300-329; 354-357; 486-491 Columbia Noir #1-7

[MichaelB]

It's a UK-only set, so (a) they may not have been aware of it anyway, or (b) they may have taken a conscious decision not to mention region-locked non-US releases.

[MichaelB]

Bumped to flag up that I've added specs for Columbia Noir #7: Made in Britain to the inaugural post in this thread.

Which contains:

• A Prize of Gold (Mark Robson, 1955, 98 mins)
• The Last Man to Hang (Terence Fisher, 1956, 75 mins)
• Wicked As They Come (Ken Hughes, 1956, 94 mins)
• Spin a Dark Web (Vernon Sewell, 1956, 76 mins)
• The Long Haul (Ken Hughes, 1957, 89 mins)
• Fortune is a Woman (Sidney Gilliat, 1957, 95 mins)

[domino harvey]

Only seen Spin a Dark Web, which I didn’t much like, but this looks like a fun set. Most of my unwatched noirs at this point are British, so this will be right at home in the unmatched pile. Saw Diana Dors on the cover and immediately wondered if this project started backwards as a way to get her on the front of the box!

Spin a Dark Web was in the second Kit Parker Noir Archive Blu set, and the Long Haul is in the third one, if anyone wants to preview those

[DeprongMori]

Only seen Spin a Dark Web, which I didn’t much like, but this looks like a fun set. Most of my unwatched noirs at this point are British, so this will be right at home in the unmatched pile. Saw Diana Dors on the cover and immediately wondered if this project started backwards as a way to get her on the front of the box!

Spin a Dark Web was in the second Kit Parker Noir Archive Blu set, and the Long Haul is in the third one, if anyone wants to preview those

Fortune Is a Woman is also on the third Kit Parker Noir Archive Blu set, under its alternate title She Played with Fire.

[DeprongMori]

Out of curiosity, is there any particular reason that The Burglar (1957, Paul Wendkos), starring Dan Duryea and Jayne Mansfield, is the only Columbia Noir from the four Sony/TCM Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics box sets missing from the Indicator Columbia Noir Blu-ray sets, the Kit Parker Noir Archive sets, or any Arrow or Eureka Blu-ray releases? It was included in the Australian label Imprint’s “Essential Film Noir, Vol. 5” volumes in 2024, so it must at least be licensable. The picture quality is apparently fine, based on reviews of the presentation in the original Sony/TCM DVD and the Imprint Blu-ray releases.

Aside from all the titles in the Indicator Columbia Noir boxes: The Big Heat got a standalone Blu-ray release from Indicator (and later Criterion); Nightfall, My Name Is Julia Ross, and So Dark the Night got standalones from Arrow; and Human Desire got a standalone from Eureka. A couple (5 Against the House and The Lineup) redundantly appear on the Kit Parker sets. This leaves only The Burglar unaccounted for on US/UK Blu-ray.

[domino harvey]

It and Two of a Kind are conspicuously absent from the DVD sets Sony put out (you can factor in titles from the Bad Girls of Film Noir sets too), and I think Women’s Prison is also a no-brainer for a future set. Maybe they’re just holding onto some high profile titles for the next set

[ryannichols7]

this is an awesome announcement and I love the British theming and color scheme of the box. would be game to see The Burglar, cause that starring duo sounds like quite a combo!

[therewillbeblus]

A Prize of Gold is the most incompetent Robson film I've seen, which is many things other than noir, primarily an awkward romance. The plot machinations are doled out at a snail's pace and the action that culminates feels like something out of the dullest, inattentive James Bond movies. Widmark can't even add enough to warrant a bout of praise. If this is the 'big title' of the set, I'm not sure I want to continue

[Colpeper]

The audio interview with WICKED AS THEY COME and THE LONG HAUL producer Maxwell Setton (born 24 October 1909) was recorded in 1991, but, at the time of writing, the gentleman has no date of death recorded on IMDb, nor on Wikipedia. Aside from celebrated disappearances, it's unusual for someone that well known, and unlikely to be alive, to have an unknown date of death on those sites. Consequently, for a moment, I wondered whether Mr Setton might actually be a supercentenarian not far behind the world's current oldest verified living person, Ethel Caterham (born 21 August 1909).

However, I quickly realized this was unlikely to have been overlooked by MichaelB and, in any case, LongeviQuest confirm Caterham to be the last living person born before 1910. I then found that there is a probate record for a Maxwell Setton who died on 22 August 1999, which is almost certainly his, given the unusual name. No need to add him to the FILM CENTENARIANS AND NEAR-CENTENARIANS thread.

[GaryC]

The audio interview with WICKED AS THEY COME and THE LONG HAUL producer Maxwell Setton (born 24 October 1909) was recorded in 1991, but, at the time of writing, the gentleman has no date of death recorded on IMDb, nor on Wikipedia. Aside from celebrated disappearances, it's unusual for someone that well known, and unlikely to be alive, to have an unknown date of death on those sites. Consequently, for a moment, I wondered whether Mr Setton might actually be a supercentenarian not far behind the world's current oldest verified living person, Ethel Caterham (born 21 August 1909).

However, I quickly realized this was unlikely to have been overlooked by MichaelB and, in any case, LongeviQuest confirm Caterham to be the last living person born before 1910. I then found that there is a probate record for a Maxwell Setton who died on 22 August 1999, which is almost certainly his, given the unusual name. No need to add him to the FILM CENTENARIANS AND NEAR-CENTENARIANS thread.

Okay, thanks. He doesn't turn up on FreeBMD as he was born in Egypt and the database doesn't yet go up to 1999 to record his death.

I'm aware of just five people with IMDB entries who lived to be supercentenarians, other than actual supercentenarians appearing on screen as themselves, such as Jeanne Calment. Only one of those was a man, Norman Spencer. (The others were, in case of interest, in order of passing Mabel Richardson, Frederica Sagor Maas, Ruthie Tompson and Eileen Kramer.)

[domino harvey]

Volume 7 release date is now December 15

[MichaelB]

Full specs for Columbia Noir #7: Made in Britain, including extras that haven't previously been announced:



A Prize of Gold (1955):



The Last Man to Hang (1956):



Wicked As They Come (1956):



Spin a Dark Web (aka Soho Incident, 1956):



The Long Haul (1957):



Fortune is a Woman (aka She Played With Fire, 1957):