Kino Lorber Studio Classics: Film Noir: the Dark Side of Cinema (All Volumes)
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Kino Lorber Studio Classics: Film Noir: the Dark Side of Cinema (All Volumes)
Kino's WTF idea of a Noir set from Universal:
the Female Animal
the Price of Fear
Thunder on the Hill
the Female Animal
the Price of Fear
Thunder on the Hill
- senseabove
- Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 am
Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
I guess I'm mildly pleased by what it means for the likelihood of more lesser Sirk coming from them that they see him as a strong enough draw to saddle something like Thunder with the barrel-scraping box-set price gouge? And while I don't exactly have high hopes, I am intrigued by The Female Animal: produced by Zugsmith between The Tarnished Angels and Touch of Evil (to which this reportedly was the "A" picture!), shot by Russell Metty, and this for a plot synopsis:
"Jaded movie star Vanessa Windsor, saved from a studio accident by handsome extra Chris Farley, pursues him, and soon he’s the ‘caretaker’ of her beach house. Vanessa’s sexy, alcoholic adult daughter Penny accidentally meets Chris, who rescues her from an ‘octopus’ boyfriend. Before you know it, Chris is involved with both mother and daughter, and his only way out is to take a job in a Mexican picture about man-eating orchids…"
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
You're a sad little puppy.domino harvey wrote: ↑Fri Feb 21, 2020 1:52 pmKino's WTF idea of a Noir set from Universal:
the Female Animal
the Price of Fear
Thunder on the Hill
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
Well, to counter that, KL announced the titles for their third noir set, and they're better than the previous set:
Abandoned, the Lady Gambles, the Sleeping City
Abandoned is the real winner of the three-- it's fresh and lively and a true hidden gem. It never quite lives up to its initial promise, but this is the kind of needle in a haystack this genre lives by. Lady Gambles is okay in a never need to see it again sort of way, and the Sleeping City is a bit of a mess but the circulating copy is horrendous so it's nice that we're getting a massive upgrade
Abandoned, the Lady Gambles, the Sleeping City
Abandoned is the real winner of the three-- it's fresh and lively and a true hidden gem. It never quite lives up to its initial promise, but this is the kind of needle in a haystack this genre lives by. Lady Gambles is okay in a never need to see it again sort of way, and the Sleeping City is a bit of a mess but the circulating copy is horrendous so it's nice that we're getting a massive upgrade
- mteller
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:23 pm
Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
I haven't seen the other two, but I will back up domino's assessment of Abandoned. A darn good flick.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
Did we miss that there’s now a fourth Noir volume with Calcutta, An Act of Murder, and Six Bridges to Cross? Haven’t seen Bridges but the other two are pretty bad. I feel like anyone here could have picked better Noir titles from Universal’s vault, but I guess that’s why they’re slopping these all together
- FrauBlucher
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
Per KL Insider...
We have three announcements this long weekend, five films:
1940s Universal - Saturday
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema V - Sunday
1990s Universal 4KUHD - Monday
- FrauBlucher
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
Coming Dec 14...
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
Didn’t they already release the Midnight Story (which is awful) in their Tony Curtis box? They really couldn’t find another noir in Universal’s lot instead?
- captveg
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
No, the Curtis set was The Perfect Furlough, The Great Impostor, and 40 Pounds of Trouble.domino harvey wrote: ↑Sun Sep 05, 2021 12:17 pmDidn’t they already release the Midnight Story (which is awful) in their Tony Curtis box? They really couldn’t find another noir in Universal’s lot instead?
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
Crazy, I could have sworn Midnight Story was already announced before this
- dwk
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
Saturday's announcement
FILM NOIR: THE DARK SIDE OF CINEMA VI
• John Brahm's Singapore - Fred MacMurray & Ava Gardner
• William Castle's Johnny Stool Pigeon - Howard Duff, Dan Duryea & Tony Curtis
• George Sherman's The Raging Tide - Shelley Winters & Richard Conte
Tomorrow's announcement is going to be Volume 7 of the Film Noir sets and will be made up of 3 MGM titles.
FILM NOIR: THE DARK SIDE OF CINEMA VI
• John Brahm's Singapore - Fred MacMurray & Ava Gardner
• William Castle's Johnny Stool Pigeon - Howard Duff, Dan Duryea & Tony Curtis
• George Sherman's The Raging Tide - Shelley Winters & Richard Conte
Tomorrow's announcement is going to be Volume 7 of the Film Noir sets and will be made up of 3 MGM titles.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
I’ve only seen Singapore from that lot, but it’s terrible. No surprise they’re bundling it with other films even with two marketable stars in it
- mteller
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:23 pm
Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
To me, Raging Tide is the real stinker of that box, but none of them are great. They're announcing another set tomorrow, I don't have very high hopes for it though.
- dwk
- Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm
Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
Film Noir VII will have
The Boss
Chicago Confidential
The Fearmakers
The Boss
Chicago Confidential
The Fearmakers
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
And once more the only one I’ve seen, Chicago Confidential, is garbage
- Red Screamer
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
The Fearmakers sounds fascinating, a Jacques Tourneur/Dana Andrews anti-communist horror-noir unknown to me till now.
- J Wilson
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
Someone uploaded it to YouTube if you want to check it out.Red Screamer wrote: ↑Sun Nov 14, 2021 10:43 pmThe Fearmakers sounds fascinating, a Jacques Tourneur/Dana Andrews anti-communist horror-noir unknown to me till now.
MOD EDIT: It’s fine to alert someone to a film’s presence on YouTube, but please refrain from posting direct links on the forum to illegally streaming material
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
dwk wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 3:22 pmSaturday's announcement
FILM NOIR: THE DARK SIDE OF CINEMA VI
• John Brahm's Singapore - Fred MacMurray & Ava Gardner
• William Castle's Johnny Stool Pigeon - Howard Duff, Dan Duryea & Tony Curtis
• George Sherman's The Raging Tide - Shelley Winters & Richard Conte
Tomorrow's announcement is going to be Volume 7 of the Film Noir sets and will be made up of 3 MGM titles.
I watched my copy of Johnny Stool Pidgeon and it's another lame one, though nowhere near as bad as Singapore. One of the most generic noirs I've ever seen, I can guarantee I will forget everything about it within the next 24 hours, except perhaps the image of John McIntire's chipper baddie dressed in outre Country Western wear, glad-handing and slapping everyone on the back. I'll give KLSC some modicum of credit in knowing which films to bury in these Noir boxesdomino harvey wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 3:26 pmI’ve only seen Singapore from that lot, but it’s terrible. No surprise they’re bundling it with other films even with two marketable stars in it
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
Just watched the Boss and... it's probably running neck and neck with Abandoned as the best film dumped into one of these Kino Film Noir boxes. Didn't expect that! The film leans so hard into John Payne being an asshole with zero redeemable traits that it's legit fascinating-- he is not "Hollywood" awful, he's actually awful by anyone's metrics. Beyond Payne's commitment to the bit, the film is surprisingly well made and ambitious and I was surprised but not to learn afterwards that this was one of Dalton Trumbo's fronted scripts. Calling it a noir is a stretch, though-- even more than a quasi-gangster film (which is presumably why it's thrown into this set), it's really another (rather perverse) example of the social mobility/stuck in the system dramas that were rampant in the 50sdomino harvey wrote: ↑Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:38 pmAnd once more the only one I’ve seen, Chicago Confidential, is garbage
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
Well this might be down there the Midnight Story as the worst film in one of these sets. If anyone thought something like Mission to Moscow was too subtle (in the other direction, but no matter), here’s a film for you! It is filmed like a TV pilot and the number of scenes that are clearly the first takes of actors reading their lines without any indication they understand what they’re saying or had even seen the words in that order before are too numerous to count. Anyone trying to reclaim this as anything but a total embarrassment of cinema is the real enemy from withinRed Screamer wrote: ↑Sun Nov 14, 2021 10:43 pmThe Fearmakers sounds fascinating, a Jacques Tourneur/Dana Andrews anti-communist horror-noir unknown to me till now.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics Acquisitions
I didn't think it was much more than mediocre but I would rate the Raging Tide as the best of the set it appears in, though that's not exactly praise. It's def a mess of a film and its emotional sappiness is way, way at odds with its noir setup (which this film immediately abandons-- does Conte even do VO past the first five minutes?). But it's entertaining enough, and I liked John McIntire's washed up old salt supporting perf, though this thing has a few characters too many (and Shelley Winters may have maneuvered her way into top billing post-Oscar nom but she ain't the lead here).
And from another one of these godforsaken Noir sets, Six Bridges to Cross completely blows it right away by giving us Sal Mineo being insanely charismatic and a natural for fifteen minutes as a young Boston gang leader and then recasting him as Tony Curtis when he grows up. Uh, downgrade. The film then devolves into a celebration of sanctimony on the part of Bargain Basement Richard Egan George Nader as the cop who prattles on and on and on about his duty as a cop. The film has no idea how obnoxious this is, and the scene where his wife shoos away a fed for doing the same thing as her husband only nicer is so close to being self aware, and yet soooooooo far. The plot is also grossly miscalculated in the ultimate reveal of Curtis' degree of guilt at the end, which renders the film pointless. And ultimately, despite some (mostly offscreen) heists, this too is not a noir and more of a social reform problem picture.
EDIT: Oh and I almost forgot-- the theme song to Six Bridges was sung by Sammy Davis Jr and written by... Jeff Chandler?!
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Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics
More Film Noir in 2k:
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema VIII
• Street of Chance (1942) With Burgess Meredith & Claire Trevor
• Enter Arsène Lupin (1944) With Ella Raines & Charles Korvin
• Temptation (1946) With Merle Oberon, George Brent & Charles Korvin
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema VIII
• Street of Chance (1942) With Burgess Meredith & Claire Trevor
• Enter Arsène Lupin (1944) With Ella Raines & Charles Korvin
• Temptation (1946) With Merle Oberon, George Brent & Charles Korvin
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Street of Chance could have sustained a solo release. Here’s my write up from the Noir thread
domino harvey wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2015 1:12 pmStreet of Chance (Jack Hively 1942) Early entry in the classic noir trope of amnesia, Burgess Meredith crashes out of a construction site and finds himself awakened to a new double life, one in which he's accused of murder (and has himself a swell dame like Claire Trevor). This is an entertaining if familiar flick, with some nice touches along the way (I especially liked the clever reveal of the identity of Meredith's pursuers early in the film), and while eventually the solution to the central mystery becomes a bit obvious, it's a nice ride anyhow.
- mteller
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:23 pm
Re: Kino Lorber Studio Classics
You enjoyed it more than me then. I found it rather forgettable and banal (and yes, predictable).