Noir Archive Volume 2: 1954-1956 (9-film Collection) [Blu-ray]

If this review looks familiar, that’s because everything I wrote about Volume One (1944-1954) applies equally to Volume Two (1954-1956) - including the complaint about packaging.1) 1954: Bait - Cleo Moore, John Agar, Hugo Haas - directed by Hugo Haas2) 1955: The Crooked Web - Frank Lovejoy, Mari Blanchard, Richard Denning - directed by Nathan Juran3) 1955: Cell 2455, Death Row - William & Robert Campbell, Marian Carr - directed by Fred F. Sears4) 1955: Five Against the House - Guy Madison, Brian Keith, Kim Novak - directed by Phil Karlson *5) 1955: The Night Holds Terror - Jack Kelly, Vince Edwards, John Cassavetes - directed by Andrew Stone6) 1955: New Orleans Uncensored - Arthur Franz, Beverly Garland - directed by William Castle *7) 1955: Footsteps in the Fog - Stewart Grainger, Jean Simmons - directed by Arthur Lubin (only film in color)8) 1956: Spin a Dark Web - Faith Domergue, Lee Patterson - directed by Vernon Sewell *9) 1956: Rumble on the Docks - James Darren, Robert Blake, Timothy Carey - directed by Fred F. Sears* in posters 4, 6, and 8, Kim Novak, Beverly Garland and Faith Domergue are wearing the same slinky red dress. Oops! - that’s supporting actress Helene Stanton, not star Beverly Garland, in poster 6 (New Orleans Uncensored).Like Volume One, the nine films in this collection were previously released as burned-to-order DVD-Rs by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) in 2010.Due to the greatly increased memory of Blu-ray, three movies can fit easily onto a single Blu-ray without any of the compromises mandated by DVD.Eight films are black and white, ‘Footsteps in the Fog’ is in color.The oldest film, ‘Bait’ is in the 1.37:1 picture ratio.‘Spin a Dark Web’ is in the 1.66:1 picture ratio.The other seven films are in the widescreen 1.85:1 picture ratio.All nine have English SDH subtitles (no other extras).HUGO HAAS “The Poverty Row Orson Welles”‘Bait’ (1954) - photo 1.Hugo Haas was a Czech actor who emigrated to the US in 1940.In Hollywood he had a successful career as a character actor (34 films), but longed to be a director.The major studios were not interested, so Haas ended up producing, directing and starring in 12 low-budget independent films (released through Columbia).He usually cast himself as a poor schmuck lured to his doom by a sexy blonde femme fatale (pretty much the definition of film noir), though the roles are not so clear-cut in 'Bait'.His preferred femme fatale was busty blonde actress Cleo Moore, “The Poverty Row Marilyn Monroe”.Today Hugo Haas and Cleo Moore are cult figures.In addition to ‘Bait’, they filmed ‘Strange Fascination’, ‘One Girl’s Confession’, ‘Thy Neighbor’s Wife’ and ‘The Other Woman’.Classy dialogue:Cleo Moore (admiring dog) "Isn't he beautiful? Oh what a pair of eyes."John Agar (admiring Cleo) "Yeah, what a pair of thighs."ANTI-CAPITAL PUNISHMENT POLEMIC THAT MISFIRED‘Cell 2455, Death Row’ (1955) - photo 3.In 1948, Caryl Chessman was sentenced to death for kidnapping, rape and robbery (not murder) in California.In 1954 he published his memoir in an attempt to gain commutation of the death sentence.The book was a best seller.It was dramatized by Columbia in 1955, starring William Campbell as Chessman (named Whittier in the film) with his younger brother Robert as the young Chessman.Unlike the book, the movie was a box office failure - in more ways than one:California Governor Pat Brown (father of Jerry Brown), who commuted 23 death sentences of actual murderers, was critical of Chessman’s literary efforts.He refused to commute the sentence.Chessman was executed in 1960 after spending 12 years on death row.WE’RE GONNA PULL A HEIST!‘Five Against the House’ (1955) - photo 4.Five college students devise a plan to rob a Nevada casino, complicated when one of them is revealed to be psychotic.In heist movies, the robbery is meticulously planned in the first half of the film, then carried out as quietly as possible - as opposed to crime movies where criminals rely on guns and brute force.Heist movies are a variation on the “perfect crime” - if all goes well, the crooks are gone before the victim finds out he’s been robbed (though it rarely works out that way).‘Five Against the House’ is remembered today for two reasons:-- it was actress Kim Novak’s third film appearance.-- it was the uncredited inspiration for Frank Sinatra’s more ambitious ‘Oceans Eleven’ (1960), where twelve veterans pull a heist at five casinos simultaneously.CIVIC BOOSTERISM:Between 1954 and 1958, Columbia released seven B-movie exposés of corrupt American cities.Surprisingly, most of these cities welcomed the filmmakers (Chicago not so much), apparently on the theory that any publicity is good publicity.Of course, each film ends on a positive note, with the mob being defeated and kicked out of town (wait a minute! they were kicked out of Miami in 1954, but were back in 1956).1954: The Miami Story - in Noir Classics Vol.11955: Chicago Syndicate1955: New Orleans Uncensored (in this box) - photo 61956: Inside Detroit1956: The Houston Story1956: Miami Exposé1958: The Case Against Brooklyn - in Noir Classics Vol. 3VICTORIAN NOIR:‘Footsteps in the Fog’ (1955) - photo 7.The only color film in this collection is a gothic historical melodrama set in the foggy London of Sherlock Holmes, though the Great Detective is nowhere to be seen.Stars Stewart Grainger and Jean Simmons are in competition to see who can be more wicked.Femme fatale versus homme fatale. Very noir.Neat ending.This Technicolor film had some condition problems: lots of specks, and prismatic color separation in some scenes.These films have NOT been newly remastered for Blu-ray release.Instead Kit Parker Films /Mill Creek Entertainment licensed the HD masters that Sony created ten years ago.This is actually good news - those were well-done transfers - not pristine, but well ahead of earlier transfers.And they look better on Blu-ray than they did on DVD.DVD-R was not capable of capturing all the details in an HD mastering.Black and white film stock of the 1940s and ‘50s had something called grain, which is noticeable on modern Hi-Def big screen TVs.Grain is not a mistake.Audiences in the ‘40s expected to see it (back when movie theaters had big screens).Grain gives depth to black-and-white film, but people who grew up with the flat, smooth images of analog TV, videotape and even DVD have no idea what it is.Grain is to black-and white film stock what brushstrokes are to paintings.Grain is Good.TERRIBLE PACKAGING:The three Blu-rays come packaged in a two Blu-ray box (discs 2 and 3 are on the same spindle).I didn’t think this was possible.I was wrong.A terrible idea - it can lead to scratched discs - all to save a few pennies.This repeats the pattern of Volume One.So stupid.At least Amazon sells 3 disc blu-ray cases:In the Amazon search bar, enter “blu ray cases 3 disc” (unfortunately only sold in multi-packs).OTHER VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES:Noir Archive Volume 1: 1944-1954 (9 Movie Collection) [Blu-ray]1944: Address Unknown - Paul Lukas, Morris Carnovsky - directed by William Cameron Menzies1945: Escape in the Fog - Otto Kruger, Nina Foch - directed by Budd Boetticher1947: The Guilt of Janet Ames - Rosalind Russell, Melvyn Douglas - directed by Henry Levin1949: The Black Book /Reign of Terror - Robert Cummings, Richard Basehart - directed by Anthony Mann1949: Johnny Allegro - George Raft, Nina Foch - directed by Ted Tetzlaff1950: 711 Ocean Drive - Edmond O'Brien, Joanne Dru - directed by Joseph M. Newman1950: The Killer That Stalked New York - Evelyn Keyes, Charles Korvin - directed by Earl McEvoy1952: Assignment Paris - Dana Andrews, Marta Toren, George Sanders - directed by Robert Parrish1954: The Miami Story - Barry Sullivan, Luther Adler - directed by Fred F. SearsNoir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960 (9-film Collection) [Blu-ray]Pretty much the last gasp of film noir.1956: The Shadow in the Window - Phil Carey, Betty Garrett, John Barrymore, Jr. - directed by William Asher1957: The Long Haul - Victor Mature, Diana Dors, Patrick Allen - directed by Ken Hughes1957: Pickup Alley - Victor Mature, Anita Ekberg, Trevor Howard - directed by John Gilling1957: She Played with Fire - Jack Hawkins, Arlene Dahl, Dennis Price - directed by Sidney Gilliat1957: The Tijuana Story - Rodolfo Acosta, James Darren, Robert McQueeney - directed by Leslie Kardos1958: The Case Against Brooklyn - Darren McGavin, Maggie Hayes, Bobby Helms - directed by Paul Wendkos1958: The Lineup - Eli Wallach, Robert Keith, Warner Anderson - directed by Don Siegel1959: The Crimson Kimono - Victoria Shaw, Glenn Corbett, James Shigeta - directed by Samuel Fuller1960: Man on a String - Ernest Borgnine, Kerwin Mathews, Colleen Dewhurst - directed by Andre DeTothThere wasn’t a whole lot of film noir after 1960, so if there are to be further volumes in this series (here’s hoping), Kit Parker /Mill Creek will have to return to the ‘40s and ‘50s(there are a lot of old Columbia films noir that have not yet made it to Blu-Ray).

Excellent set. All three volumes of Noir Archive are amazing! A very reasonable price for 9 movies on Blu-ray! And, even though I am a huge film noir fan, there was not a single film I'd seen before! That's rare, I've watched hundreds. Transfers are really good - a few specks here and there in the picture. Excellent all around. Love film noir? Get these sets!

The movies on this collection are good, but there are movies that are not film noir. One takes place near the turn of the century (Footsteps in the Fog) and another takes place in England. Also some are in color. Noir movies should be black and white, in the U.S. and represent years 1940 through early 1960's.

Not as good as Vol 1, but Vol 2 has a few good titles: Spin a Dark Web is a very decent UK noir, Five Against the House, though not really Noir in my opinion, is enjoyable, The Night Holds Terror is sold thriller material, New Orleans Uncensored benefits from location shooting and the plot isn't bad, The Crooked Web is an oddity, almost like two movies in one--not bad, but not great, the best film in this set is Cell 2455, well acted and exciting. On the minus side are: Bait, not Noir and one of Hugo Haas's worst, a talky drag, Rumble on the Docks is slightly better with an interesting cast and some good locations, though really nothing special and not remotely Noir. Footsteps in the Fog is actually quite good in its way, because it goes against some expectations. But it's a period piece in color, very removed from Noir. / Transfers are mostly very good, though not demonstration quality. After all, you're paying less than $4 per film, so if any of them appeal to you it's a good deal.

The best of all is one of my favorites being one of the titles. “New Orleans Uncensored “. A great Gangster movie that shines the light on real world Mob activities.

Great movie selection! I've purchased all three volumes. Great packaging, great price!

Just because a movie is in black and white, that does not make it Film Noir.Don't waste your money.

I bought all 3 volumes when I starting to explore noir films. These are really 2nd & 3rd tier movies, and many(or most of them) are not really that noir-ish. Most of the things that really typify noir movies are just not there, and worst of all, most of them are astoundingly mediocre. Go look at the IMDB ratings for these movies- most are in the 6's with a very, very few low 7's. If it were a $20 collection, that would be one thing. Do your research and hone in on a fee specific titles if you want want to explore what the noir genre has to offer.