Loosely
translated, film noir means "dark cinema," and coming from a
literal interpretation, the phase would seem to indicate a lack of
lighting. Now, while this particular breed of motion picture does tend to
feature shadowy, atmospheric cinematography, the darkness within this
particular genre of film is really more indicative of a moral and
emotional darkness of the characters and the world they occupy. This dark
world of film noir is generally teeming with detectives and criminals, as
well as being tinged by an element of corruption that usually touches a
morally ambiguous hero/antihero, who can be lead down the wrong path by a
gorgeous femme fatale. Of course, the entire film noir genre is impossible
to pigeonhole with a couple of sentences, since noir tends to be more of a
mood than something wholly tangible within a film. In fact, over the
decades, the qualities of film noir have been infused into other movie
genres, sometimes with remarkable results. For those of you who enjoy your
noir unadulterated, Warner offers THE FILM NOIR CLASSIC COLLECTION
($50) the following five examples of dark cinema: THE ASPHALT JUNGLE,
MURDER, MY SWEET, THE SET-UP, GUN CRAZY and OUT OF
THE PAST.
Directed
by John Huston, THE ASPHALT JUNGLE is indeed one of the best caper
movies out there, and certainly one that has influence similarly themed
films in the fifty-plus years since it was made. THE ASPHALT JUNGLE
tells the story of ex-con, who, upon his release from prison, puts
together an elaborate plan to steal a large sum of jewelry. The top notch
cast of THE ASPHALT JUNGLE features Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern,
Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire and Marilyn Monroe.
Adapted from Raymond Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely, MURDER,
MY SWEET is one heck of a gritty and hard-boiled detective drama.
Featuring a career changing performance by Dick Powell as private eye
Philip Marlowe, MURDER, MY SWEET finds Marlow getting a whole lot
more than he bargained for, when he agrees to locate a slow witted ex-con’s
missing former girlfriend. The cast of MURDER, MY SWEET also
includes Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger and Mike Mazurki.
Directed
by Robert Wise, THE SET-UP is certainly one of the tightest most
straightforward films in this collection. At a scant seventy two minutes,
the movie unfolds in real time and moves quickly to tell the story of an
over-the-hill boxer Stoker (Robert Ryan), who thinks he still has a shot
at the title. However, unbeknownst to Stoker, some underworld figures have
put "a fix" on for his upcoming bout, and that he is scheduled
to take a dive at sometime during the fight. The cast of THE SET-UP
also includes Audrey Totter, George Tobias, Alan Baxter, Wallace Ford,
Percy Helton and Darryl Hickman. GUN CRAZY (AKA DEADLY IS THE
FEMALE) is a compelling noir, with a decidedly Bonnie and Clyde
influenced storyline. The storyline of GUN CRAZY follows returning
veteran Bart Tare (John Dall), whose obsession with firearms leads to his
involvement with carnival sharpshooter Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins).
After hooking up, the couple’s financial prospects take a downturn,
which results in a gun toting cross country crime spree, as the twosome
make the most of their innate talents. The cast of GUN CRAZY also
includes Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Anabel Shaw and a very young
Russ Tamblyn.
While
all the other titles in are great classic noir movies, OUT OF THE PAST
could be considered the definitive motion picture in this collection.
Directed Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, OUT OF THE PAST
is an out and out masterpiece of the film noir genre. OUT OF THE PAST
is based upon the story Build My Gallows High by Daniel
Mainwaring, which tells the story of a man who must face the consequences
when his past catches up with him. In OUT OF THE PAST Robert
Mitchum portrays Jeff Markham, a former private detective running a gas
station in a small town under an assumed name. When someone finally
recognizes Jeff, he his forced to come clean about his involvement with a
beautiful woman named Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer), not to mention a shady
character named Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas), who hired Jeff to find
Kathie and a missing $40,000.00. The cast of OUT OF THE PAST also
features Rhonda Fleming, Richard Webb, Steve Brodie, Virginia Huston, Paul
Valentine and Dickie Moore.
Warner
Home Video has made all the films that comprise THE FILM NOIR CLASSIC
COLLECTION available on DVD in their proper 1.37:1 full screen aspect
ratios. Of course, there is some variation in the appearance of each of
these black and white films, but for the most part, they all look very
good. Sharpness and detail is excellent for THE ASPHALT JUNGLE. THE
SET-UP also stands out in that regard; while OUT OF THE PAST, MURDER,
MY SWEET and GUN CRAZY have mild inconsistencies and rate as
merely "very good." All of the films produce deep inky, blacks,
although MURDER, MY SWEET isn’t quite as deep as the rest. Whites
are generally accurate and each film produces a rich, varied grayscale,
although OUT OF THE PAST and MURDER, MY SWEET is a little
shy of the punch produced by the other three. Each film exhibits a
noticeable grain structure (as they should), which helps to produce very
film-like presentations. As for the film elements from which these motion
pictures are transferred, minor blemishes and mild scratches turn up in
each instance, but they aren’t particularly bothersome. With each film
being relegated to its own disc, digital compression artifacts are nicely
concealed across the entire collection.
All
of the films contained in THE FILM NOIR CLASSIC COLLECTION come
with solid Dolby Digital monaural soundtracks. Most signs of background
hiss and noise have been cleaned up during the mastering process, so all
of the films tend to have a relatively smooth sonic quality. While there
are the expected limitations in fidelity across the entire set, with the
music and sound effects sounding a little thin, but fortunately, never
coming across in a harsh or distorted manner. Voices are usually well
rendered and dialogue is always completely understandable. No other
language tracks are provided on the majority of the films, although a
French language track is included on THE ASPHALT JUNGLE. The entire
collection sports English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Music
underscores the basic interactive menus, which allow one access to the
standard scene selection and set up features, as well as the extra
features that have been spread across the five discs in the collection. THE
ASPHALT JUNGLE includes an introduction by John Huston, an informative
audio commentary with film noir aficionado Drew Casper and actor James
Whitmore, plus a theatrical trailer. MURDER, MY SWEET features an
interesting audio commentary with film noir historian Alain Silver, as
well as a theatrical trailer. THE SET-UP offers a reasonably
enjoyable audio commentary with director Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese. GUN
CRAZY features a highly detailed audio commentary by DVD Savant and
all around movie junkie Glenn Erickson. OUT OF THE PAST contains a
scholarly audio commentary film noir movie expert James Ursini.
THE
ASPHALT JUNGLE, MURDER, MY SWEET, THE SET-UP, GUN
CRAZY and OUT OF THE PAST are indeed marvelous film noir
classics that are making their long overdue DVD debuts. Warner has done a
great job with each, providing a solid presentation and some thoughtful
extras. If you are a film noir fan or a movie buff in general, you will
definitely want to add THE FILM NOIR CLASSIC COLLECTION to your DVD
library. Recommended.
Loosely
translated, film noir means "dark cinema," and coming from a
literal interpretation, the phase would seem to indicate a lack of
lighting. Now, while this particular breed of motion picture does tend to
feature shadowy, atmospheric cinematography, the darkness within this
particular genre of film is really more indicative of a moral and
emotional darkness of the characters and the world they occupy. This dark
world of film noir is generally teeming with detectives and criminals, as
well as being tinged by an element of corruption that usually touches a
morally ambiguous hero/antihero, who can be lead down the wrong path by a
gorgeous femme fatale. Of course, the entire film noir genre is impossible
to pigeonhole with a couple of sentences, since noir tends to be more of a
mood than something wholly tangible within a film. In fact, over the
decades, the qualities of film noir have been infused into other movie
genres, sometimes with remarkable results. For those of you who enjoy your
noir unadulterated, Warner offers THE FILM NOIR CLASSIC COLLECTION
($50) the following five examples of dark cinema: THE ASPHALT JUNGLE,
MURDER, MY SWEET, THE SET-UP, GUN CRAZY and OUT OF
THE PAST.
Directed
by John Huston, THE ASPHALT JUNGLE is indeed one of the best caper
movies out there, and certainly one that has influence similarly themed
films in the fifty-plus years since it was made. THE ASPHALT JUNGLE
tells the story of ex-con, who, upon his release from prison, puts
together an elaborate plan to steal a large sum of jewelry. The top notch
cast of THE ASPHALT JUNGLE features Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern,
Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire and Marilyn Monroe.
Adapted from Raymond Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely, MURDER,
MY SWEET is one heck of a gritty and hard-boiled detective drama.
Featuring a career changing performance by Dick Powell as private eye
Philip Marlowe, MURDER, MY SWEET finds Marlow getting a whole lot
more than he bargained for, when he agrees to locate a slow witted ex-con’s
missing former girlfriend. The cast of MURDER, MY SWEET also
includes Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger and Mike Mazurki.
Directed
by Robert Wise, THE SET-UP is certainly one of the tightest most
straightforward films in this collection. At a scant seventy two minutes,
the movie unfolds in real time and moves quickly to tell the story of an
over-the-hill boxer Stoker (Robert Ryan), who thinks he still has a shot
at the title. However, unbeknownst to Stoker, some underworld figures have
put "a fix" on for his upcoming bout, and that he is scheduled
to take a dive at sometime during the fight. The cast of THE SET-UP
also includes Audrey Totter, George Tobias, Alan Baxter, Wallace Ford,
Percy Helton and Darryl Hickman. GUN CRAZY (AKA DEADLY IS THE
FEMALE) is a compelling noir, with a decidedly Bonnie and Clyde
influenced storyline. The storyline of GUN CRAZY follows returning
veteran Bart Tare (John Dall), whose obsession with firearms leads to his
involvement with carnival sharpshooter Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins).
After hooking up, the couple’s financial prospects take a downturn,
which results in a gun toting cross country crime spree, as the twosome
make the most of their innate talents. The cast of GUN CRAZY also
includes Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Anabel Shaw and a very young
Russ Tamblyn.
While
all the other titles in are great classic noir movies, OUT OF THE PAST
could be considered the definitive motion picture in this collection.
Directed Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, OUT OF THE PAST
is an out and out masterpiece of the film noir genre. OUT OF THE PAST
is based upon the story Build My Gallows High by Daniel
Mainwaring, which tells the story of a man who must face the consequences
when his past catches up with him. In OUT OF THE PAST Robert
Mitchum portrays Jeff Markham, a former private detective running a gas
station in a small town under an assumed name. When someone finally
recognizes Jeff, he his forced to come clean about his involvement with a
beautiful woman named Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer), not to mention a shady
character named Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas), who hired Jeff to find
Kathie and a missing $40,000.00. The cast of OUT OF THE PAST also
features Rhonda Fleming, Richard Webb, Steve Brodie, Virginia Huston, Paul
Valentine and Dickie Moore.
Warner
Home Video has made all the films that comprise THE FILM NOIR CLASSIC
COLLECTION available on DVD in their proper 1.37:1 full screen aspect
ratios. Of course, there is some variation in the appearance of each of
these black and white films, but for the most part, they all look very
good. Sharpness and detail is excellent for THE ASPHALT JUNGLE. THE
SET-UP also stands out in that regard; while OUT OF THE PAST, MURDER,
MY SWEET and GUN CRAZY have mild inconsistencies and rate as
merely "very good." All of the films produce deep inky, blacks,
although MURDER, MY SWEET isn’t quite as deep as the rest. Whites
are generally accurate and each film produces a rich, varied grayscale,
although OUT OF THE PAST and MURDER, MY SWEET is a little
shy of the punch produced by the other three. Each film exhibits a
noticeable grain structure (as they should), which helps to produce very
film-like presentations. As for the film elements from which these motion
pictures are transferred, minor blemishes and mild scratches turn up in
each instance, but they aren’t particularly bothersome. With each film
being relegated to its own disc, digital compression artifacts are nicely
concealed across the entire collection.
All
of the films contained in THE FILM NOIR CLASSIC COLLECTION come
with solid Dolby Digital monaural soundtracks. Most signs of background
hiss and noise have been cleaned up during the mastering process, so all
of the films tend to have a relatively smooth sonic quality. While there
are the expected limitations in fidelity across the entire set, with the
music and sound effects sounding a little thin, but fortunately, never
coming across in a harsh or distorted manner. Voices are usually well
rendered and dialogue is always completely understandable. No other
language tracks are provided on the majority of the films, although a
French language track is included on THE ASPHALT JUNGLE. The entire
collection sports English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Music
underscores the basic interactive menus, which allow one access to the
standard scene selection and set up features, as well as the extra
features that have been spread across the five discs in the collection. THE
ASPHALT JUNGLE includes an introduction by John Huston, an informative
audio commentary with film noir aficionado Drew Casper and actor James
Whitmore, plus a theatrical trailer. MURDER, MY SWEET features an
interesting audio commentary with film noir historian Alain Silver, as
well as a theatrical trailer. THE SET-UP offers a reasonably
enjoyable audio commentary with director Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese. GUN
CRAZY features a highly detailed audio commentary by DVD Savant and
all around movie junkie Glenn Erickson. OUT OF THE PAST contains a
scholarly audio commentary film noir movie expert James Ursini.
THE
ASPHALT JUNGLE, MURDER, MY SWEET, THE SET-UP, GUN
CRAZY and OUT OF THE PAST are indeed marvelous film noir
classics that are making their long overdue DVD debuts. Warner has done a
great job with each, providing a solid presentation and some thoughtful
extras. If you are a film noir fan or a movie buff in general, you will
definitely want to add THE FILM NOIR CLASSIC COLLECTION to your DVD
library. Recommended.