Official Film Noir thread

[james99]

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASI...A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASI...A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASI...A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

[BradF]

Picked these up at FS today. $11.89 each, same as the Amazon pre-order.

I popped in House Of Bamboo and was kinda startled to see a 2.55:1 aspect ratio, and some very vibrant colour. Small mob of ex-GI's , pulling heist jobs in post-war Japan, infiltrated by a military policeman working on the sly. I can't really consider this movie a "film noir", doesn't fit my rigid standards, basically just a crime drama.

Hafta say though, the original poster art makes for attractive packaging. Just like the Warner series, I need to have them all.

[james99]

I originally ordered them from DVDSOON but cancelled after picking them up in person today at Sunrise (2 / $20). HMV also had them for $10 each (3 / $30).

Haven't opened any of them yet.

[BradF]

Fox is going with some really attractive pricing these days. I also picked up some good titles in the 3 for $20 bin at FS today...
http://www.futureshop.ca/marketing/3...gon=&langid=EN

[james99]

House of Bamboo
* * *
1955, Fox, unrated, $15

Directed by cult filmmaker Samuel Fuller in his brief big-studio period, this "Battle of the Bobs" (Stack and Ryan) benefits from CinemaScope Tokyo location footage from a time when few Hollywood productions got to shoot there. Ryan is an American hood running rackets, while Stack, dishing out the same stoic poetry he'd bring to dialogue deliveries on TV's The Untouchables, works undercover trying to topple him. There's a mild gay subtext, and Shirley Yamaguchi looks convincingly miserable as a woman caught in the middle.

What's in a name? Though Bamboo is being marketed in a film noir package, the movie is predominantly a daylight affair shot in bright colors. But when Robert Ryan is slapping folks around, a movie automatically has the soul of noir.

You will notice that the plot is very similiar to The Street with No Name.

[BradF]

Yes indeed. I watched them back-to-back, so it was pretty obvious. Same screenwriter gets credit.

TSWNN is a nice dark shadowy affair, and House Of Bamboo is what it is, but to me, the real stand-out is Nightmare Alley... just lets down a bit at the end, but WOW, what a great movie.

[james99]

I liked the ending but:

Nightmare Alley
* * * 1/2
1947, Fox, unrated, $15

Carnival geeks bite heads off live chickens, entertainment that never made it to The Ed Sullivan Show. But the act did inspire the movie widely regarded as Tyrone Power's acting peak (and he agreed).

Back story: Of course, studio chief Darryl Zanuck was happy to help the movie open and close in a week because of fears about Ty's image. Power plays a carny huckster who for a while rises to become a mind reader playing to nightclubbing society, thanks to a psychologist (Helen Walker) who leaks patient info. Both actors and co-star Coleen Gray are terrific, and this would be a ☆☆☆☆ pick if the script didn't soften in the final 30 seconds. Eddie Muller's lush coffee table book The Art of Noir used Alley for its cover jacket splash — no wonder.

Extras, extras: Commentary by noir experts James Ursini and Alain Silver.

[james99]

Somewhere in the Night

Whirlpool

House on 92nd Street

[BradF]

Beaver has a review up for House On 92nd Street:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...dvd_review.htm

Eddie Muller does a commentary -- I really enjoyed the one he did for Born To Kill.

And starring one of my old fave actors, Lloyd Nolan, who's also found in Dressed To Kill, a good detective story/murder mystery, also released on the 6th.

edit: a look at Somewhere In The Night and Whirlpool.

[james99]

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASI...A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASI...A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASI...A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB

[james99]

I ordered Dressed To Kill based upon your comments. Should be here any day now.

I watched all of the Noir movies listed in this thread. Enjoyed all 3 but liked House on 92nd Street the best. Perhaps because it was a true story, not sure.

It is also interesing that they had to wait for the war to end before releasing it since it contained classified information the public was unaware of. It came out just 8 days after the war officiallly ended.

[BradF]

I enjoyed all three as well. Hard to pick a favourite this time. I think every entry in this series has had something good to offer, either in whole or in part. Word is, some 24 titles before it's done... and not to forget the outstanding Fox noir that Criterion has released, like Pickup On South Street, Thieves' Highway, and Night And The City.

Dressed To Kill is just one of a whole slew of "Mike Shayne" detective movies that featured the popular Mr. Nolan. It's crazy that this title alone gets released and it's not even the first one in the series. I wish Fox had come out of the gate with an entire collection, a la Warner and it's huge selling The Thin Man box.

[james99]

Official Website: http://www.foxhome.com/filmnoir/

[BradF]

FWIW, Amazon.com has an "exclusive" package deal on the first 9 titles in the series -- $75 US pre-order, plus $6 US shipping. Okay pricing, but I'm not really sure what makes this deal so exclusive, since there's no mention yet of a slipcase or anything special:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...dvd/B000B91N3I

[BradF]

I notice that Wal-mart has a bunch of Fox "Studio Classics" titles selling for only $8.66. The a/v quality of this series has been excellent so far.

Worth picking up sometime is Leave Her To Heaven... another Gene Tierney movie, and one that could easily have been part of the Fox "Film Noir" series instead. Not the lovely innocent seen in Whirlpool and Laura, Miss Tierney steps way off the path in this one.

A look at it here:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...-to-heaven.htm