Columbia Classics

[colinr0380]

But, truthfully, a plain brown wrapper would have been as exciting.

[manicsounds]

Ha, you beat me to it, I was also going to post that "Snuff" cover...

[Perkins Cobb]

I just noticed that Gidget Goes Hawaiian has been added to the Sony MOD line in a 16:9 format -- but the other two (which were all 4:3 on DVD) have not. Eh?

[Kokomo Blues]

Btw, a third Film Noir set is forthcoming as well. From Sony's Ask the Experts column:

Q: I’ve really enjoyed the first two Columbia film noir box sets - thanks for making them available. Can we expect a third film noir volume soon? Or perhaps some noir in the Classics by Request program??

A: Thanks for your feedback. We are indeed working on the next volume of Noir titles, and it will be a big one! Keep checking back for updates and more details to come. As for Screen Classics by Request, we’ll be adding some great Noir titles there too! Currently you can pick up New Orleans Uncensored, Pickup Alley, The Long Haul just some of Columbia’s under -the -radar noir, and next month the little-known but exciting Key Witness. We’ve got noir covered!.

This is up for pre-order now http://shop.tcm.com/detail.php?p=364905 ... f4df42d835" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The Film Foundation and Turner Classic Movies partner on the third collection in the series, Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics III. In this volume, five films, fully restored and remastered, are showcased featuring My Name is Julia Ross, The Mob, Tight Spot, Drive a Crooked Road and The Burglar.

Film Noir Classics III hurls you into a shadowy world of hit men, kidnappers, corrupt cops, bank robbers, mob informers, femme fatales and hard-luck losers starting with Nina Foch as an unemployed secretary lured to an isolated mansion by insidious characters in MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (1945). In one of his most dynamic roles, Broderick Crawford plays a police detective who goes undercover as a dock worker in New Orleans to expose THE MOB (1951). Ginger Rogers, cast against type, is a tough, uncooperative witness in a criminal case threatened by her association with gangsters in TIGHT SPOT (1955). In DRIVE A CROOKED ROAD (1964), Mickey Rooney gives a fine, underrated performance as a race car enthusiast blackmailed into driving the getaway car at a bank robbery. Based on a pulp fiction novel by David Goodis, THE BURGLAR (1957) stars Dan Duryea as a cunning jewel thief who recruits Jayne Mansfield, Mickey Shaughnessy and Peter Capell for one final heist before retiring.

Presented for the first time on DVD, the five restored and remastered films included in Film Noir Classics II represent key films in the genre by such masters of the form as Joseph H. Lewis, Phil Karlson and Robert Parrish."

[domino harvey]

Sony's MODs are on sale at the Warner Archives 25% off through the 14th. Not a huge discount, but something if you're aching for a title

[Arthur House]

January's Columbia Classics By Request:

THE BLACK BOOK (aka REIGN OF TERROR) (1949)
ZARAK (1956)
BEFORE WINTER COMES (1969)
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT A SOLDIER (1943)
LUV (1967)
TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU (1970)
CAROLINA BLUES (1944)
THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON (aka PARADISE LAGOON) (1957)
THE CHILD STEALER (1979)
COCAINE AND BLUE EYES (1983)

[Cold Bishop]

THE BLACK BOOK (aka REIGN OF TERROR) (1949)

They had another Noir box!

[antnield]

January's Columbia Classics By Request:

TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU (1970)
THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON (aka PARADISE LAGOON) (1957)

These two are still available as pressed discs in the UK.

[swo17]

THE BLACK BOOK (aka REIGN OF TERROR) (1949)

They had another Noir box!

If this is the version that aired on TCM recently, it'll be nice to have it on disc finally, but obviously this deserves so much more.

[Tribe]

THE BLACK BOOK (aka REIGN OF TERROR) (1949)

They had another Noir box!

If this is the version that aired on TCM recently, it'll be nice to have it on disc finally, but obviously this deserves so much more.

After watching this on awful, awful PD releases for a while...this release is so damn refreshingly beautiful in comparison.

[swo17]

And what image did they use to sell this ultra-violent, visually mesmerising, one-of-a-kind film? Two dudes reading a book.

[knives]

That's still a better sell than they did with Rossellini.

[Tribe]

And what image did they use to sell this ultra-violent, visually mesmerising, one-of-a-kind film? Two dudes reading a book.

The movie is titled The Black Book, after all.

[zedz]

And what image did they use to sell this ultra-violent, visually mesmerising, one-of-a-kind film? Two dudes reading a book.

The movie is titled The Black Book, after all.

And they need to draw in that part of the audience who are big fans of movies about books that are black!

[Perkins Cobb]

You can't even tell the book is black though, so FAIL.

[Mark Metcalf]

Who cares about the cover?

[whaleallright]

This discussion made me think of the Image Leaves from Satan's Book cover that had maple leaves on the cover. I doubt that there's ever been a more dunderheaded video cover than that.

[Murdoch]

Who cares about the cover?

See here.

[Mike_S]

If you have a liking for undiluted trash, minor Gene Hackman performances and peak-period Dyan Cannon then the MOD disc of "Doctors' Wives" is pretty good on the whole. I can't defend the film except to say that I thoroughly enjoyed every disreputable minute.

[swo17]

In case this wasn't a foregone conclusion, I ordered a copy of The Black Book and can confirm that it appears to be the version that aired recently on TCM. I haven't watched the whole thing yet but I did check the scene toward the end that is often cut in other releases, and it runs the same as the TCM version, which I believe was uncensored. The transfer looks very good and filmlike, as you can see in this comparison with the VCI (which was light years ahead of the Alpha):

[Jonathan S]

Presumably then, the bakery torture sequence (about 20 minutes into the film) is also complete, unlike the heavily censored VCI version?

And is the Sony print titled The Black Book? I always thought that prints bearing that name (like VCI's) were the cut ones, and those with the original Reign of Terror - like the one shown on UK TV even 30 years ago - were complete.

Anyway, it's all a bit academic for me as I don't buy MOD releases.

[swo17]

I can check the bakery scene tonight, but what specifically should I be looking out for?

My understanding was that the opening title card calls the film The Black Book, while the title Reign of Terror comes up at the end (i.e. "This is the end of the Reign of Terror.")

As a matter of principle, the only films I buy on MOD are amazing ones that I can't live without.

[Jonathan S]

Sorry, I assumed you had the cut VCI version as you'd posted a grab from it, but perhaps you got that elsewhere.

As Cummings & co. descend the stairs from the bakery, there's a close-up of a man hanging by his thumbs (?), blood running down both arms, which pulls back into a wider shot. (It may not be accidental this gory shot is exactly at the start of reel 3 and you can see the splice to remove most of it in VCI's print.) A little later there's a close-up of him screaming as the torture is increased. None of this is in VCI's print.

The old UK TV print, which includes these shots and the later one you mentioned, has "Reign of Terror" at the head of the picture ("Robert Cummings in...") where as the cut VCI print has "The Black Book". The use of "the end of the Reign of Terror", referring to both the historical event and the film, adds I think to the likelihood that was the original title rather than "The Black Book".

When the film went before the British Board of Film Censors in 1949, the "submitted run time" (so presumably before their cuts) was 89 minutes 13 seconds. Does that correspond to Sony's print?

[swo17]

Everything you describe in the bakery scene is intact, though the opening title card does call the film The Black Book. Runtime is 89:29.

[Jonathan S]

Thanks for the confirmation. All I need now is for Sony to licence their print for a pressed DVD release on another continent - instead of MOD, maybe MOC! They have done this with some of their other US MOD titles - in Spain, for example - but I suppose it's less likely if the film is out of copyright.

Although I wonder about the rights outside the US... it hasn't had a UK PD release that I'm aware of (according to Beaver, the Italian DVD was partly through Fox). In the UK, I always assumed it was part of the Republic library (to which Universal own UK DVD rights) as in the 1970s it was issued on 8mm in a batch with such films as The Quiet Man and Letter from an Unknown Woman. It also showed a lot on the BBC, who picked up the UK TV rights to the Republic-owned catalogue, but unlike the Ford and Ophuls titles they haven't shown it for decades, so the situation may have changed.