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COLUMBIA PICTURES FILM NOIR CLASSICS, VOLUME 1 (2009)
complete 5-disc boxset

Studio: Sony Pictures
DVD Release Date: November 3, 2009


In the 1940s, a new genre -- film noir -- emerged from the world of "hard - boiled" pulp magazines, paperback thrillers, and sensational crime movies. These films -- tough and unsentimental -- depicted a black-and-white universe at once brutal, erotic and morally ambiguous. Now, Sony Pictures and The Film Foundation have brought five noir classics together in one collection, all restored and remastered, and featuring brilliant performances by Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin, Kim Novak, Eli Wallach and Gloria Grahame, the genre-defining cinematography of Burnett Guffey, Hal Mohr and Lucien Ballard, and focused, taut direction by celebrated directors including Fritz Lang, Don Siegel and Phil Karlson.


CONTENTS:

D1
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THE SNIPER (Edward Dmytryk; 1952, 87 min.)
imdb.com/title/tt0045161/
Filmed in San Francisco, this Stanley Kramer production is one of the earliest studies of a murderous psychopath who kills randomly and without motive, making it almost impossible for the police to track him down. This noir pits the rationalism of law and psychiatry against the irrationality of post-traumatic stress and compulsive homicide. Adolphe Menjou, Arthur Franz and Marie Windsor star under the taut direction of Edward Dmytryk.


D2
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THE BIG HEAT (Fritz Lang; 1954, 90 min.)
imdb.com/title/tt0045555/
Fritz Lang's policier stars Glenn Ford as a loving husband and father driven by grief to conduct a relentless vendetta against mobster Alexander Scourby and his brutal henchman, Lee Marvin. Once dedicated to protect and serve, Ford sacrifices everythingùprinciples, career, and even the woman who comes to him for protectionùin a rage to destroy his gangland foes. With Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando and a young Carolyn Jones.


D3
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5 AGAINST THE HOUSE (Phil Karlson; 1955, 84 min.)
imdb.com/title/tt0048077/
A quartet of Korean war vets -- aided by a sizzling Kim Novak -- plan a 'perfect' crime -- robbing a casino in Reno, Nevada. What starts out as a prank becomes deadly serious, especially for the one vet with psychopathic tendencies. Noir specialist Phil Karlson directs Novak, Guy Madison, Brian Keith, Kerwin Matthews, Alvy Moore and William Conrad.


D4
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THE LINEUP (Don Siegel; 1958, 86 min.)
imdb.com/title/tt0051866/
This double narrative follows two criminals involved in a dope smuggling scheme and the police who follow their trail of violence and death across the city of San Francisco. Making brilliant use of space and architecture, the film features a wildly disorienting car chase that culminates on the then-unfinished Embarcadero Freeway -- literally, a road going nowhere. Don Siegel directs Eli Wallach as the cold-blooded hit man, with Warner Anderson and Emile Meyer as the cops hunting him down. Richard Jaeckel and Robert Keith co-star.


D5
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MURDER BY CONTRACT (Irving Lerner; 1958, 81 min.)
imdb.com/title/tt0045124/
Vince Edwards stars as a hired assassin whose latest 'assignment' (Caprice Toriel) is about to testify against the mob. But this particular target is not so easy to get at. So he waitsàand waiting gives the assassin what he needs least: time to think. The lean, efficient direction by Irving Lerner (City of Fear) is complimented by the stark black and white cinematography of Lucien Ballard (The Wild Bunch).

Format: NTSC
DVD Size: 3.35 + 3.71 + 2.95 + 3.40 + 3.02 GB -- Exact Untouched Copy
Runtime (total): 428 minutes
Type: Black and White

Aspect Ratio:
The Sniper (1952) The Big Heat (1953) are 1.33 and 5 Against the House (1955), The Lineup (1958) and Murder by Contract (1958) are anamorphic 1.85:1.

Sound: English (original mono)
Subtitles: optional English
Posted in: a.b.dvd.classics
Poster: JimB