Nicholas Ray?

[pzman84]

Warner owns these Ray films:

- They Live by Night (1948) not out yet

- A Woman's Secret (1949) not out yet

- Born to Be Bad (1950) not out yet

- Flying Leathernecks (1951) already out

- On Dangerous Ground (1952) not out yet
Update 3/23: According to DVD Beaver, will be in Film Noir Vol #3

- The Lusty Men (1952) not out yet

- Rebel Without a Cause (1955) already out on a 2xDVD set

- Wind Across the Everglades (1958) not out yet

- Party Girl (1958) not out yet

- King of Kings (1961) already out but bare bones

Warners could make there next Film Noir box set entirely Ray titles or release a Ray does Noir box set as Ray started in Noir. There are so many angles they could go with this. Anyway, these films have to be on DVD period.

BTW, what do you guys think about Ray?

[Gregory]

I think Ray was a formidable talent, but that's not enough to get a Warner box. There has to be star appeal, name recognition. Sadly, I think the general public would buy the films listed here on the strength of who starred in them and on the reputation of the individual film. Not enough people out there appreciate what Ray achieved for his name to be the major selling point.

[Floyd]

The Lusty Men is on TCM quite a bit and in not a too shabby looking print as I recall. I don't know exactly why it isn't out on DVD along with They Live By Night, especially in They Live By Night's case considering the fact that noir has become a much bigger drawing point these days and it is considered one of the best. I'd put The Lusty Men up there with In a Lonely Place as my personal favorite Ray films so I am definately eager for a release.

[leo goldsmith]

The Lusty Men is on TCM quite a bit and in not a too shabby looking print as I recall. I don't know exactly why it isn't out on DVD along with They Live By Night, especially in They Live By Night's case considering the fact that noir has become a much bigger drawing point these days and it is considered one of the best. I'd put The Lusty Men up there with In a Lonely Place as my personal favorite Ray films so I am definately eager for a release.

Yeah, this is definitely my favorite Ray and a nice companion piece to Wenders's best film, Kings of the Road, which borrows from it.

Give us a shout next time you see it on TCM's program schedule.

[otis]

Wind Across The Everglades is currently in 69th place on the TCM Home Video Vote (delighted to see Greed is maintaining its sizeable lead), so give it about 10 years and you never know.

I like Born To Be Bad too: great to see Joan as a manipulative minx:

[Ashirg]

Party Girl is being released in France in March. I would expect it in the next Film Noir boxset (I think they hinted it in the chat as "an MGM film you might not expect"). But it's only a guess so don't take my word for it.

[swimminghorses]

How come I haven't heard anyone complaining about the fact that "Johnny Guitar" hasn't been released? Who owns it and what is the problem? For God's sake it has Joan Crawford in it and she gets her own boxset.

[FilmFanSea]

How come I haven't heard anyone complaining about the fact that "Johnny Guitar" hasn't been released? Who owns it and what is the problem? For God's sake it has Joan Crawford in it and she get her own boxset.

Johnny Guitar was made for Republic Pictures. Until last fall, Artisan--now part of Lions Gate--held the rights (I for one am glad they didn't butcher it as they did--TWICE--with High Noon). The rights are now in the hands of Paramount. If the elements are in decent shape (never a given with the Republic Library), I would expect a release sometime in the next year.

It has been released in Germany by Kinowelt and in the UK by Universal (both R2 PAL). As the Beaver comparison shows, the German disc is much superior.

[Floyd]

For those who are interested I was browsing the TCM schedule and saw Party Girl was coming on March 8th at 12pm.


12:00 PM Party Girl (1958)
A showgirl and a crooked lawyer try to break with a powerful mob boss. Cast: Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse, Lee J. Cobb. Dir: Nicholas Ray. C-99 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

[otis]

David, NOT posting any screencaps of Cyd's gorgeous gams surely confirms you're straight -- I mean gay ---- I mean straight. (No definitely gay.) On with the joust! Which reminds me, when are we going to get a disc of my fellow gigolo's Lancelot du Lac???

Can we have a peek at the Editions Montparnasse They Live by Night next?

[pzman84]

Possible Box Set Ideas:

The Film Noir of Nicholas Ray

They Live by Night (1948)

A Woman's Secret (1949)

Born to Be Bad (1950)

On Dangerous Ground (1952)

Nicholas Ray: The Legendary Films Collection

The Lusty Men (1952)

Wind Across the Everglades (1958)

Party Girl (1958)

King of Kings 2-Disc SE (1961)

And, if Paramount ever licences out to Criterion (I know that will be a cold day in hell but one can dream):

Five Films by Nicholas Ray

Johnny Guitar (1954)

Run for Cover (1955)

Bigger Than Life (1956)

The True Story of Jesse James (1957)

The Savage Innocents (1959)

I think if any of these box sets were to come to being, that would be pure cinematic ambrosia.

[Gordon]

Here's DVD Beaver's review of the Warner Français edition of Party Girl

It looks quite nice, to my lights. But it does seem to have that 'heavy' appearence that is common with many Eastmancolor-CinemaScope films of the 50s.

In an ideal world, all American actors would look like Lee J. Cobb and have his talent. Great face; great actor. Rare.

[Derek Estes]

I believe Noir #4 will also be released this year. It is part of that aggressive release schedule Warner has planned. I say bring it on!

[shearerchic]

I believe Noir #4 will also be released this year. It is part of that aggressive release schedule Warner has planned. I say bring it on!

yeah it'll be out this year. the set will also include side street and crime wave.

[Gregory]

That would be very good news about Side Street. What's your source for this information?

[shearerchic]

That would be very good news about Side Street. What's your source for this information?

well on the digital bits classics database they said film noir volume 4 would have side street. eddie mueller also did commentary for crime wave when he did they live by night, so you just put two and two together

[porquenegar]

How come I haven't heard anyone complaining about the fact that "Johnny Guitar" hasn't been released? Who owns it and what is the problem? For God's sake it has Joan Crawford in it and she gets her own boxset.

I just watched this on LD. The transfer looked pretty solid so I'm assuming the DVD would be very good. The movie a lot of fun and has some great dialogue, especially all the tough guy stuff. Sterling Hayden is such an imposing figure. He's something like 6'-4" and has that constant scowl, I'd certainly wouldn't have messed with him. Everyone was so on edge the entire film, it you could just feel everything ready to go out of control at any minute until it finally does. Good stuff.

[porquenegar]

Don't hold your breath for Paramount to release it (it's originally Republic) as - now repeating this information for the tenth time - there is a rights hiatus which has forced Paramount to indefinitely postpone all thier intended Republic titles.

Johnny Guitar isn't just fun. It's a seminal work of cinema.

I confess that I know nothing about film criticism. I'm just exploring and having fun. It's an interesting problem, wanting to talk about exciting movies that I see and not having all the tools to do so at the high level that many on this board are used to. Consequently, I usually limit my comments to the impressions or feelings I get from the films.

From Merrian-Webster

Main Entry: sem·i·nal
Pronunciation: 'se-m&-n&l
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin seminalis, from semin-, semen seed -- more at SEMEN
1 : of, relating to, or consisting of seed or semen
2 : containing or contributing the seeds of later development : CREATIVE, ORIGINAL <a seminal book> <one of the most seminal of the great poets

I'm assuming definition #1 isn't what you mean Do you mean, seminal as meaning creative, or to mean that this film lays the groundwork for a future films. Or both?

By the way, I was recently listening to the commentary for Damage and Louis Malle talks about the screenwriter, David Hare. Is that you?

[porquenegar]

Thank you for the response.

[souvenir]

With the upcoming Warner Home Video Director's Series kicking off, I'd love to see a set devoted to Nicholas Ray. Five, which is usually the magic number for their box sets, WB-controlled titles remain unreleased - A Woman's Secret, Born to Be Bad, The Lusty Men, Wind Across the Everglades, and Party Girl.

This would seem to be a great way to put these films on the market. Realistically, how many fairly well-known directors even have at least five unreleased titles controlled by Warners? Surely Ray is as good a choice as any.

[Scharphedin2]

With the upcoming Warner Home Video Director's Series kicking off...

Where did you hear about Warner kicking off a Director's Series?

[domino harvey]

With the upcoming Warner Home Video Director's Series kicking off...

Where did you hear about Warner kicking off a Director's Series?

Kubrick Collection press release

[jaredsap]

Realistically, how many fairly well-known directors even have at least five unreleased titles controlled by Warners? Surely Ray is as good a choice as any.

A Ray box would be excellent. A Jacques Tourneur box -- with, say, STARS IN MY CROWN, THE FLAME AND THE ARROW, BERLIN EXPRESS, EASY LIVING and EXPERIMENT PERILOUS -- seems an obvious contender too.

But five makes it tough if we're excluding remasters -- I imagine WHV will (at least occasionally) set their sights lower than that (e.g. maybe only three releases per a box).

[Derek Estes]

Well all of the Kubrick films have been previously available, if that should be an indication of what the series will be like.

[Petty Bourgeoisie]

GAAARD No! I mean Seminal in the sense of laying groundwork. It's one of those holy grail movies for ancient cinephiles like me. For years,it was and still is treated as camp, or worse, it's one of the outstanding exercises in the sublimation of multi-layered themes in a genre, for which Ray breaks all the rules anyway, and then some.

At the core there's the theme of domesticity and it's shattering effect on man (and woman)'s freedom - surely a core theme of many post war Westerns. But all this becomes enmeshed or submerged with a Freudian/Marxist postmodernist critique of McCarthyism - and more broadly intolerance and social "normatives", while providing a concomitant narrative on the expansion of "progress" and bourgeois "capitalism" very much like Sirk. Then you have the dynamics of the three leads - Crawford, Hayden (superbly directed against type) and McCambridge who seems to embody all the venom in the Yordan screenplay. Both latter performances superb, and complemented by the stolid iconicity of Crawford. And the mise-en-scene - the color in particular (and I really like the German disc for THIS.)

It's the reason Ray is still one of the greats -to me anyway. A brilliant, conflicted man, whose best films turn out that conflict and show people on the edge, and don't hold back to display his total antipathy to "respectable" society.

Fascinating take on Johnny Guitar. Assuming you're still around davidhare (I'm responding to a post over one year old ), what was it in Bitter Victory that touched Godard so much? I would love to hear your take on that.