect from someone in his job. He falls for Sheila Ryan rather quickly, buy, hey, this is only a 74 minute picture! Ryan does a good sister/amateur detective bit here, apparently shifting her allegiances back and forth between suitors Ferguson and Martin. Her bad girl counterpart, Jane Randolph, as sometime bookie beautician Clara, puts in the weakest performance as Martin's main squeeze, falling to pieces regularly in an alcoholic inspired haze. It's no coincidence her movie career ended shortly after it began. One uncredited bit includes the nosy neighbour pumping Rosie for details about her accused brother: although she never actually faces the camera, this chattering gossip is none other than Ellen Corby aka Grandma Walton!

Kino's print runs from good to excellent; no complaints at all, really. Railroaded! is not quite art film noir, but it's a solid outing and delivers everything it promises. Recommended viewing for noir aficionados and lovers of American film of the period; as a bonus it's packaged economically by Kino Video as one of five films in "Film Noir: The Dark Side of Hollywood".

This infamous low budget B film, often cited by critics as defining noir, is the kind of film they show in movie schools. Even though its production cheapness really shows, this film has reached classical cult status and is loved by director Martin Scorsese. This campy film is good because of its crudeness. It's the punk rock of noir!

Starring Tom Neal ( who in real life went to prison for killing his third wife ) a fateful loser hitch hiking across America, and Ann Savage who plays the most hostile venomous femme fatale you will ever meet. Pathetic characters involved in murder, stolen identities, cars and money. A must see if only for the disbelief.

Unfortunately the "Image" dvd has moments of rather poor quality showing lots of film damage, but overall the transfer is watchable. The Image dvd is supposedly the best version of this public domain film.

I've been hoping to find a decent print of Detour (and maybe a good commentary track). My copy is buried in one of those "10 Film Noir! 5 Double Sided DVD! $Under 20 Bucks!". No dice, eh?