by Barry Forshaw
FOUR FILM NOIR CLASSICS: THE DARK MIRROR (1946), SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR (1947), FORCE OF EVIL (1948), THE BIG COMBO (1955), Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang, Abraham Polonsky, Joseph H. Lewis, directors/Arrow Time can be kind to popular genres which were once held in relatively low esteem. When Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler were writing their remarkable private eye novels, they were considered low grade stuff — but just look at the acclaim that these writers now routinely enjoy! The same might be said of the great American Film Noir classics of the 1940s and early 50s which were perceived as audience-pleasing material of no lasting value. And although many have fallen by the wayside, the best of the genre (and there are many films that qualify) are now regarded as among the most striking products of the era. A particularly welcome aspect of the DVD and Blu-ray revolution has been the re-appearance from several companies of some of the best of these films – and there is a particularly cherishable batch currently available from Arrow. Cinéastes looking at the list of directors above will need no persuading to pick these up, particularly in these newly spruced-up editions, as they are largely the gems of the field. In THE DARK MIRROR (1946), directed by Robert Siodmak, Olivia de Havilland plays identical twin sisters (and, as is par for the course in such cases, one good and one evil); SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR (1947) is Fritz Lang’s riff on both the Bluebeard legend and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca; Abraham Polonsky’s FORCE OF EVIL (1948) has sleazy lawyer John Garfield, in one of the true classics of the genre, written in blank verse; while Joseph H. Lewis’s taut THE BIG COMBO (1955), sets cooper Cornel Wilde against Capo Richard Conte. An unmissable set.
COLUMBIA NOIR #3: JOHNNY O’CLOCK (1947), THE DARK PAST (1948), CONVICTED (1950), BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN (1950), THE SNIPER (1952), and CITY OF FEAR (1959)/Various directors/Powerhouse Indicator Blu-ray Arrow is not the only company to issue cherishable product in the film noir idiom, and the ongoing Columbia Noir series from Powerhouse Indicator is proving very welcome. It doesn’t matter if not every title in the individual boxes is not an ironclad classics – it can safely be said that there isn’t a single film that is without interest, and some are very accomplished indeed. The third instalment in the Indicator Columbia Noir series. boats six world premieres on Blu-ray – JOHNNY O’CLOCK (1947), THE DARK PAST (1948), CONVICTED (1950), BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN (1950), THE SNIPER (1952), and CITY OF FEAR (1959) – buttressed by perceptive commentaries, and a handsome 120-page book. The ringer here? The tense THE SNIPER, produced by Stanley Kramer and directed by Edward Dmytryk.
THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, Marin Ritt, director/Eureka Entertainment John le Carré’s THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1963) remains the finest of all modern espionage novels. The narrative of the tragic British spy Alec Leamas achieves a genuine tragic dimension, and there is not another novel in the genre that has plotting as consummate as this, with every piece of sleight-of-hand played on both the characters and the reader supremely satisfying. Finally, though, it’s the not-a-wasted-word economy of the book that astonishes. It’s interesting to speculate how much of his massive popularity John le Carré owes to Martin Ritt’s perfectly honed adaptation of his novel. The author enjoyed immense success, but that final plateau of celebrity may be down to Ritt’s film. All the key elements of the source novel are incorporated in the top-notch Paul Dehn screenplay, while those elisions that were necessary are seamlessly done – it’s hard to imagine a more copasetic adaptation. The icing on the cake is, of course, Richard Burton, as Leamas. Too often the actor made unfortunate choices in his film roles – a fact he was all too aware of. Burton, thankfully, seized this opportunity with both hands. The Masters of Cinema series presents the film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK from a restored high-definition digital transfer with uncompressed LPCM Stereo audio
DUEL, Steven Spielberg, director/Fabulous Films Steven Spielberg’s first full length movie is now available in this 50th Anniversary Edition (spruced up with new art work by Graham Humphreys). In 1971 Spielberg’s secretary Nona Tyson handed him a copy of Playboy saying “I think this is right up your alley”. She was referring to DUEL, a short story in the magazine by Richard Matheson. Spielberg landed in the director’s chair for DUEL to be made as a television movie. But after editing, the unusual decision was made to film extra scenes for a theatrical release — giving Spielberg the leap from TV to the cinema. Spielberg was a fan of silent movies and created one of the most uniquely menacing “characters” in movie history: a massive, roaring 40-ton truck with more sheer menace than most flesh-and-blood villain. The truck was cast just like any other actor, Spielberg auditioned seven different semi-trucks settling on a 1955 Peterbilt 281, because the front of the truck resembled a face. Dennis Weaver stars as the travelling salesman waging a battle for survival after he is mysteriously singled out for destruction by the truck. Extras include a conversation with Spielberg, Steven Spielberg and the small screen, and Richard Matheson: Writing of DUEL.
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME, Ridley Scott, director/Powerhouse Indicator Blu-ray The demand for product in the Blu-ray medium is having the effect of allowing viewers to look again at some films which were unfairly neglected on their first appearance. For those who initially saw Ridley Scott’s neo-noir thriller SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME in earlier iterations, this new disc will be a revelation. The film may not be among the first rank of Scott’s work, but it has the visual panache that is the hallmark of his films, along with some very efficient playing by an appreciable cast. Tom Berenger is a working-class detective assigned to protect the upscale witness of a murder (played by Mimi Rogers) – with, inevitably, thing going dangerously wrong. Scott’s film is presented by Indicator in a 2K restoration.
ONE ARMED BOXER, Jimmy Wang Yu, director/ Eureka Entertainment The astonishing, balletic fight scene choreography of Jimmy Wang Yu’s film made ONE ARMED BOXER a cult favourite on its first fuzzy appearance on home video, but it didn’t look anything like as impressive as here. In fact, the film comes across now as a predecessor of superhero movies, with the highly unlikely stunts reminding the viewer of the kind of things we normally see people in capes and masks performing. The first print run of 2000 copies will feature a limited-edition O-card slipcase, collector’s booklet and reversible poster.
BATTLE ROYALE, BATTLE ROYALE II, Kinji Fukasaku, director/ Arrow Blu-ray 4K The phrase ‘cult film’ is often bandied about with carelessness, and applied to works that really don’t deserve the encomium. But the remarkable (and exhilarating) BATTLE ROYALE justifies the description – and then some, not least for the total command of cinema demonstrated by director – the film looking pinprick sharp in this 4K transfer. With its vison of a totalitarian Japan, the film presents forty-odd junior high school students who are sent to a remote island, handed weapons and instructed to murder one other – a radical solution to juvenile delinquency. In charge is the inexpressive but menacing ‘Beat’ Takeshi Kitano. In the sequel, BATTLE ROYALE II, a new batch of delinquents are obliged to continue the carnage. Both films sport alternative cuts and copious extras, including behind the scenes featurettes and interviews.
IRREVERSIBLE, Gaspar Noé, Powerhouse Indicator Blu-ray Whenever a film in the past was described as ‘not for the squeamish’, it was usually hyperbole designed to tempt the unwary – customarily, the product on offer didn’t deliver on the shocks that the advertising copy promised (or threatened). But there are films which did exactly what it said on the tin, and Gaspar Noé’s extreme saga of rape and bloody revenge is exactly line with the director’s earlier confrontational work, sparing the viewer nothing. The experience of the film is quite unlike anything you may have seen before – and in this case, that’s literally true as the director chooses to tell his tale backwards (inspired by Harold Pinter’s Betrayal); but it has undergone a rather remarkable transformation here: there is now an opportunity to view the film with the chronology reversed – in other words, with events in the right order. But the shock value is undimmed. the film has received to a new, director-approved 4K restoration, including the original theatrical cut and the new ‘straight’ cut.
KARLOFF AT COLUMBIA, Various directors/ Eureka Entertainment The rivalry between the great horror film actors Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi was well known, but Bela’s ghost would not be pleased by this issue of Karoff’s films for Columbia studios, proving that he was a far more flexible performer than his Hungarian rival – even if the films themselves tend to repeat tropes from film to film. But everything here will please the Karloff admirer. The Limited-Edition Blu-ray set includes THE BLACK ROOM, THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG, THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES, BEFORE I HANG and THE DEVIL COMMANDS, Karloff’s the “Mad Doctor” cycle. And best of all? THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU, a winning parody of the “Mad Doctor” films, starring both Karloff and Peter Lorre. Extras include commentaries from author Stephen Jones and author/critic Kim Newman.
FORTHCOMING FROM ARROW
Arrow Video tells us: The 1970s were a time of intense uncertainty and instability in Italy. Political corruption and widespread acts of left and right-wing terrorism, alongside a breakdown in social cohesion and a loss of trust in public institutions such as the government and police, created a febrile atmosphere of cynicism, paranoia and unexploded rage. Throughout this period, these sentiments found expression in a series of brutal, often morally ambiguous crime thrillers which tapped into the atmosphere of violence and instability that defined the so-called Years of Lead. This box set gathers five films from the heyday of the “poliziotteschi” – the umbrella term used to describe this diverse body of films. In Vittorio Salerno’s SAVAGE THREE (1975) and Mario Imperoli’s LIKE RABID DOGS (1976), random acts of violence committed by vicious young sociopaths threaten the fragile fabric of respectable society. In Massimo Dallamano’s COLT 38 SPECIAL SQUAD (1976) and Stelvio Massi’s HIGHWAY RACER (1977), renegade cops battling against red tape and political corruption turn to new and morally dubious methods to dispense justice. Finally, class dynamics are explored in Salerno’s NO, THE CASE IS HAPPILY RESOLVED (1973) as an innocent man finds himself under suspicion for a savage crime committed by a highly respected member of society.
Decried by critics for their supposedly fascistic overtones, the poliziotteschi were in fact more ideologically varied and often considerably more nuanced than such superficial readings would suggest, and proved a huge hit with theatergoers, who responded to their articulation of present-day social concerns. Featuring an impressive line-up of Euro-cult stars, including Joe Dallesandro (The Climber), Ivan Rassimov (Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key), Maurizio Merli (Violent City) and Enrico Maria Salerno (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage), this collection of stylish, hard-hitting Euro-crime thrillers showcases the range and breadth of the genre and is a must-have for newcomers and grizzled veterans alike.