Film
Noir Classic Collection Vol. 4
 Summary
Ex-World War II pilot
Frank Enley (Van Heflin) is a respected contractor and family man. Then his
troubled, gimp-legged bombardier (Robert Ryan) shows up with a gun and a score
to settle. Perhaps neither man is what he seems to be as director Fred Zinnemann
(The Day of the Jackal) guides a searing Act of Violence, "the first postwar
noir to take a challenging look at the ethics of men in combat" (Eddie Muller,
Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir). Murder lives on Mystery Street. John
Sturges (The Great Escape) directs a revealing-for-the-era procedural about a
Boston cop (Ricardo Montalban) solving a whodunit with the help of a Harvard
forsensic expert (Bruce Bennett). Welcome to CSI Noir.
Click here to visit the official
site for the DVD Collection
Official Press
Release
Double the Jeopardy! Double the Entertainment!
The Film Noir Classic Collection
Volume 4
Five Double Feature Classics
Act of Violence/Mystery Street ~ Crime Wave/Decoy ~ Illegal/The Big Steal ~ They
Live by Night/Side Street ~ Where Danger Lives/Tension
All Ten Films Digitally
Remastered for their
July 31 DVD Debuts
 BURBANK, Calif.,
April 16, 2007 – Warner Home Video (WHV) doubles the stakes in
The Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 4, debuting July 31, with
legendary Hollywood tough guys and femme fatales once again colliding, this time
in ten smoldering suspense classics, all new to DVD. Titles include
Act of Violence/ Mystery Street; Crime Wave/ Decoy; Illegal/ The Big Steal;
They Live By Night/ Side Street; and Where Danger Lives/ Tension.
The new
movies, which have all been digitally remastered for this collection, star
film noir icons Robert Mitchum, Edward G. Robinson, Robert Ryan, Van Heflin,
Ricardo Montalban, Claude Rains and Farley Granger, among others. The five-disc
collection, will be available for $59.92 SRP and single titles will sell for
$20.97 SRP and are
a real entertainment
value, with twice the amount of films at the same price as previous collections.
Orders are due June 26.
It was only three years ago that Warner Home Video released its first Film
Noir Collection, 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 video industry as well as two more successful
volumes from Warner Home Video in 2005 and 2006.
“These films are
as irresistible as
any film noir “femme fatale,” says George Feltenstein, WHV's Senior Vice
President Theatrical Catalog Marketing. “Here we are in the fourth wave, and we
still have the ability to select any number of well-known and cult favorites
from the incomparable libraries of Warner Bros., RKO and MGM. WHV is proud to
have contributed to the rediscovery of
film noir by
new generations through the huge popularity of our DVD Noir collections.”
About The Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 4
Act of Violence (1948)/
Mystery Street (1950)
This grim melodrama stars Van Heflin as former World War II pilot Frank Enley, a
respected contractor and family man, whose wife is played by Janet Leigh. When
his troubled, crippled bombardier (Robert Ryan) shows up with a gun and a score
to settle, it becomes apparent that perhaps neither man is what he seems to be.
Director Fred Zinnemann (The Day of the Jackal) guides a searing
Act of Violence, “the first postwar noir to take a challenging look at
the ethics of men in combat” (Eddie Muller, Dark City: The Lost World of Film
Noir).”
Murder lives on Mystery Street. John Sturges (The Great Escape)
directs a revealing-“CSI”-type film about a Boston cop (Ricardo Montalban)
called upon to solve the mystery surrounding a skeleton found on a Cape Cod
beach with the help of a Harvard forensic expert (Bruce Bennett).
Special
Features:
Act of Violence
Mystery Street
Crime Wave (1954)/ Decoy
(1946)
Legendary director Andre de Toth (House of Wax) was at the helm of this
outstanding, but little-known L.A. noir about three escaped convicts from San
Quentin who rob a gas station and kill a motorcycle cop. The hardboiled cop
heading the manhunt is Sterling Hayden (The Asphalt Jungle).
Recent Film Noir festivals have provided an opportunity for audiences to
rediscover truly forgotten films. Such is the case with Monogram Pictures
Decoy, in which a drop-dead gorgeous dame Margo Shelby, played by
British newcomer, Jean Gille, revives her gangster boyfriend after he dies in
the gas chamber, not because she’s so fond of him, but because he knows where
the loot is buried. This is a film that very few people have ever seen, but will
likely be the subject of much cinephile discussion after its broad availability
in this new Film Noir V.4 collection.
Special Features:
Crime Wave
Decoy
Illegal (1955)/ The Big
Steal (1949)
When his career as a D.A. unexpectedly collapses, tenacious Victor Scott turns
to defending criminal lowlifes. Edward G. Robinson plays Scott in this snappy
remake of The Mouthpiece (1932) directed by Lewis Allen (The Uninvited).
Film buffs’ moments include Jayne Mansfield’s scenes and real-life art expert
Robinson’s comments on a crime lord’s collection of paintings.
Out of the Past’s Robert Mitchum and Jane
Greer reteam in The Big Steal, speeding along Mexican roadways in
pursuit of a grifter who has a suitcase that may be stuffed with cash. This
film, both tense and humorous at the same time is directed by Clint Eastwood’s
filmmaking mentor, Don Siegel.
Special
Features:
Illegal
The Big Steal
They Live By Night (1948)/
Side Street (1950)
Young escaped convict Bowie (Farley Granger) and Keechie (Cathy O’Donnell) just
want to let their new love blossom. But thugs like Chicamaw 'One-Eye' Mobley
(Howard da Silva) have other ideas, forcing Bowie to be their accomplice.
They Live By Night, a story of doomed and desperate love is director
Nicholas Ray’s (Rebel Without a Cause) debut, and is “one of the most
poignant and unforgettable noirs ever made” (The Movie Guide).
In Side Street, Granger and O’Donnell team again as struggling
marrieds in an unforgiving Manhattan. In a moment of weakness, the letter
carrier gives in to temptation and steals what he thinks is a few hundred
dollars. But its $30,000, tied to some ruthless blackmailers, and Granger’s
attempt to return it puts him in deeper peril. Anthony Mann (Border Incident)
directs with a flair that makes the city a key player in this noir
nerve-jangler.
Special Features:
They Live By Night
Side Street
Where Danger Lives (1950)/
Tension (1950)
Robert Mitchum, playing a doctor smitten with desire for a beautiful patient
(Faith Domergue) who’s brought in after an attempted suicide, journeys
Where Danger Lives when the would-be lovebirds go on the lam. Ahead is
Mexico, miles back is the husband’s (Claude Rains) corpse. But the final
destination for the illicit pair could be a dead end in this dark gem of a film
directed by John Farrow (The Big Clock).
Noir favorite Audrey Totter (The Set-Up) leaves her mousy but devoted
spouse (Richard Basehart) for another man, and the Tension mounts
as he plots revenge, then sees his plan take an unexpected turn. Cyd Charisse,
Barry Sullivan and William Conrad co-star in a bitter tale of the postwar
American dream frayed into nightmare.
Special
Features:
Where Danger Lives
Tension
The Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 4
Street date: July 31, 2007
Order due date: June 26, 2007
Catalog #: 115020
$59.92 SRP (Collection)
$20.97 SRP (Single Titles)
All Films Are Not Rated; All Films are B&W
Act of Violence /
Mystery Street
Catalog #: 79790
Run Time: 82 minutes/93 minutes |
Crime Wave/ Decoy
Catalog #: 115024
Run Time: 73 minutes/75 minutes |
|
Illegal/ The Big Steal
Catalog #: 115026
Run Time: 88 minutes/72 minutes |
They Live By Night/ Side
Street
Catalog #: 115027
Run Time: 95 minutes/82 minutes |
|
Where Danger Lives/
Tension
Catalog #: 115028
Run Time: 80 minutes/91 minutes |
Note: All
enhanced content listed above is subject to change.
With operations in 90 international territories Warner Home Video, a Warner
Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in
the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video’s film library is the largest
of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires
of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO
Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.
Our Review of Film
Noir Classic Collection Vol. 4
To begin this review, I
might have to remind a few of you the definition of a film noir. It is defined
as (literally 'black film or cinema') was coined by French film critics
(first by Frank Nino in 1946) who noticed the trend of how 'dark', downbeat and
black the looks and themes were of many American crime and detective films
released in France following the war, such as
The Maltese Falcon
(1941), Murder, My Sweet (1944),
Double Indemnity (1944), and Laura (1944)
(from
www.filmsite.org). If you know any of these films, then you
know what you are in for. All of the characters are dark with some deep
hidden and troubling secret and you can expect a lot of mystery intertwined with
the plot. This collection brings us ten really good films from that genre
in the 1940s and 1950s. You can see how life is reflected in the movies.
These were not always happy times with World War II and other pressures at home
and abroad, these films took America's mind away from their own realities and
brings them into someone else's, where the outcome is at least certain.
A synopsis of each movie
is in the press release above, so I am not going to rehash the plot, however,
although this is the first time I have seen some of these movies, I was glad
that I did. First of all, the digital enhancement of these movies is prevalent
as soon as you begin watching, you do not get that dark grainy picture on your
TV. The sound was also a little crisper than I expected. My favorite
movie of the bunch was Act of Violence. It just screamed Film Noir, and
the acting was superb with great performances by Van Heflin and Robert Ryan
(with some helping support by Janet Leigh). You should also not miss
Mystery Street with a very young Ricardo Montablan (I did a double-take when
I first heard his distinctive voice). However, my favorite character
out of the whole bunch was Victor Scott played by the incomparable Edward G.
Robinson. Robert Mitchum also plays some interesting roles in two
movies within this collection (The Big Steal and Where Danger Lives).
As you can see, there was some really good acting in these movies, I was worried
when I first found out I was reviewing this. I did not want to have to
watch ten movies where the acting was worse than mine (laughs). However,
as you can see there are some big actors to go along with these movies in some
very well produced films of that genre. With some good acting, good
writing, good directing and a lot of popcorn, I had an enjoyable weekend.
One thing I really like
about the WB collections is that they put in a bunch of bonuses, and this is no
exception. Each one of the DVDs has a commentary and a featurette, and
they are all really well done. If you get a chance, I always find it
interesting to look at the original theatrical trailers as well once before, and
then again after the movie to see how they spinned the movie as a coming
attraction, and if their trailer really exhibited what the movie was about.
This is a DVD collection
that a film lover cannot go wrong purchasing.
(Review written by Ian
Ripley)
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