Film-Noir Discussion/DVD Review Thread

[dave jenkins]

12-17-22: Mr. Soft Touch - More Christmas movie than Noir with Glenn Ford if I remember right

IIRR, you're right.

[dave jenkins]

Nov. 28 from Kino:

FRENCH NOIR COLLECTION (TWO-DISC SET)
? Trailers for SPEAKING OF MURDER and BACK TO THE WALL
? In French with Optional English Subtitles

SPEAKING OF MURDER (1957) LE ROUGE EST MIS
From acclaimed crime writer Auguste Le Breton (Rififi, Bob Le Flambeur) comes this gripping noir thriller starring cinema icon Jean Gabin (Touches Pas Au Grisbi, The Sicilian Clan). Louis Bertain (Gabin) is the owner of a Paris garage which serves as a front for a gang of thieves. He and his accomplices are careful to keep up a civic veneer by day, indulging in criminal activities only when ?the red light is on? at night. This status quo is upset when one of the gang members becomes convinced that Louis? younger brother is a police informer. Featuring taut direction from Gilles Grangier (Hi-Jack Highway) and excellent supporting turns by Paul Frankeur (Razzia Sur La Chnouf), Marcel Bozzuffi (Illustrious Corpses), Lino Ventura (The Valachi Papers) and Annie Girardot (Maigret Sets a Trap).

BACK TO THE WALL (1958) LE DOS AU MUR
Screen legend Jeanne Moreau (The Train, The Bride Wore Black) stars in this twisty, mood-drenched film noir from acclaimed crime writer Fr?d?ric Dard (Rendezvous). When wealthy industrialist Jacques Decrey (G?rard Oury, They Who Dare) discovers that his wife (Moreau) is having an affair with a young actor, he decides to exact revenge by blackmailing her under an assumed identity. In the film?s bravura introductory sequence, we witness Jacques meticulously disposing of a corpse?just a taste of the pitch-black intrigue to follow in director ?douard Molinaro?s (Ars?ne Lupin vs. Ars?ne Lupin) stylish tour de force, featuring dazzling black-and-white cinematography.

WITNESS IN THE CITY (1959) UN T?MOIN DANS LA VILLE
Based on a novel by the legendary Thomas Narcejac (Diabolique, Vertigo, Eyes Without a Face), this dark tale of vengeance stars the great Lino Ventura (Illustrious Corpses, A Pain in the Ass) in an early leading role. Industrialist Pierre Verdier kills his mistress Jeanne Ancelin by throwing her off a train. Her husband (Ventura) decides to take revenge on his wife?s murderer, who has been acquitted by justice. Directed by ?douard Molinaro (La Cage Aux Folles) and shot by Henri Deca? (Joy House), Witness in the City is a pulse-pounding film noir set on the grim and gritty streets of Paris. Co-starring Fellini favorites Sandra Milo (8?) and Franco Fabrizi (I Vitelloni), with Jacques Berthier (Shoot First? Ask Questions Later), Daniel Ceccaldi (Rififi in Paris) and Fran?oise Brion (L?Immortelle).

Yes! Yes! Yes!

The 3 b&w French crime films I've most wanted on disc. And all together in the same set. Noir-vember indeed!

[cigar joe]

Nov. 28 from Kino:

Yes! Yes! Yes!

The 3 b&w French crime films I've most wanted on disc. And all together in the same set. Noir-vember indeed!

Looks good.

[dave jenkins]

Hmmmmm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsgNVcMB9-g

[dave jenkins]

https://trailersfromhell.com/french-noir-collection/

The KL Studio Classics Blu-ray of French Noir Collection is a great-looking set of films, in perfect condition for picture and sound. The package amounts to several hours of vintage French crime thrills, plus good music. The shows overflow with expressive noir lighting. American noirs had abandoned the classic noir style several years before, in search of a more economical photo-docu look.

The last feature is presented in a correct 1:66 aspect ratio. The first two are formatted full-frame open matte, which looks wrong. In both Le rouge est mis and Le dos au mur, the screen has ?dramatically vacant? space above and below, that should have been cropped away. The proof is in the title blocks, that float in a horizontal space showing where the frame lines should be. More proof comes with camera shadows, etc., that sometimes intrude in the lower parts of scenes. The flat image is still well-lit and attractive, but the original AR would have been a +plus.

[cigar joe]

https://trailersfromhell.com/french-noir-collection/

They need an editor:

"It?s another story about a cuckolded husband who overreacts to his wife?s infidelity. We?ll give little away but it?s no surprise that he kills her ? it happens just a few seconds into the story.
 

The story feels a bit like an inverted Taxi Driver: instead of an obsessed taxi driver in a violent relationship with a corrupt city, an obsessed individual ends up in a violent confrontation with the ?taxi community? of Paris.

The opening is traumatic: a woman (Fran?oise Brion) is shoved from a fast-moving train by her lover, Pierre Verdier (Jacques Berthier). She was the wife of Ancelin (star Lino Ventura), a manager at a trucking firm. "

[dave jenkins]

Haven't seen this neo-noir, but it sounds like my kind of film: https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=31698

[cigar joe]

Haven't seen this neo-noir, but it sounds like my kind of film: https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=31698

Another visually uninteresting flick. If I remember right most of it takes place in a house, lol.

[dave jenkins]

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film11/blu-ray_review_168/french_noir_collection_blu-ray.htm

All winners.


http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film11/blu-ray_review_168/film_noir_darkside_XI_blu-ray.htm

I like "A Woman's Vengeance." Haven't seen the other two

[dave jenkins]

Haven't seen this neo-noir, but it sounds like my kind of film: https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=31698

Erickson's review: https://trailersfromhell.com/twilight/

The KL Studio Classics Blu-ray of Twilight is a handsome remaster of this really attractive detective show / star vehicle. Every scene tells the story but also frames the stars in the best way possible. Elmer Bernstein?s retro score sounds like Easy Listening for a jaded private eye.

Original English language noir scholars and interpreters Alain Silver & James Ursini jump right into defining Twilight as a neo-noir genre item, as opposed to a classic-era noir, which is a movement, a style. They note that although it?s not a period picture, its structure is consistently working in the 1940s mold of films like The Big Sleep. Classic Chandler-style conventions are transposed into the present ? the voiceover narration, the duplicitous feminine lead, etc.. Humphrey Bogart?s Phillip Marlowe tilted his glasses down to affect the disguise of a gay bookworm. Paul Newman?s Harry Ross does the same thing just to see clearly.

[dave jenkins]

Oops! Apparently, DJ was so busy reading the subtitles on the new BD he didn't notice the problems with the transfer. This guy at bluray.com, however, covers the deficiency.

Witness in the City was beautifully restored in 2K by Gaumont in France and a few years ago made its high-definition debut [ . . . ] Unfortunately, the master that was prepared by Gaumont after the 2K makeover is very problematic. In case you are wondering, the same faulty master that was supplied to Kino Lorber for this release was also used to produce the earlier French release.

The entire master has been finalized with improper film-to-video levels that collapse the native dynamic range of the visuals. As a result, instead of producing proper blacks, the master produces odd grays that flatten the visuals and often make them appear as if they are heavily filtered. [ . . . ] Depending on how the camera captures light and shadow(s), vast portions of the film can have a very digital appearance because of the gray blocks that flatten the visuals. Also, a lot of the flattening is accompanied by distracting chroma noise, which is introduced by the improper conversion as well. [ . . . ] On top of all of the above, there is plenty of good old-fashioned macroblocking, which I believe is present on the faulty master as well. All of these anomalies are part of a well-known conversion practice that affected numerous early masters that were prepared at Gaumont. (Another high-profile title that was affected by it is A Man Escaped, but there are many others). So, the 2K makeover of Witness in the City is excellent, but a competent party will have to access the raw files again and prepare a brand new proper master so that when the film transitions to Blu-ray it looks as good as it should.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Un-Temoin-Dans-la-Ville-Blu-ray/323261/#Review

It's not likely we'll see another release of this title for the U.S. market, so, unhappily, we have to take what we've been given. Better than nothing.

[dave jenkins]

Not a good film, actually, but it's going to be available anyway: https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=31820

[dave jenkins]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brVF7t8VYuM

Where's Chandler's language?

[cigar joe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brVF7t8VYuM

Where's Chandler's language?

Geriatric Noir. Who greenlight this?

Liam Neeson should really quit playing Iconic American characters. Parker and now Marlowe. I keep seeing an Irish forklift driver, lol.

I'll wait until somebody rips it off and watch it for free.



What we need is more modern films Post 1950s based on

Ross MacDonald's character Lew Archer (1949-1976)
John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee (1964-1985)
Walter Mosely's Easy Rawlins (1948-1968)

[titoli]

Liam Neeson should really quit playing Iconic American characters. Parker and now Marlowe.

Parker?

What we need is more modern films Post 1950s based on

Ross MacDonald's character Lew Archer (1949-1976)
John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee (1964-1985)
Walter Mosely's Easy Rawlins (1948-1968)

Marlowe is probably more of a familiar name than the other three and probably with more of a romantic slant to satisfy the female audience. But Altman proved that the character can easily  adapt to  a contemporary ambience. No, I think what we need is a more anarchist version of Mike Hammer, with no concession to romanticism and PC (namely, no Velda). Those three characters you name are still in the Marlowe's mould. Without Chandler's stylistic gifts.