Well I know Road House is definitely considered a Noir so that is great news and [shamefully] I know little about Moontide as for Boomerang I'll believe it when I see it.
What with the rumoured Cry Of The City getting the CC treatment sometime soon this is getting better for the Fox Noir titles. The OCD part of my brain is wondering if the spine number of Boomerang will be #16 as per the withdrawn release [which I was lucky to pick up 1st time around].
This is welcome news. I already have Boomerang and i do not believe that it will ever be released at least until all the people connected to the killer have died.
What I mean by my enthusiasm is that these films I've been looking forward to seeing, unlike the last 6 or so titles in the series (aside from the Preminger's). I've always been a big fan of Kazan so noir or not I'm dying to see Boomerang.
Going back a bit to a previous film Call Northside 77 as I think some are passing it off without considering some of its merits, the shot of Jimmy Stewart silouette creeping to the door being bathed in light from an opened flat just of screen, to those I've superimposed onto the film for myself.
Didn't anyone think the first five minutes were in a league of their own, as if they came from another, far better film? Try watching it again, maybe pretent you've just discovered Henry Hathaway et al inserted library footage from a lost reel to a previously unknown Jean Pierre Melville film, your enjoyment of the sequences will increase tenfold.
Then there's the prison location for the other suspect, Hathaway lacks peripheral vision beyond the scene at hand he needs to get through, to make ANY use of it beyond a rudimentary pan right, then left along the same route and back out into the flat plains dullsville that mar the film as soon as possible.
Yet the location is endlessly fascinating, seemingly a prison whereupon the cells were arranged in an enclosed circle, several stories high around a large pit is not only awe-inspiring in its construction, but deeply disturbing. It looks very much like a modern construction of a Roman Colosseum - are the inmates required to fight one another in order to survive for the guards amusement? It's a crying shame that Jules Dassin never knew about it, would've been an ideal setting for Brute Force, who may well have been able to draw upon it and other US adoptions of Roman Architecture in its nation building to further sharpen his critique at the state of the nation and need of those below to try, but inevitably fail to overthrow.
I've always liked Northside 777. It's got a droll quietness hanging over it like a cloud infecting everyones performance which is a perfect match for the true story and the all-(actual)-location shooting-- it sort of caaptures the workaday boredom and cynicism of Stewarts character heading out onto what he believes is a bum assignment at first. It has more the feel of an actuality than the hyperreality of a noir, which suits the material perfectly. The doldrums of a man going thru his daily grind... until he realises he's onto something... Iwatch this film at least once a year.
Its the archetypal Stewart role though wouldn't you say ? Bearing in mind it is based on true events it sits comfortably with the perceived Stewart vehicle in his fictional roles.
Si Parallel Universe wrote:Its the archetypal Stewart role though wouldn't you say ? Bearing in mind it is based on true events it sits comfortably with the perceived Stewart vehicle in his fictional roles.
Sorry, what's the definition of the archetypal Stewart role again? Is it the guy from the Capra films, or the one from the Hitchcock movies, or maybe the Mann westerns? I just don't see Stewart as having an "archetypal" role. He's as diverse, if not more so, as any movie star of the era.
souvenir wrote:Sorry, what's the definition of the archetypal Stewart role again? Is it the guy from the Capra films, or the one from the Hitchcock movies, or maybe the Mann westerns? I just don't see Stewart as having an "archetypal" role. He's as diverse, if not more so, as any movie star of the era.
The drive of his character roles is a constant I find. Deterministic , but thats just my perception. I'm in no way suggesting that James Stewart is limited in his acting ability, far from it. Does that make more sense ?
Si Parallel Universe wrote:The drive of his character roles is a constant I find. Deterministic , but thats just my perception. I'm in no way suggesting that James Stewart is limited in his acting ability, far from it. Does that make more sense ?
I see and would agree with you. There's definitely a drive present in most of Stewart's dramatic characters. He's frequently on some tacit mission, but with a nagging handicap that serves as a terrific setback.
re - James Stewart. I always wondered if his archetypal diversity was a result of his experience in World War II. Once he resumed his career after the war ended, his acting style and choice of roles hardened and we get a screen personality that probably mirrored the lost youth of all who served. Easy to see this in a noir, but, even a movie set in a previous time, like the Mann westerns, viewers would know that the delightful young man in "The Philadelphia Story" was gone and someone who reflected their own experiences during the war - even if they merely lived through it - was up there on the screen.
Looking at the updated artwork and disc details on Classicflix.com: Look At the Fox Noir Trailers on The Discs. Is showing among the Fox Noir trailers on the discs for Road House and for Moontide is the title Inferno.
Also looking on amazon that Road House and Moontide are up for pre-order but no sign of Boomerang! .
Should we take this as a sign that we are unlikely to see Boomrang! on September 2nd ?
Amazon.ca seems to have wised up to the fact they are the only one listing Boomerang at this point.
It was at just under 12$ when I pre-ordered my copy 2 weeks ago, but now it's been jacked up to 16$, while the other two upcoming Fox Noir titles are still at the old price.
Barrie Maxwell is indicating in his newest roundup of classic dvds on digital bits that the September release of Boomerang will not happen in the US and will instead be replaced by another title, Inferno (1953). Once again Fox teases but does not deliver. However, it is okay because I already have a copy of Boomerang.
filmnoir1 wrote:Barrie Maxwell is indicating in his newest roundup of classic dvds on digital bits that the September release of Boomerang will not happen in the US and will instead be replaced by another title, Inferno (1953). Once again Fox teases but does not deliver. However, it is okay because I already have a copy of Boomerang.
Uh, not to get on your case, but did you read the entire bit? It says it MAY not happen and we'll have to wait and see if it's true or not.
Does anyone know why there are no longer using spine numbers for the collection? Could it be because they originally stated that there were only going to be 24 discs in the collection?
filmnoir1 wrote:Does anyone know why there are no longer using spine numbers for the collection? Could it be because they originally stated that there were only going to be 24 discs in the collection?
That would be my guess. But the AR in me is glad I got 1-24 with spine numbers including boomerang.
I just received my copy of Boomerang from amazon.ca. It's an exact duplicate of the initial release, including the packaging, which means it's the original layout, with the spine number. Even the copyright is 2006. Fox probably warehoused these after the recall, in expectation of the rights issues being resolved.
The other two new Fox Film Noir issues conform to the new packaging, which means no spine number and no insert booklet.
