Noir Archive Volume 1 - 3xDisc - BD50 - Untouched-VpR

Noir Archive Volume 1 - 3xDisc - BD50 - Untouched-VpR

Stalwart "e;noir"e; directors and casts highlight these hard to find features"e;Address Unknown"e; (1944) dir/William Cameron Menzies, cst/Paul Lukas, Carl Esmond, Peter Van Eyck; "e;Escape in the Fog"e; (1945) dir/Oscar (Budd) Boetticher cst/Otto Kruger, Nina Foch, William Wright; "e;The Guilt of Janet James"e; (1947) dir/Henry Levin cst/Rosalind Russell, Melvyn Douglas, Sid Caesar; "e;The Black Book"e; (aka "e;The Reign of Terror"e;) (1949) dir/Anthony Mann cst/Robert Cummings, Richard Basehart, Arlene Dahl; "e;Johnny Allegro"e; (1949) dir/Ted Tetzlaff cst/George Raft, Nina Foch, George Macready; "e;711 Ocean Drive"e; (1950) dir/Joseph M. Newman cst/Edmond O'Brien, Joanne Dru, Otto Kruger; "e;The Killer That Stalked New York"e; (1950) dir/Earl McEvoy cst/Evelyn Keyes, Charles Korvin, William Bishop; "e;Assignment Paris"e; (1952) dir/Earl McEvoy cst/Dana Andrews, Marta Toren, George Sanders; "e;The Miami Story"e; (1954) dir/Fred F. Sears cst/Barry Sullivan, Luther Adler, John Baer - all in high definition presented in their original aspect ratios

1) 1944: Address Unknown - Paul Lukas, Morris Carnovsky - directed by William Cameron Menzies
2) 1945: Escape in the Fog - Otto Kruger, Nina Foch - directed by Budd Boetticher
3) 1947: The Guilt of Janet Ames - Rosalind Russell, Melvyn Douglas - directed by Henry Levin
4) 1949: Reign of Terror - Robert Cummings, Richard Basehart , Arlene Dahl - directed by Anthony Mann
5) 1949: The Black Book - same film, new title - see “la révolution française noir” below.
6) 1949: Johnny Allegro - George Raft, Nina Foch - directed by Ted Tetzlaff
7) 1950: 711 Ocean Drive - Edmond O'Brien, Joanne Dru - directed by Joseph M. Newman (filmed under police protection)
8) 1950: The Killer That Stalked New York - Evelyn Keyes, William Bishop - directed by Earl McEvoy - see "e;Terrible Timing"e; below.
9) 1952: Assignment Paris - Dana Andrews, Marta Toren, George Sanders - directed by Robert Parrish
10) 1954: The Miami Story - Barry Sullivan, Luther Adler - directed by Fred F. Sears (don&t come back, mobsters)

Nine films noir (1944-54) from Columbia Pictures, previously released as nine burned-to-order DVD-Rs by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) in 2010.
Not the greatest examples of the genre (some are only slightly noir - 'The Guilt of Janet Ames' not really noir at all), but still great entertainment.
Due to greatly increased memory, three movies can easily fit onto a single Blu-ray without any of the compromises mandated by DVD.
All films are in black and white and have English SDH subtitles (no other extras).
Eight films are in the standard 1.37:1 picture ratio.
The most recent film, ‘The Miami Story& is in the 1.85:1 widescreen ratio.

These films have NOT been newly remastered for Blu-ray release.
Instead Kit Parker Films /Mill Creek Entertainment licensed the HD masters that Sony created ten years ago.
This is actually good news - those were very well-done transfers - not pristine, but well ahead of earlier transfers.
And they look better on Blu-ray than they did on DVD.
DVD-R was not capable of capturing all the details in an HD mastering.
Black and white film stock of the 1940s and ‘50s had something called grain, which is noticeable on modern Hi-Def big screen TVs.
Grain is not a mistake.
Audiences in the ‘40s expected to see it (back when movie theaters had big screens).
Grain gives depth to black-and-white film, but people who grew up with the flat, smooth images of analog TV, videotape and even DVD have no idea what it is.
Great cinematographers like John Alton (The Black Book) knew how to work with grain.
Grain is to black-and white film stock what brushstrokes are to paintings.
Grain is Good.

DIRECTORS:
Of the nine B-movie directors in this collection, Budd Boetticher (‘Escape in the Fog&) and Anthony Mann (‘The Black Book&) went on to become Hollywood A-list directors.
Both are especially remembered for their work in Westerns of the 1950&s: Boetticher with Randolph Scott, Mann with James Stewart.
William Cameron Menzies (‘Address Unknown&) was only a part-time director: He was better known as art director/production designer - and won a special Oscar for “outstanding achievement in the use of color” on ‘Gone with the Wind&.
‘Address Unknown& is the most impressive film in this collection.
The film actually looks like it was directed by a production designer, with some imaginative camera angles.
The suspense and sense of dread never let up.
It even has a surprise ending that I did not see coming, but which made perfect sense (rare in Hollywood).

LA RÉVOLUTION FRANÇAISE NOIR:
Anthony Mann&s ‘The Black Book& (1949) is unique: a historical thriller /film noir set during the French Revolution.
At the premiere, it was called ‘Reign of Terror& and Columbia&s poster featured a guillotine in the background (photo 4).
For the UK release, British censors cut several scenes deemed too violent - a character gets shot in the face (in close-up) long before it happened in 'Bonnie and Clyde'.
Columbia reissued the film with a new title, and a new poster that made it look like a crime thriller (photo 5), underplaying the French Revolution connection, though Robert Cummings& powder blue suit looks a bit suspicious.
The first public domain DVD release (2003) on Alpha Video was of the edited UK version, but the 2010 Sony remaster in this box is unedited.

TOO MANY JOHNNYS:
Five films noir are frequently confused:
-- 'Johnny Apollo& (1940) starring Tyrone Power and Dorothy Lamour
-- 'Johnny Eager& (1941) starring Robert Taylor and Lana Turner
-- 'Johnny O&Clock& (1947) starring Dick Powell and Evelyn Keyes
-- 'Johnny Stool Pigeon' (1949) starring Howard Duff and Shelley Winters
-- 'Johnny Allegro& (1949) starring George Raft and Nina Foch (photo 6) - in this box

TERRIBLE TIMING:
Two films with identical plots were released close together in 1950:
--- on September 15, 1950 Twentieth Century Fox released 'Panic in the Streets',
a medical thriller /film noir about a hoodlum who contracts pneumonic plague and is hunted by both police and medical authorities (not in this box).
--- on December 1, 1950 Columbia released ‘The Killer That Stalked New York&,
a medical thriller /film noir about a diamond smuggler who contracts smallpox and is hunted by both police and medical authorities (in this box).
‘Panic in the Streets& was a box-office hit.
‘The Killer that Stalked New York& was a flop. Audiences were reluctant to spend money when they knew how the film was going to end (still a pretty good B-movie).
‘Panic in the Streets' is the better film, with a much larger budget and two actors on the verge of stardom:
In addition to Jack Palance as the contagious hoodlum,
Richard Widmark is the overworked Public Health Officer who is trying to track Palance down (and save his life, though Palance doesn&t believe him).
Directed by A-list director Elia Kazan:
Panic in the Streets
‘The Killer That Stalked New York& (photo 8) is a Columbia B-movie:
Evelyn Keyes as the contagious smuggler, was nearing the end of her career (she was Scarlett O&Hara&s younger sister in ‘Gone With the Wind&).
William Bishop is the overworked Public Health Officer who is trying to track Keyes down (and save her life, though Keyes doesn&t believe him).
Bishop&s film career never really took off, and he spent the 1950s on television.
Directed by B-list director Earl McEvoy.

TERRIBLE PACKAGING:
The three Blu-rays come packaged in a two disc Blu-ray box (discs 2 and 3 are on the same spindle).
I&ve never seen this done before and didn&t think it was possible.
But I was wrong.
A terrible idea - it can lead to scratched discs - all to save a few pennies.
So stupid.
At least Amazon sells three disc blu-ray replacement cases:
In the Amazon search bar, enter “blu ray cases 3 disc” (unfortunately only sold in multi-packs).
MINOR COMPLAINT:
'The Killer That Stalked New York' is on Disc Two, not Disc Three as advertised.
'711 Ocean Drive' is on Disc Three, not Disc Two as advertised.

OTHER VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES:

Noir Archive Volume 2: 1954-1956 (9-film Collection) [Blu-ray ]
1954: Bait - Cleo Moore, John Agar, Hugo Haas - directed by Hugo Haas
1955: The Crooked Web - Frank Lovejoy, Mari Blanchard, Richard Denning - directed by Nathan Juran
1955: Cell 2455, Death Row - William & Robert Campbell, Marian Carr - directed by Fred F. Sears
1955: Five Against the House - Guy Madison, Brian Keith, Kim Novak - directed by Phil Karlson
1955: The Night Holds Terror - Jack Kelly, Vince Edwards, John Cassavetes - directed by Andrew Stone
1955: New Orleans Uncensored - Arthur Franz, Beverly Garland - directed by William Castle
1955: Footsteps in the Fog - Stewart Grainger, Jean Simmons - directed by Arthur Lubin (only film in color)
1956: Spin a Dark Web - Faith Domergue, Lee Patterson - directed by Vernon Sewell
1956: Rumble on the Docks - James Darren, Robert Blake, Timothy Carey - directed by Fred F. Sears

Noir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960 (9-film Collection) [Blu-ray ]
Pretty much the last gasp of film noir.
1956: The Shadow in the Window - Phil Carey, Betty Garrett, John Barrymore, Jr. - directed by William Asher
1957: The Long Haul - Victor Mature, Diana Dors, Patrick Allen - directed by Ken Hughes
1957: Pickup Alley - Victor Mature, Anita Ekberg, Trevor Howard - directed by John Gilling
1957: She Played with Fire - Jack Hawkins, Arlene Dahl, Dennis Price - directed by Sidney Gilliat
1957: The Tijuana Story - Rodolfo Acosta, James Darren, Robert McQueeney - directed by Leslie Kardos
1958: The Case Against Brooklyn - Darren McGavin, Maggie Hayes, Bobby Helms - directed by Paul Wendkos
1958: The Lineup - Eli Wallach, Robert Keith, Warner Anderson - directed by Don Siegel
1959: The Crimson Kimono - Victoria Shaw, Glenn Corbett, James Shigeta - directed by Samuel Fuller
1960: Man on a String - Ernest Borgnine, Kerwin Mathews, Colleen Dewhurst - directed by Andre DeToth

There wasn&t a whole lot of film noir after 1960, so if there are to be further volumes in this series (here&s hoping), Kit Parker /Mill Creek will have to return to the ‘40s and ‘50s
(there are a lot of old Columbia films noir that have not yet made it to Blu-Ray).

General
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 28.8 Mb/s
Maximum Overall bit rate : 48.0 Mb/s
Frame rate : 23.976 FPS

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec: Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : 27
Duration : 4 min 25 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Maximum bit rate : 30.0 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : DTS XLL
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Commercial name : DTS-HD Master Audio
Muxing mode : Stream extension
Codec ID : 134
Duration : 4 min 25 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Channel layout : M
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossless

Text
ID : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : PGS
Codec ID : 144
Duration : 4 min 24 s