Flipside Movie Emporium

[Fred C. Dobbs]

From DVDTimes.co.uk

Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of The Film Noir Classic Collection for 27th July 2004. Five of the hardboiled genre's greatest hits featuring tough guys and femme fatales including Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Dick Powell, Robert Ryan and Marilyn Monroe, have been digitally remastered for their WHV DVD debuts. Available in both a five-disc set, for $49.92 SRP, or individually for $19.97 SRP, the DVDs feature commentaries from directors Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese and actor James Whitmore as well as other film noir experts Alain Silver, Jim Ursini and Glenn Erickson.

The films...

The Asphalt Jungle (1950) - Nominated for four Academy Awards? and long considered a noir classic, John Huston’s heist film about a million-dollar jewelry store burglary stars Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore and features an early appearance by Marilyn Monroe in just her seventh film.

The DVD bonus material includes an introduction by John Huston, commentary by USC Cinema History professor Drew Casper with James Whitmore and the theatrical trailer.

Murder, My Sweet (1944) - Starring Dick Powell and Claire Trevor, the film captures perfectly the sharp wit and style of Raymond Chandler’s novel Farewell, My Lovely, about a gumshoe Philip Marlowe searching for a missing moll named Velma. Renamed so American filmgoers wouldn’t mistake it as a Powell musical; it turned the actor’s career around, helping him to shun his choir-boy image. Edward Dmytryk directed.

The DVD extra content includes commentary by film noir expert and Prime Suspects producer Alain Silver and the theatrical trailer.

The Set-Up (1944) - Robert Wise directs noir icons Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter in the movie, set in boxing’s palooka world, about a down-on-his luck fighter who thinks he’s one bout away from the big payoff.

The DVD bonus material includes commentary by Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese.

Out Of The Past (1947) - Another definitive noir classic (remade in 1984 as “Against All Odds” with Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward) about a trio to reckon with – a troubled PI (Robert Mitchum), a drop-dead beauty (Jane Greer) and a moneyed mobster (Kirk Douglas). Mitchum plays Jeff Bailey, the private eye hired to find mobster Whit Sterling’s (Douglas) mistress Kathie (Greer) who had shot Whit and absconded with $40,000. The film winds up in Acapulco…where the luscious Kathie makes Jeff forget all about Sterling.

The DVD extra content includes commentary by film noir expert Jim Ursini.

Gun Crazy (1949) - Peggy Cummins and John Dall star in this cult favorite, shockingly dark and brutal for its time, directed by Joseph H. Lewis. A searing forerunner to Bonnie and Clyde, the film tells the story of a gun-obsessed twosome who meet at a carnival, run off to get married and then commit a string of daring robberies across the country. The screenplay was adapted by MacKinlay Kantor from his magazine article and was co-written by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo, credited under the name Millard Kaufman.

The DVD bonus material includes commentary by film noir expert Glenn Erickson.

---

I can't wait. I will buy the boxed-set.
_________________
"Pino, fuck you, fuck your fuckin' pizza, and fuck Frank Sinatra."

[matt header]

That rocks. Out of the Past is by far my favorite out of those - it's one of my favorite noirs of all time. I was a bit disappointed by Murder, My Sweet, mostly because I couldn't for a moment buy Dick Powell as a tough-edged gangster, but maybe I should give him, and the film, another chance.