Warner Film Noir Collections

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jcelwin · #26 Post by **jcelwin** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:46 pm

I haven't seen 'Lady in the Lake', and I realise it is meant to be fairly bad, but I think it would be worth putting in a set. It might not be worth a separate purchase but in the set it would be cheap, and a if they got a good commentator for it, it could be interesting.

I think 'Lady in the Lake' is probably one of those films that people know isn't very good, bad but are always curious about. It also has some cinematic significance (which is probably the reason for most of the interest in it).

What A Disgrace · #27 Post by **What A Disgrace** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:16 pm

Derek Estes wrote:P.S. I would not be totally suprised if one of the titles were a 2 disc SE of something previously released. I think it is a little too soon for a SE of The Maltese Falcon -as of last years chat it was only in the discussion stages- but I could see them including a re-release of something.

I would enjoy a double disc re-release of The Big Sleep, myself.

What other previously released Warner film noir is in need of a re-issue? Are there any un-released noir that would be conceivable as a two disc edition?

Harold Gervais · #28 Post by **Harold Gervais** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:01 pm

DVD Times has the titles and early specs for Warner's second film noir box. Born to Kill, Clash By Night, Crossfire, Dillinger and The Narrow Margin Plus the announcement of John Boorman's Point Blank. Great news!

Andre Jurieu · #29 Post by **Andre Jurieu** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:20 pm

Point Blank (1967)
Based on Donald E. Westlake’s novel The Hunter, Point Blank is an edgy neo-noir that merges a classic revenge story with imaginative New Wave style. Directed by John Boorman (Deliverance), Point Blank stars Lee Marvin in full anti-hero mode as a thief out for payback. The film also features an outstanding supporting cast that includes Angie Dickenson, Carroll O’Connor and Keenan Wynn.

DVD special features include:
Commentary by directors John Boorman and Steven Soderbergh
Vintage Featurettes: The Rock Part 1 and The Rock Part 2
Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Finally! =P~

exte · #30 Post by **exte** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 6:42 pm

So I guess there's no way to get Point Blank without the box? It won't be sold seperately? I guess that means a trip to Kims...

EDIT: Totally misread it. Sorry!

Harold Gervais · #31 Post by **Harold Gervais** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 6:57 pm

Wasn't there a pretty comprehensive list of film noirs and the controlling studios on the previous version of this forum? I've looked around but don't see it. Anyone more able than I be able to give me a link to it?

Gregory · #32 Post by **Gregory** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:17 pm

That was my list, but it got swallowed up without a trace. Instead, there's a good list at DVD Beaver that shows the studio that produced each film, but it requries you to know which conglomerate now holds the rights to each studio's output. http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/film-noir.htm
EDIT: Thanks, just PM me if you find it. However, I did a huge amount of work to make it more complete and accurate right before it vanished, so any older version might not have been very good.

Harold Gervais · #33 Post by **Harold Gervais** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:39 pm

Thanks Gregory. I hit that Beaver list fairly regularly but it is the control issue that is really what I'm looking for. I thought I had printed a copy of your list but I can't find that either. If I do come across it maybe I'll scan it and send you a copy. Warner's announcement had me cross a few titles I was looking at from R2 off and I'm trying to get a feel for where I should go next.

BWilson · #34 Post by **BWilson** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 8:44 pm

POINT BLANK

awsome

EDIT: It should be interesting to here Soderberg's commentary since The Limey was clearly inspired by Point Blank

porquenegar · #35 Post by **porquenegar** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 12:08 am

Here are the specs for the five titles.

Source is DVDTimes:

=====================

Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of The Film Noir Classic Collection Volume Two for 5th July 2005. Hollywood’s legendary tough guys and femme fatales collide again with this second collection which includes five smouldering classics, all new to DVD and all digitally remastered: Born to Kill, Clash By Night, Crossfire, Dillinger and The Narrow Margin.

The movies star film noir icons Robert Mitchum, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Lawrence Tierney and Claire Trevor, among others, and feature commentaries from film historians and directors including Robert Wise on Born To Kill Peter Bogdanovich, with archival contributions from Fritz Lang, on Clash By Night; John Milius on Dillinger and William Friedkin and Richard Fleischer on The Narrow Margin.

In addition to the Collection, John Boorman’s (Deliverance, Excalibur) classic neo-noir, Point Blank, will also make its DVD debut featuring commentary from Boorman and director Steven Soderbergh.

Titles will be available in both a five-disc set, for $49.92 SRP, or individually for $19.97 SRP.

About The Film Noir Classic Collection Volume Two

Born to Kill (1947)
Director Robert Wise (The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Sound of Music, West Side Story) showed his versatility with this dark gem -- a mix of heiress sisters, stone-hearted men, needy hangers-on and illicit but inevitable love. Walter Slezak portrays the verse-quoting shamus and Claire Trevor and Lawrence Tierney are lovers who play with fire… and burn their names forever into film-noir lore.

DVD special features include:

* Commentary by film historian Eddie Muller with archival contributions by director Robert Wise
* Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Clash by Night (1952)
Film noir master Fritz Lang (M, The Big Heat, Ministry of Fear) directs Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan and rising star Marilyn Monroe in a stark tale of lives burnished by human emotion and shattered by human failings. Intense and powerfully realistic, Clash by Night (from a Clifford Odets play) is about many towns and many families, all serene on the surface but boiling underneath with desperation.

DVD special features include:

* Commentary by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich with archival contributions by director Fritz Lang
* Theatrical Trailer
* Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Crossfire (1947)
Robert Mitchum, Robert Young and Robert Ryan star in this landmark film noir nominated for five Academy Awards® including Best Picture. Edward Dmytryk (Murder, My Sweet) directs, draping the genre’s stylistic backdrops and flourishes around the controversial subject of anti-Semitism, a topic rarely explored in American films.

DVD special features include:

* Commentary by film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini with archival contributions by director Edward Dmytryk
* Featurette Crossfire: Hate is like a Gun
* Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Dillinger (1945)
Oscar-nominated for its screenplay, this is a bullet-paced story of the legendary gangster whose crimes captivated and terrified the nation. Lawrence Tierney plays the title role, breaking free of screen anonymity and moving into a 50-year tough-guy career that would range from Born to Kill up through Reservoir Dogs.

DVD special features include:

* Commentary by filmmaker John Milius (director of the 1973 Dillinger) with archival contributions by writer Philip Yordan
* Theatrical Trailer
* Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

The Narrow Margin (1952)
The Oscar-nominated story, directed by Richard Fleischer (Fantastic Voyage, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and scripted by his frequent collaborator Earl Felton, zigzags with surprise turns. Film noir favorite Charles McGraw plays a cop guarding a gangster’s moll (fellow genre icon Marie Windsor) as she travels west to testify before a grand jury. Also riding the Pullmans are two determined hit men who know the moll is on the train but don’t know what she looks like. The film was remade in 1990 with Gene Hackman and Anne Archer.

DVD special features include:

* Commentary by filmmaker William Friedkin with archival contributions by director Richard Fleischer
* Theatrical Trailer
* Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Point Blank (1967)
Based on Donald E. Westlake’s novel The Hunter, Point Blank is an edgy neo-noir that merges a classic revenge story with imaginative New Wave style. Directed by John Boorman (Deliverance), Point Blank stars Lee Marvin in full anti-hero mode as a thief out for payback. The film also features an outstanding supporting cast that includes Angie Dickenson, Carroll O’Connor and Keenan Wynn.

DVD special features include:

* Commentary by directors John Boorman and Steven Soderbergh
* Vintage Featurettes: The Rock Part 1 and The Rock Part 2
* Theatrical Trailer
* Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

bunuelian · #36 Post by **bunuelian** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 12:19 am

"Born To Kill Peter Bogdanovich" . . . is this a Freudian slip by one of our members?

This is one I'll definitely look into getting.

alandau · #37 Post by **alandau** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:02 am

Apart from Crossfire and The Narrow Margin, I am not very keen on Warner's selection this time round.
Dillinger is not really film noir. Born To Kill is a very minor noir and Lang has made better movies than Clash By Night.

I was expecting Cornered or The Window from RKO and Lady in the Lake by MGM.

It's a shame that we get audio commentaries for Born To Kill, Dillinger and Clash By Night, yet we have no special features on The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep and High Sierra.

C'mon Warners

#38 Post by **Jeff** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:19 am

alandau wrote:It's a shame that we get audio commentaries for Born To Kill, Dillinger and Clash By Night, yet we have no special features on The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep and High Sierra.

Those three titles were released before Warner became the DVD powerhouse that they are today. I can't imagine that if Maltese Falcon, Big Sleep, or High Sierra were being released right now, they wouldn't get loaded special editions. Rest assured that when the right opportunity arises, from a marketing standpoint, all three will be re-released.

Harold Gervais · #39 Post by **Harold Gervais** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:51 am

I don't know, much like The Set-Up from the previous set, Born to Kill is a under seen gem. I'll be happy to have it. I don't know who controls the rights but I'd have like to have seen Wise's noir-western, Blood on the Moon. I have not seen Dillenger, so I can't speak of it but I do kind of feel the same way you do about Clash By Night....I think Lang's The Woman in the Window or While the City Sleeps would have been better choices. Still, I suppose that is the great thing about these collections. They spur discussion & debate and it's not like anyone is holding a gun to anyone else's head forcing them to buy the whole set.

viciousliar · #40 Post by **viciousliar** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 5:30 am

Born to Kill

I, for one, am thrilled to have this ultra-dark noir be given the WB treatment - this is the film where Tierney gives the performance of his life! I'll cross my fingers that Cornered will be included in the next batch.

BWilson · #41 Post by **BWilson** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:25 pm

I hear Born to Kill is excellent, so I look forward to it. As for this:

Jeff wrote:Those three titles were released before Warner became the DVD powerhouse that they are today. I can't imagine that if Maltese Falcon, Big Sleep, or High Sierra were being released right now, they wouldn't get loaded special editions. Rest assured that when the right opportunity arises, from a marketing standpoint, all three will be re-released.

High Sierra was released at the same time as Treasure of Sierra Madre and a slew of Warner 2-disc sets. They just chose to skimp on it.

rossbrew · #42 Post by **rossbrew** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 6:15 pm

Yahoo!!!!!

Brian Oblivious · #43 Post by **Brian Oblivious** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 6:53 pm

Jeff wrote: I can't imagine that if Maltese Falcon, Big Sleep, or High Sierra were being released right now, they wouldn't get loaded special editions. Rest assured that when the right opportunity arises, from a marketing standpoint, all three will be re-released.

I would think that the opportunity for the Maltese Falcon would be now, in the 75th anniversary year of the publishing of the Hammett's book.

alandau · #44 Post by **alandau** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 11:04 pm

Did some research today. Looked at all the film noir books at Readings, including the Taschen and the Noir Encyclopedia. No mention of Dillinger. As I said, it is definitely not film noir, that is it doesn't adhere to that stylistic classification. Even IMDB does not classify it as noir, but crime.

Hardly any mention of Born To Kill, and if mentioned, not highly regarded, as is Clash By Night. There are other much more interesting Lang noirs.

According to the authors, even Crossfire is not pure noir, but more of a protestation and message film. I saw it a few years ago, and thought it was highly staged, and too confined.

I will give this boxset a miss.

kblz · #45 Post by **kblz** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 11:38 pm

alandau wrote:Apart from Crossfire and The Narrow Margin, I am not very keen on Warner's selection this time round.

I agree, except that I'm not really keen on Crossfire either, mainly due to the overly preachy final minutes. The stage origins of Clash By Night showed through a bit too clearly for my taste, primarily in the dialogue, and I found Stanwyck much too old for her role. (Robert Ryan playing the role of the slightly unhinged, violent heel for the umpteenth time was a little tiresome, too.) Born to Kill is a decent enough film, but not a top-notch one IMO. I think this set really needed at least one more Grade A picture along with The Narrow Margin to carry it. Too bad neither of the available Nick Ray titles were included, as one of those might well have fit the bill. (I haven't seen Dillinger, but as others have noted it's a curious pick, since it doesn't seem to be widely regarded as "noir," nor did there appear to be great demand for it at present.)

Brian Oblivious · #46 Post by **Brian Oblivious** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:09 am

Personally, I'm thrilled that Warner has so much confidence in their noir sets that, already with their second one, they're taking a few steps away from canonized, universally-loved films. It means there will probably be a lot of these sets released.

I haven't seen Dillinger. What makes it not a noir? My impression is that it hasn't been widely seen lately.

I think Born to Kill is simply fantastic. Watching this film makes you think Robert Wise is a critically underrated director, and I'm sure Eddie Muller will try to convince you of this if you listen to his commentary. Laurence Tierney plays a bizarre, but absolutely memorable role. Almost an "Homme Fatale" if you will. Some great use of location photography in San Francisco, especially a certain scene shot at Land's End which will be imprinted in my brain forever. I don't know why the film is not regarded among the top tier of classic noirs. Hopefully this release will help amend that.

clutch44 · #47 Post by **clutch44** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 1:54 am

Looks like I get what I hoped for as well as what I feared in my earlier post. Both Narrow Margin and Born to Kill which I consider A rated noir are in the set, but Dillinger while quite good is more suited for a second Gangster box as for Clash by Night and Crossfire they represent the 'filler' both only fair in spite of boasting great casts. I can't comment on Point Blank as I haven't had the pleasure to see it yet, looks interesting enough. I'll buy the set, but its not in the same league as Vol. 1.

alandau · #48 Post by **alandau** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 3:35 am

clutch44 wrote

I can't comment on Point Blank as I haven't had the pleasure to see it yet, looks interesting enough

Point Blank is a top notch film, but is not included in this boxset.

Derek Estes · #49 Post by **Derek Estes** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 4:40 am

the digital bits mentioned Lady in the Lake as included in the box. I hope it is.
I have to say that I am very pleased with all of the titles being released in this set, many of them are more obscure and that is more exciting to me than other titles that will obviously be released in later volumes.
Also, I'm sure that the condition of many of these titles gave them the edge. They were not expecting to release a follow up so soon. So I'm sure some of these titles are in better shape than other more popular titles that have been in circulation for years, and have experienced more wear and tear. I will be happy to wait for some of my other favorite Film Noir, after they have been given the restoration they deserve ie They Live by Night

KJB2 · #50 Post by **KJB2** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 10:34 am

From what I've read, that's correct. Point Blank is being released on the same day, but is not part of the Noir box proper.