Noir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960 (9-film Collection) [Blu-ray]

If this review looks familiar, that’s because everything I wrote about Volume One (1944-1954) and Volume Two (1954-1956) applies equally to Volume Three (1956-1960) - including the complaint about packaging.The late 1950s were the last gasp of film noir.The late 1950s also marked the end of double-features (outside of drive-ins), so there was less demand for B-movies.These films had to stand on their own.Consequently they had bigger budgets than the films in Volumes One and Two.This doesn’t guarantee better quality, but the overall standard in Volume Three is quite high.1) 1956: The Shadow on the Window - Betty Garrett, John Drew Barrymore, Jerry Mathers - directed by William Asher2) 1957: The Long Haul - Victor Mature, Diana Dors, Patrick Allen - directed by Ken Hughes (UK import)3) 1957: Pickup Alley (aka Interpol) - Victor Mature, Anita Ekberg, Trevor Howard - directed by John Gilling (UK import)4) 1957: She Played with Fire - Jack Hawkins, Arlene Dahl, Dennis Price - directed by Sidney Gilliat (UK import)5) 1957: The Tijuana Story - Rodolfo Acosta, James Darren, Robert McQueeney - directed by Leslie Kardos6) 1958: The Case Against Brooklyn - Darren McGavin, Maggie Hayes, Bobby Helms - directed by Paul Wendkos7) 1958: The Lineup - Eli Wallach, Robert Keith, Warner Anderson - directed by Don Siegel8) 1959: The Crimson Kimono - James Shigeta, Glenn Corbett, Victoria Shaw - directed by Samuel Fuller9) 1960: Man on a String - Ernest Borgnine, Kerwin Mathews, Alexander Scourby - directed by Andre DeTothLike Volumes One and Two, 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 one Blu-ray without any of the compromises mandated by DVD.All films are black and white and have English SDH subtitles.All are at least widescreen (1.85:1), ‘Pickup Alley’ was filmed in in Cinemascope (2.35:1).All nine have English SDH subtitles.No other extras - but see my review of ‘The Lineup’ below (titled “Don Siegel Before Dirty Harry”) *SHADOW ON THE WINDOW‘The Shadow on the Window’ (photo 1) was an unusually adult film for 1956.Eight year-old Jerry Mathers (just before ‘Leave It To Beaver’) plays a child who witnesses his mother being assaulted and kidnapped by three hoodlums.The kid is traumatized, and the rest of the film involves his father and police trying to communicate with him and rescue his mother.John Drew Barrymore (aka John Barrymore Jr.) plays a hoodlum.VICTOR MATURE, THE BRITISH MARILYN MONROE, and THE SWEDISH MARILYN MONROEVictor Mature had been a Hollywood star since he first showed off his scantily-clad physique in ‘One Million B.C.’ (1940), followed by ‘Samson and Delilah’, ‘The Robe’, ‘Demetrius and the Gladiators’, and ‘The Egyptian’.Despite starring roles in two classic films noir - ‘Kiss of Death’ (1947) and ‘Cry of the City’ (1948), Hollywood regarded Victor Mature as beefcake rather than a serious actor.By 1957, his career was on a downhill slide, so he tried his luck in England.Victor Mature starred with two of Europe’s answers to Marilyn Monroe:--- in ‘The Long Haul’ (photo 2), Mature was cast as an ex-GI truckdriver in Britain, who is lured into crime by the voluptuous blonde girlfriend (Diana Dors) of his crooked boss.--- in ‘Pickup Alley’ (photo 3), Mature is an FBI agent whose sister is murdered in the opening credits by psychotic drug kingpin Trevor Howard - luxury casting.Voluptuous Swedish blonde Anita Ekberg plays a drug courier.(Victor Mature was pretty voluptuous himself).‘Pickup Alley’ was filmed in New York, Paris, London, Rome, Madrid and Athens.It looks impressive. The only thing missing is color.This is the rare example of a film in Cinemascope and Glorious Black and White (perhaps they ran out of money).CLASSY CREDENTIALS‘She Played with Fire’ (photo 4 - 1957) is the third British film in this collection.It has very classy credentials:Written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder (Hitchcock’s ‘The Lady Vanishes’), and directed by Gilliat.British actor Jack Hawkins plays an insurance investigator looking into a fire at the estate of a wealthy Brit whose wife (Arlene Dahl) turns out to be Hawkins’ old girlfriend.More a traditional British manor house mystery than film noir, but enjoyable nonetheless.The pre-title dark and stormy night could have been borrowed from Hammer Films.This film even has Christopher Lee just before he became a star in ‘Horror of Frankenstein’.* DON SIEGEL BEFORE DIRTY HARRY‘The Lineup’ (photo 7), directed in 1958 by Clint Eastwood’s favorite director Don Siegel (a tie with Sergio Leone), stars Eli Wallach (in his second film) as a psychotic mafia hit man.Don Siegel was famous for the action sequences in his films.‘The Lineup’ features a spectacular car chase through the streets of San Francisco (sound familiar?).Don Siegel interview:“Years later, when I returned to San Francisco to shoot ‘Dirty Harry’, a police sergeant came up to me and pointed to his grey hair:“You did that to me when we worked on ‘The Lineup’. I'll never get over that chase. How we didn't kill anybody, I'll never know.”And I didn't know myself.The shot in which the car comes to a sudden stop at the edge of the unfinished freeway was no trick shot.There was a five-story sheer drop.The stuntman who drove the car had to be part insane.His girlfriend, doubling the mother, was in the car with him. She was hysterical for days after the shot.There was no way we could protect them... He knew what he was doing, but I was as nervous as the San Francisco police. If a tire blew, or he slid too fast, they were all dead." (TCM website)ONE REGRET: When Sony issued ‘The Lineup’ on DVD in 2009 as part of  Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics I (The Big Heat / 5 Against the House / The Lineup / Murder by Contract / The Sniper) , it included an audio commentary from Eddie Muller (TCM’s Noir Alley) and author James Ellroy that is not on the Blu-ray.(I guess it would have cost extra)Also available as a single DVD (with the audio commentary):  The Lineup (1958) The picture is better on Blu-ray, but I’m keeping my old DVD for Eddie Muller’s commentary.YES, THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN GIRL IN THE ARMS OF A JAPANESE BOY!“What was his strange appeal for American girls?”Despite the distasteful advertising campaign, ‘The Crimson Kimono’ (photo 8) was considered a progressive film in 1959.(American-born Detective Joe Kojaku of the Los Angeles police force, played by James Shigeta, is clearly not a Japanese boy).‘The Crimson Kimono’ was written, produced and directed by the legendary Sam Fuller.Two police detectives, one white, one Asian, investigate a murder in the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles.Complicated when both of them fall in love with the key witness.In the opening scene, passersby are startled when a half-naked stripper is murdered while running down an LA street:Sam Fuller interview:"I had the cameras hidden so I could get the reaction of real people seeing an almost naked girl running down Sixth and Main Street…It's real traffic, but it's timed… so we did it with stunt drivers and hidden cameras.I shot my gun into the sky and she falls.And as soon as we got it, we bundled her into a car and took off.And then the s--- hit the fan.A lot of people heard the shot, saw the girl fall, and they called the cops.” (TCM website)CONFESSIONS OF A COMMIE SPYErnest Borgnine stars as real-life composer and movie producer Boris Morros.‘Man on a String’ (photo 9), from 1960, was loosely based on his life story (he was co-writer of the screenplay).Morros was recruited as a Soviet spy in 1934 - the screenplay underplays Morros’ culpability, explaining that he was motivated by the need to protect family members still in Russia.Alexander Scourby plays his Russian handler (I used to think Scourby was British - turns out he was born in Brooklyn).In 1947, Morros was flipped by the FBI and became a counterspy for the U.S.In the film he does undercover work in West Berlin and Moscow - there may be some exaggeration here.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.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 Volumes One and Two.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. Sears Noir Archive Volume 2: 1954-1956 (9-film Collection) [Blu-ray ]1954: Bait - Cleo Moore, John Agar, Hugo Haas - directed by Hugo Haas1955: The Crooked Web - Frank Lovejoy, Mari Blanchard, Richard Denning - directed by Nathan Juran1955: Cell 2455, Death Row - William & Robert Campbell, Marian Carr - directed by Fred F. Sears1955: Five Against the House - Guy Madison, Brian Keith, Kim Novak - directed by Phil Karlson1955: The Night Holds Terror - Jack Kelly, Vince Edwards, John Cassavetes - directed by Andrew Stone1955: New Orleans Uncensored - Arthur Franz, Beverly Garland - directed by William Castle1955: Footsteps in the Fog - Stewart Grainger, Jean Simmons - directed by Arthur Lubin (only film in color)1956: Spin a Dark Web - Faith Domergue, Lee Patterson - directed by Vernon Sewell1956: Rumble on the Docks - James Darren, Robert Blake, Timothy Carey - directed by Fred F. SearsThere 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).

Before I had bright this collection, I only seen one of the films, Don Siegel's THE LINE UP before. What I love about that film, is showing San Francisco in 1957!What I didn't expect was the Quality of the other films, most specifically PICKUP ALLEY, a film produced in the UK by Albert R. Broccoli and Irving Allen. The director of Photography was the great Ted Moore, who went on to shoot many of the James Bond pictures, but here we see Mr. Moore as a master of deep focus cinematography, in Black and White Cinemascope!The picture opens with along tracking shot down Seventh Avenue, starting around 52nd Street and ending up just before 43rd street. Nearly every great movie theater is seen, from that era, from the Capitol and the Rivoli, to the Vicotoria and The Astor! The Cinerama Theater and the Criterion are also in this opening shot, done under the opening titles.So after this opening, I'm wondering, what is going on. John Gilling, a Brit making a film in New York?Well, as it turns out the picture, shifts locations, rather rapidly! We quickly go from New York, to London, to Lisbon, to Rome, to Athens... And it's like a prelude to what Cubby will do 4 years later with DR. NO!John Paxton wrote the script, and he was of course "suspect" for having communist leanings.The great Trevor Howard gives a performance which can only be called brilliant. After his role in THE THIRD MAN, apparently John Gilling and Cubby had the idea to cast Trevor Howard as a Crimminal mastermind! Imagine what Mr. Howard cold have done as Blofeld! And Mr.Gilling, following Trevor's role in THE THIRD MAN, shoots the entire finale in Dutch angles!Ted Moore, shoots the entire movie as if we were working for Orson Welles! Deep focus black and white camera, mostly all shot on locations in the various cities, where the action takes place.I don't recall another movie with less process shots from this era! Maybe two or three shots, at the most... but almost everything seemed to me, to be shot on location!Finally, Mr. Victor Mature. He is quite good, probably the best I have ever seen him.And this only one of mine films on this blu ray!I brought it for Don Siegel's THE LINE UP, and I getPICKUP ALLEY as a most welcome bonus picture!

I was looking forward to seeing this collection. It is Blue-Ray in 1080p High Definition so it should have been wonderful. The sound on all 3 discs was absent. I tried playing other discs in my player and the sound from them was absent. The discs were new, still had shrink wrap on it. There were no scratches on them.

I love the movies that keep you on edge for most of the picture. They are well worth watching. I enjoyed seeing Jerry Mathers in the first movie. He was younger than Beaver.

I have purchased all three volumes in this noir series and most of the movies are awful but there are some standouts here and there and THE LINEUP starring Eli ("Tuco") Wallach is worth the cost alone!

Great movie selections! I've purchased all 3 volumes...great quality and value!

Love noir in all its forms! Liked some ofthese titles better than others,but thinkall are worth a look.

another great collection are there any more to come