TCM releases 5 more Columbia film noir titles

[s.w.a.c.]

Unlike the last set of these, I've only seen one of the titles (Johnny O'clock), so this will be a must-have for me. Good to see the series continue.

Five Film Noir Classics Coming to DVD

For First Time Ever from Turner Classic Movies

Five-Disc Collection Features Video Introduction by The Film Foundation's Martin Scorsese



Film Noir IV
Five film noir classics from Columbia Pictures are coming to DVD for the first time ever in the latest home video collection from Turner Classic Movies (TCM), The Film Foundation and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The fourth in an ongoing series of film noir collections, Film Noir Classics IV includes five feature films – So Dark the Night (1946), Johnny O'Clock (1947), Walk a Crooked Mile (1948), Between Midnight and Dawn (1950) and Walk East on Beacon (1952) – each of which has been fully restored and remastered. The collection features a special video introduction by Academy Award®-winning director and Film Foundation founder Martin Scorsese.


Available only through TCM's online store (http://shop.tcm.com" target="_blank" target="_blank), Film Noir Classics IV will be released as part of the TCM Vault Collection on Sept. 16. The films in the collection showcase the work of Joseph H. Lewis, Robert Rossen, Gordon Douglas and Alfred L. Werker, directors who were masters at creating taut and atmospheric visions from morally-strained hard-boiled stories. The collection also highlights the genre-defining cinematography of Burnett Guffey and George E. Diskant and iconic performances by such film noir mainstays as Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes, Lee J. Cobb, Dennis O'Keefe and Edmond O'Brien, who each excelled at revealing the raw heart that beat beneath noir's tough exteriors.

Complete descriptions of the movies in the Film Noir Classics IV collection are included below.

Film Noir Classics IV

So Dark the Night (1946)
Director Joseph H. Lewis (Gun Crazy, 1950) established his reputation as a talented stylist by wrangling a complicated story – of a Parisian detective (Steven Geray) who falls in love while on vacation, only to see the woman murdered – into a taut and atmospheric film noir. Overcoming the challenges of recreating the French countryside in Canoga Park, Calif., and working with a cast of virtual unknowns, Lewis and noir cinematographer extraordinaire Burnett Guffey craft one of the genre's great surprise endings, inspiring such films as Possessed (1948) and Memento (2000).

Johnny O'Clock (1947)
Johnny O'Clock (Dick Powell) is a junior partner in a posh casino with Guido Marchettis (Thomas Gomez), but he's senior in the eyes of Nelle (Ellen Drew), Guido's wife and Johnny's ex. This love triangle leads to a web of complications, leaving Police Inspector Koch (Lee J. Cobb) to unravel the threads of deceit and a murdered casino employee's sister (Evelyn Keyes) to tug on Johnny's heartstrings before it's too late. Applying Raymond Chandler's dictum that a good plot is an excuse for a series of exciting scenes, rookie director Robert Rossen strings together tense vignettes, brought vividly to life by cinematographer Burnett Guffey.

Walk a Crooked Mile (1948)
Director Gordon Douglas drew on mounting anti-Communist hysteria to create one of the first Cold War films – the tale of an FBI agent (Dennis O'Keefe) and a Scotland Yard detective (Louis Hayward) who must bust a spy ring led by a ruthless agent (Raymond Burr) working to infiltrate an atomic research facility. Producer Eddie Small stood tall in a battle against FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to produce the film without interference, arguing the Bureau was fair game for fictionalization. But Hoover had the last word, writing The New York Times to say the FBI had not sanctioned the film.

Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)
Dan Purvis (Edmund O'Brien) and Rocky Barnes (Mark Stevens) are lifelong pals who survived WWII and continue their armed service as uniformed prowl car boys on the night shift in L.A. But their friendship is tested by their ongoing battle with a ruthless racketeer (Donald Buka), the love they share for a beautiful radio announcer (Gale Storm) and Dan's uncompromising and exaggerated sense of justice. Often seen as the first example of the now commonplace buddy cop movie, this film demonstrates that the genre has always been rife with tension.

Walk East on Beacon (1952)
The Red Scare had reached a fever pitch when director Alfred L. Werker (He Walked by Night, 1948) adapted this tale of Communist spies stealing secrets about the Manhattan Project. The source material was a Reader's Digest article by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and the movie shares Hoover's obsession with surveillance, creating an atypical noir focused on technology rather than obsessed with character psychology. The film makes abundant use of location shooting throughout the northeast, thus providing a rare snapshot of an era in American life – its physical locations and its mental state.

[Jim Roots]

This is more great news. However, I sure hope they do a MUCH better job of getting this set into the stores. (We still do have real brick-and-mortar stores out there, you know, Columbia/TCM Distribution Departments. People even go into them to buy DVDs. Really!)

I saw exactly one copy of the third set, in exactly one store, among the many stores in many parts of the country. Unluckily for me, I didn't have the money to buy that copy at the time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I can buy it on-line. I want to buy it in a store.

Jim

[s.w.a.c.]

I know how you feel, I like to see things I want to buy on store shelves, but according to the press release, this one will only be available through TCM's online store (which sucks for us Canadians since the cost of extra shipping from U.S. sites can often be discouraging).

[Jim Roots]

I know how you feel, I like to see things I want to buy on store shelves, but according to the press release, this one will only be available through TCM's online store (which sucks for us Canadians since the cost of extra shipping from U.S. sites can often be discouraging).

Tell me about it. A few months ago I ordered a Kino film on sale for nine bucks. The shipping and taxes totalled eleven bucks -- more than the film itself!

RIchard Roberts' mammoth book cost nearly $20 to ship from Grapevine ... that's roughly 25% of the total cost I paid for it.

Now you guys understand why I asked for recommendations of book and DVD stores in NYC for when I visit next week!


Jim

[Jim Reid]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I can buy it on-line. I want to buy it in a store.

It just ain't happening anymore. You don't always have to pay shipping. On Amazon, anything over $25 is free shipping. Other sellers have free shipping too and haven't started collecting sales tax either. If I buy something in a store, I usually pay more than buying it on line.

[Jim Roots]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I can buy it on-line. I want to buy it in a store.

It just ain't happening anymore. You don't always have to pay shipping. On Amazon, anything over $25 is free shipping. Other sellers have free shipping too and haven't started collecting sales tax either. If I buy something in a store, I usually pay more than buying it on line.

I do buy a lot of books on-line, I assure you, and yes they are often cheaper than buying in the store. But Stephen and I are referring specifically to buying books from American sites and having them shipped to Canada. The additional costs involved often negate the savings on the book price.

Also, many of those "free shipping" deals apply only to shipping inside the USA. And some places, like that movie bookstore in San Francisco whose name escapes me at the moment, refuse to ship outside the USA at all, let alone for free.

Jim

[Ray Faiola]

SO DARK THE NIGHT is an old favorite from tv days. And I just picked up a BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN, even though I had never seen it. Excellent film with a GREAT performance by Donald Buka. The pressbook talks about Gale Storm embarking on a new career as a cafe singer!

[s.w.a.c.]

I do buy a lot of books on-line, I assure you, and yes they are often cheaper than buying in the store. But Stephen and I are referring specifically to buying books from American sites and having them shipped to Canada. The additional costs involved often negate the savings on the book price.

Amazon.com, and other sites, have switched to international shipping via courier instead of USPS, probably due to complaints about packages going astray (I'm guessing a lot of bulkier parcels get left on people's doorsteps by carriers, and passersby grab them, since who knows what goodies might be in an Amazon mailer?).

So now the cost of shipping is double or triple what it used to be, and even when there's a 50% off Criterion sale, it may still not be worth it to take part. Barnes & Noble are a little more reasonable when it comes to shipping over the border, but their service isn't the greatest (I ordered four titles during their last Criterion sale, only 3 out of 4 proved to be available--none were out of print--and the three I did get shipped individually for some reason).

And yes, I know I shouldn't complain, thinking back to the pre-Internet, pre-DVD days when trying to see a desirable film took a lot more effort than pressing a few buttons.

[Jim Roots]

Hey, Stephen's posting reminds me: are there still any B&N stores in New York? If so, do they have a DVD section?

Jim

[Daniel Eagan]

Hey, Stephen's posting reminds me: are there still any B&N stores in New York? If so, do they have a DVD section?

Jim

Yes there are many Barnes & Noble stores in NYC. The company was founded here and its flagship store in on 5th Avenue near 17th Street.

Any search engine will give you the individual addresses and websites.

The most convenient one for me faces Union Square on 17th Street between Broadway and Park, about a ten-minute walk from the Strand. It has a good but shrinking DVD and CD section. I don't really go to the other outlets.

[Jim Roots]

Hey, Stephen's posting reminds me: are there still any B&N stores in New York? If so, do they have a DVD section?

Jim

Yes there are many Barnes & Noble stores in NYC. The company was founded here and its flagship store in on 5th Avenue near 17th Street.

Any search engine will give you the individual addresses and websites.

The most convenient one for me faces Union Square on 17th Street between Broadway and Park, about a ten-minute walk from the Strand. It has a good but shrinking DVD and CD section. I don't really go to the other outlets.

Ten minutes from the Strand sounds good. Two major stores on one trip. Thanks!

Jim

[Roseha]

Amazon.com, and other sites, have switched to international shipping via courier instead of USPS, probably due to complaints about packages going astray (I'm guessing a lot of bulkier parcels get left on people's doorsteps by carriers, and passersby grab them, since who knows what goodies might be in an Amazon mailer?).

I live in an apartment with doormen around the clock, but I still had some strange holdup when ordering a DVD of Corner Gas from Amazon Canada a few years ago. They held it up at the Grand Central Station post office for some reason that I never did understand. (I did get it though)

[s.w.a.c.]

I live in an apartment with doormen around the clock, but I still had some strange holdup when ordering a DVD of Corner Gas from Amazon Canada a few years ago. They held it up at the Grand Central Station post office for some reason that I never did understand. (I did get it though)

Someone was probably worried about sending flammable items through the post.

[earlytalkie]

This is more great news. However, I sure hope they do a MUCH better job of getting this set into the stores. (We still do have real brick-and-mortar stores out there, you know, Columbia/TCM Distribution Departments. People even go into them to buy DVDs. Really!)

I saw exactly one copy of the third set, in exactly one store, among the many stores in many parts of the country. Unluckily for me, I didn't have the money to buy that copy at the time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I can buy it on-line. I want to buy it in a store.

Jim

For the past few years, brick-and-mortar stores have been on the decline in the Chicago area. The FYE chain closed most of it's locations there in the last few years. Having moved to Bloomington, Il, a little more than a year ago, I was most surprised to visit the local mall last week, and lo and behold, a brand-new FYE store had just opened! Could the tide be turning? Or is it just wishful thinking on my part?

[WaverBoy]

If shipping from Amazon US to Canada is so expensive, why is shipping from Amazon UK to the US so cheap? Riddle me this...

[CoffeeDan]

If shipping from Amazon US to Canada is so expensive, why is shipping from Amazon UK to the US so cheap? Riddle me this..

Going through Canada must have something to do with it . . .

[s.w.a.c.]

If shipping from Amazon US to Canada is so expensive, why is shipping from Amazon UK to the US so cheap? Riddle me this..

Going through Canada must have something to do with it . . .

Most US shippers, including Amazon.com, use couriers like UPS and DHL for international deliveries now, for greater reliability and security. Most UK shippers, including Amazon.co.uk, stick to good ol' Royal Mail. God save the queen.

[Salty Dog]

Most US shippers, including Amazon.com, use couriers like UPS and DHL for international deliveries now, for greater reliability and security. Most UK shippers, including Amazon.co.uk, stick to good ol' Royal Mail. God save the queen.

And I don't blame the US shippers. I have had a number of packages sent through
the US post office, that were lost and I got no refund, including from Amazon resellers.
Finally decided it wasn't worth dealing with them, to stick with Amazon directly, even
if it cost a few extra bucks, it was better than losing the shipment.

[Roseha]

I live in an apartment with doormen around the clock, but I still had some strange holdup when ordering a DVD of Corner Gas from Amazon Canada a few years ago. They held it up at the Grand Central Station post office for some reason that I never did understand. (I did get it though)

Someone was probably worried about sending flammable items through the post.

Ha, ha, just saw this now.

R

[Paul Penna]

There seems to have been a mastering or authoring problem with the set. I noticed it while watching So Dark the Night, and now others have in the Home Theater Forum thread linked below. Unlike the first poster, I haven't found it to make the films unwatchable, but it's certainly often intrusive. I've also tried different players and settings on both the players and my display, and the problem persists. It's most noticeable in camera panning shots.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/3 ... red-discs/

[Jim Roots]

There seems to have been a mastering or authoring problem with the set. I noticed it while watching So Dark the Night, and now others have in the Home Theater Forum thread linked below. Unlike the first poster, I haven't found it to make the films unwatchable, but it's certainly often intrusive. I've also tried different players and settings on both the players and my display, and the problem persists. It's most noticeable in camera panning shots.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/3 ... red-discs/

Hope it's not the same company that did the set of the first season of Louie. So many breakdowns and collapses on that set. After I had taken two sets back to the store with the same complaint about each, the helper pulled all 4 remaining copies from the shelves and opened them on the spot. Every disc had something wrong with it.

I took the final copy we looked at, because the only visible flaw was on the blue-ray side of disc 2, and I don't have a BR player. So far, the DVD side of disc 2 is okay (but I still have 4 episodes to go). Disc 1 has an unplayable episode, but 6 good episodes out of 7 is the best we could find for that disc.

I'll be making my New York trip starting tomorrow and hope to find volumes 3 and 4 of the Columbia noir series. Bound to be cheaper there than up here in Canada.

Jim

[Jim Harwood]

There seems to have been a mastering or authoring problem with the set. I noticed it while watching So Dark the Night, and now others have in the Home Theater Forum thread linked below. Unlike the first poster, I haven't found it to make the films unwatchable, but it's certainly often intrusive. I've also tried different players and settings on both the players and my display, and the problem persists. It's most noticeable in camera panning shots.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/3 ... red-discs/

I'm the one who started the thread over at Home Theatre Forum. While the films aren't "unwatchable," they're pretty bad looking projected onto a large screen.

Again, contrast and sharpness are to the usual high Sony standard. It's the disc mastering/authoring defect that makes them a chore to sit thru.

I spoke with a contact at Sony and apparently it was TCM who was responsible for the authoring and pressing of the discs. Sony only provided the HD master source elements.

The discs should be recalled.

[Paul Penna]

I spoke with a contact at Sony and apparently it was TCM who was responsible for the authoring and pressing of the discs. Sony only provided the HD master source elements.

The discs should be recalled.

FWIW, I used the TCM Store contact form to report the problem, referencing a specific panning shot in So Dark the Night as an example and also linking to the HTF thread; I also said I thought they should correct and replace. So we'll see.

[Thad Komorowski]

It's always hard for me to justify spending that kind of money on what essentially amounts to a crapshoot content-wise (might find a gem, but more often something I'd never watch again as long as I live), but can't they at least justify the costs by getting it done right?