Film-Noir Discussion/DVD Review Thread

[noodles_leone]

The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) - 7.5/10
I guess I was more fitting audience for it now than five years ago.

This is one of the movies that work better with a second viewing: once you know the movie is about the barber and not about the first murder, you focus on the right points instead of thinking the movie is finished after the first trial.

[dave jenkins]

Remake of I Wake Up Screaming, on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/139611/vicki

[dave jenkins]

Press announcement from the HTF:

BURBANK, Calif., April 5, 2010 – Warner Home Video (WHV) doubles the stakes in The Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 5, debuting July 13, with legendary Hollywood tough guys and femme fatales once again colliding, this time in eight smoldering suspense classics, all new to DVD. Titles include Cornered/Desperate, The Phenix City Story/Dial 1119, Armored Car Robbery/Crime in the Streets, and Deadline at Dawn/Backfire.

The new movies, which have all been digitally remastered for this collection, include stunning performances by John Cassavetes, Dick Powell, Steve Brodie, Charles McGraw, Susan Hayward, Virginia Mayo, and Raymond Burr, among others. An unbelievable entertainment value, the four-disc collection will be available for $49.92 SRP. Orders are due June 8.

Warner Home Video released its first Film Noir Collection in 2004, re-awakening America’s fascination with the unique genre and garnering acclaim from critics nationwide. This led to a revival of film noir throughout the entire home entertainment industry as well as three more successful volumes from Warner Home Video in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

About The Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 5

Cornered (1945):

From England to continental Europe to Buenos Aires, ex-RCAF pilot Dick Powell stalks the Nazi collaborator who murdered his bride. But one fact constantly surfaces during his quest: no one can describe the mysterious man. Joining Powell in the film shadows are the director and other key talent behind Murder, My Sweet of the year before.

Special Features:

Cornered trailer.

Runtime: 102 minutes

Rating: NR

Film Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratio

Language: English Mono

Subtitles: English



Desperate (1947):

Desperate is the first of seven atmospheric noirs directed by Anthony Mann. Steve Brodie is a postwar every man who accepts what he thinks is an honest trucking job, only to find he’s the driver in a botched heist that puts Brodie and his bride (Audrey Long) on the run from the cops and the cons who planned the job (including chief thug Raymond Burr).

Runtime: 73 minutes

Rating: NR

Film Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratio

Language: English Mono

Subtitles: English



The Phenix City Story (1955):

Corruption, brutality and vice plagued Phenix City, Alabama, for 100 years, so who would dare to change it? Based on real-life events and filmed on location in what was called Sin City USA, director Phil Karlson’s semi-documentary tells the jolting tale of those who risked their lives to bring the burg’s syndicate of thugs and murderers to justice.

RT: 100 minutes

Rating: NR

Film Specs: B&W 16x9 Widescreen 1.77

Language: English Mono

Subtitles: English



Dial 1119 (1950):

An asylum inmate escapes to the city, where he takes hostages at a local dive, guns down a bar employee and warns authorities his captives will be next if the doctor whose testimony first put him away doesn’t arrive within the hour. A bit of casting irony goes with the movie’s then-novel use of TV news coverage: actors Marshall Thompson, William Conrad, Keefe Brasselle and Leon Ames would have significant career ventures in television.

Special Features:

Includes Dial 1119 theatrical trailer.

RT: 75 minutes

Rating: NR

Film Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratio

Language: English Mono

Subtitles: English



Armored Car Robbery (1950):

Richard Fleischer directs this brute-force milestone about a deadly heist and the battle of wits and firepower between a fugitive gangster (William Talman) and his stripper moll (Adele Jergens) and a bulldog cop (Charles McGraw), out to avenge his partner’s death, who uses hidden microphones, lab work and his own well-honed instincts to close the net.

RT: 68 minutes

Rating: NR

Film Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratio

Language: English Mono

Subtitles: English



Crime in the Streets (1956):

Following a turf rumble with a rival group, a street gang leader (John Cassavetes) tells his gang to do what they’ve never done before: kill a snitch. Reginald Rose wrote and Don Siegel directs a jazz-riffing screen version of a tale first seen on TV and co-starring James Whitmore and Sal Mineo.

RT: 91 minutes

Rating: NR

Film Specs: B&W 16x9 Widescreen 1.77

Language: English Mono

Subtitles: English



Deadline At Dawn (1946):

A gangster’s sister lies dead. All clues point to sailor Bill Williams as the murderer. Slated to depart for duty at dawn, the swabbie, aided by good-hearted dime-a-dancer Susan Hayward and affable cabbie Paul Lukas, has mere hours to prove his innocence. The tangy Clifford Odets script is based on a novel by William Irish (pseudonym of Cornell Woolrich).

RT: 83 minutes

Rating: NR

Film Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratio

Language: English Mono

Subtitles: English



Backfire (1950):

Vincent Sherman directs this gripping yarn about recovering war veteran Gordon MacRae’s quest to prove pal Edmond O’Brien innocent of murder. Aiding him is his resourceful nurse Virginia Mayo. And a secretive doctor, a lively undertaker, a desperate gambler, a dying witness and a haunting Viennese melody all lead them to a shocking climax.

RT: 91 minutes

Rating: NR

Film Specs: B&W 4x3 1.37 standard aspect ratio

Language: English Mono

Subtitles: English


The Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 5

Street date: July 13, 2010

Order due date: June 8, 2010

UPC #: 883929042197

$49.92 SRP

All Films Are Not Rated

[moviesceleton]

In a Lonely Place (1950) - 8/10
This is one of those movies that don't exactly blow your mind but that probably will haunt you for a long time. Or then not...we'll see about that.

[dave jenkins]

In a Lonely Place (1950) - 8/10
This is one of those movies that don't exactly blow your mind but that probably will haunt you for a long time. Or then not...we'll see about that.

I think reception depends on how sensitive you are to Bogart's iconic status.

[Dust Devil]

Barton Fink (1991)

It can be that I'm too stupid to get the main message, I'm not ruling that out at all, but it's just that I couldn't find any symbolism to decrypt in first place. As this movie is, apparently, just full of it in every second. Obviously, to make an example, I don't buy the scene when Barton and Charlie are wrestling as some sort of extremely smart psychological undertone cutting to the core of homosexual desires. But I think that might not be obvious to anyone, lol. I'm open to other people's interpretations, as long as they're interesting.

Nevertheless, this is a movie that is contagiously fun to watch; if you leave the logic behind it's just swell all around. Solid performances from everyone, but the two detectives steal the show for me (very entertaining lines).

All gravy - no meat. Can turn out to be very tasty if you happen to have some bread on you.


7.5/10

[dave jenkins]

Barton Fink (1991)
All gravy - no meat. Can turn out to be very tasty if you happen to have some bread on you.

I'll go along with that. The whole "deeper meaning" thing is a tease. That aspect of the film is, I'm pretty sure, just there to catch out the heavy-breathing dipsh*t fanboy types. The Coens always play fair: they skewer 40s Hollywood, but also Fink, their stand-in for Clifford "Oh So Socially Engaged" Odets. Why should they then spare the obsessive purveyors of their own films?

I think one exchange is emblematic of the movie as a whole. Fink is having lunch with a suit (Tony Shalhoub) in the studio cafeteria, and asks where he can find a writer to collaborate with. The suit replies, contemptuously: "In here? Throw a rock." Then, as the guy gets up to leave, he leans over and says, "And do me favor, Fink. Throw it hard!"

The film, and the Coens, in a nutshell.

[moviesceleton]

I think reception depends on how sensitive you are to Bogart's iconic status.

I'm not sure I got your point but I'd say this is the Bogiest role I've seen from him.

[dave jenkins]

I'm not sure I got your point but I'd say this is the Bogiest role I've seen from him.

I'd say it is the Bogiest performance, but the role is unusual.

[Dust Devil]

The music's pretty simple yet (strangely) very touching. If slightly maladjusted.

[titoli]

Out of the Past - This was excellent until the accountant's murder. From then on it becomes too messy (and uselessly so), practically living only on Mitchum's burberried appearance. How Both Douglas and Mitchum manage to get both f...d up in the end by somebody whom they know is gonna do it is beyond me. That is probably what turned me off the first time I saw it many years ago in spite of Mitchum's and Douglas's (his overacting thrives on Mitchum's underplaying) performances. 7\10

[dave jenkins]

Out of the Past - This was excellent until the accountant's murder. From then on it becomes too messy (and uselessly so), practically living only on Mitchum's burberried appearance. How Both Douglas and Mitchum manage to get both f...d up in the end by somebody whom they know is gonna do it is beyond me. That is probably what turned me off the first time I saw it many years ago in spite of Mitchum's and Douglas's (his overacting thrives on Mitchum's underplaying) performances. 7\10

It's not just the performances, it's the very literate script. No doubt your Italian ear can't quite fully appreciate many of the gnomic utterances placed in Mitchum's mouth.

[Dust Devil]

Dark City (1998)

Quite excellent future-noir. It is a very interesting story (although doubtfully all that original) but as it goes on the plot and the characters kinda lose themselves in the mist of the bigger picture (and the special effects). Don't quite live brightly enough to make the movie a superb masterpiece. Still; one of the best movies of the 90's.


8/10

[cigar joe]

Dark City (1998)

Quite excellent future-noir. It is a very interesting story (although doubtfully all that original) but as it goes on the plot and the characters kinda lose themselves in the mist of the bigger picture (and the special effects). Don't quite live brightly enough to make the movie a superb masterpiece. Still; one of the best movies of the 90's.


8/10

Yea I like this one also and its got a Leone alumni, Jennifer Connelly. 

[titoli]

It's not just the performances, it's the very literate script. No doubt your Italian ear can't quite fully appreciate many of the gnomic utterances placed in Mitchum's mouth.

Expecially since I saw it dubbed this time too.