criterionforum.org

In the latest issue of The Sentinel, Eddie Muller had this to say in response to a query about future Fox film noir releases:

I'm not sure why Fox lost its momentum last fall, but another three titles, none of them are Boomerang or The Brasher Doubloon, will be coming soon. From what I've heard, Boomerang is dead in the water. Those who got a copy before the recall have collector's items. Cry of the City will come from Criterion, not Fox. I have no clue why Doubloon has not been released. Should we ask Clive Owen?

The final reference to Clive Owen is probably due to the news that he will be bringing Marlowe back to movie screens in the near future.

wow, Cry of the City from Criterion. I never saw that one coming.

did they run out of films or what

Foxclassics is listing these as upcoming:

Daisy Kenyon
Dangerous Crossing
Black Widow
Boomerang!

Interesting to see Boomerang! listed. Fox must've cleared up whatever legal issues there were regarding that release.

souvenir wrote:

HerrSchreck wrote:14 HOURS was a worthy addition to this clearly weaker lot

I found this one to be a letdown and the least noir of any of the Fox series titles I've seen yet.

I loved 14 Hours, though I think you're right about Douglas not being "right". Basehart was perfect for this, though, and the film couldn't have had better cinematography (with all the process shots looking fantastic). Hathaway's noirs are all great (and I was impressed with 13 Rue Madeline as well from that same period). The commentarist for this disc, Foster Hirsch, throws in an early jibe towards Wilder's Ace In The Hole, saying that in comparison with 14 Hours it's "smug", and less interesting in its treatment of the media. After that he pretty much describes the action on the screen, and reminds us a few more times that its Grace Kelly's first film.

mogwai wrote:Foxclassics is listing these as upcoming:

Daisy Kenyon
Dangerous Crossing
Black Widow
Boomerang!

The cover art:

I like the look of the new covers but I have to express my feeling that I wish they would have tried to maintain some consistency with their release schedule and the design. It is supposed to be a collection afterall and in some ways they originally looked like the covers of the "pulps" that inspired so many of these films. Still it is nice to see that Fox has not abandoned the line.

filmnoir1 wrote:I like the look of the new covers but I have to express my feeling that I wish they would have tried to maintain some consistency with their release schedule and the design. It is supposed to be a collection afterall and in some ways they originally looked like the covers of the "pulps" that inspired so many of these films. Still it is nice to see that Fox has not abandoned the line.

It would be nice, if Fox would continue to release real "Noirs" and no thrillers/crime films.
I like the "older" look (vol. 1-21) too.

I am not trying to sound picky here but when discussing film noirs it is important to remember that when these films were made and released they were referred to as action/crime/thrillers or even better they were known as "red meat" films as Sherri Biesen notes in her book Blackout. These were films designed for male audiences after all.

filmnoir1 wrote:I wish they would have tried to maintain some consistency with their ... design.

The spines look similar to the old range. So when you put them into your DVD shelf they shouldn't look out of place.

Any word on when these are coming out? Very excited to see more Preminger, though I don't know anything about the other 3. Any of them worth seeing too?

Boomerang! is mildly interesting if you're a fan of the police procedural subgenre of noir.

Daisy Kenyon is an excellent woman's picture, with great performances by all concerned. I'm not sure what it's doing in this series (no crime occurs), but I'm glad to see it come available.

so are these ever coming out or what

Jack Phillips wrote:Daisy Kenyon is an excellent woman's picture, with great performances by all concerned. I'm not sure what it's doing in this series (no crime occurs), but I'm glad to see it come available.

Ditto. Haven't yet seen it, but all of Preminger's early stuff has provided me with much more pleasure than his later movies.

By the way, there was no crime in James M. Caine's novel "Mildred Pierce" either. The murder was added to the screenplay.

filmnoir1 wrote:I like the look of the new covers but I have to express my feeling that I wish they would have tried to maintain some consistency with their release schedule and the design. It is supposed to be a collection afterall and in some ways they originally looked like the covers of the "pulps" that inspired so many of these films. Still it is nice to see that Fox has not abandoned the line.

I totally agree, by the way. These covers look like the Brahm set-- clearly the same person who did those three did these three... and since they're two seperate "collections" there should be just a touch of uniformity to each... and separation in a sense beween the two.

Glad to hear about CRY OF THE CITY coming from CC. If true, good news (though I'm not sure how much better a CC will be than a Fox release.. the CC will be a bunch more expensive though, thats fursure.)

doubt Boomerang will ever be released

mogwai wrote:Foxclassics is listing these as upcoming:

Daisy Kenyon
Dangerous Crossing
Black Widow

DVD Empire has these for pre-order to be released on March 11.

FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT'S LATEST LINE-UP
OF SUSPECTS HITS THE MEAN STREETS ON DVD MARCH 11

BLACK WIDOW
DAISY KENYON
DANGEROUS CROSSING

Restored And Remastered, Each Of These Gritty Noir Classics Comes
Fully-Loaded With Audio Commentaries, Still And Poster Galleries,
Featurettes, An Interactive Pressbook Gallery And More!

CENTURY CITY, Calif. – Darkness and shadow have never looked better than Fox Home Entertainment's latest line-up of unusual suspects; brooding film noir classics steeped in intrigue, betrayal and deception, fully restored suspense masterpieces Black Widow, Daisy Kenyon and Dangerous Crossing emerge from the studio vault and onto DVD for the first time ever on March 11. An electrifying drama about a predatory female – and the first crime-of-passion story to be presented in Cinemascope – Black Widow (1954) stars Oscar®-winners Ginger Rogers (Best Actress, Kitty Foyle: The Natural History Of A Woman, 1940) and Van Heflin (Best Supporting Actor, Johnny Eager, 1942) as well as nominee Gene Tierney (Best Actress, Leave Her To Heaven, 1945) and George Raft (Some Like It Hot, Scarface) in a murderous tale of Broadway ambition. A classic love triangle featuring heartbreak and betrayal, Daisy Kenyon (1947) stars Oscar-winners Joan Crawford (Best Actress, Mildred Pierce, 1954) and Henry Fonda (Best Actor, On Golden Pond, 1981), with a powerful supporting performance by noir-staple Dana Andrews (Laura, Boomerang) and stunning black-and-white direction by three-time Academy Award nominee Otto Preminger (Laura, 1944; Anatomy Of A Murder, 1959 and The Cardinal, 1963). Exploring the darkest corners of the mind, the classic psychological thriller Dangerous Passage stars Oscar-nominee Jeanne Crain (Best Actress, Pink, 1949) and Michael Rennie (The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Robe) in a high-seas mystery.

Each of the Film Noir DVDs comes fully restored and remastered, with film historian audio commentaries, poster art, still galleries, theatrical trailers, interactive pressbook galleries and more for the suggested retail price of $14.98 U.S./$16.98 Canada. Prebook is February 13.

BLACK WIDOW
Nancy Ordway (Peggy Ann Garner) is an aspiring writer hoping to make it big in New York at the expense of everyone around her, including Broadway producer Peter Denver (Van Heflin), who reluctantly lets her use his apartment to work during the day. And when Peter's wife Iris (Gene Tierney) comes home from a trip to find Nancy dead in the bathroom, the assigned detective, Lt. Bruce (George Raft), soon realizes this assumed suicide is more likely a murder. Everyone Ordway knew is suddenly suspect while a series of flashbacks reveal that she was weaving her own plan to climb the social ladder…

Bonus features include:
· Audio commentary by film noir historian, Alan K. Rode
· Ginger Rogers at Twentieth Century Fox featurette
· Gene Tierney: Final Curtain for a Noir Icon featurette
· Poster, still, and behind the scenes galleries
· Interactive pressbook
· Theatrical trailer

DAISY KENYON
Daisy Kenyon (Joan Crawford) is a lovelorn commercial artist caught in a romantic triangle with two men ─ one she loves but cannot have and one who's love she cannot return. While in an emotionally draining love affair with married attorney Dan O'Mara (Dana Andrews), who refuses to leave his wife, she meets returning army sergeant Peter Lapham (Henry Fonda) ─ a decent and gentle man ─ who instantly falls in love with her. Although she carries a torch for Dan, she knows Peter will give her the secure life she desires and she agrees to marry him. But when Dan divorces his wife, Daisy is suddenly torn between her obligations…and her passions.

Bonus features include:
· Audio commentary by Film Noir historian, Foster Hirsch
· From Journeyman to Artist: Otto Preminger at Twentieth Century Fox featurette
· Life in the Shadows: The Making of Daisy Kenyon
· Poster, still, and behind the scenes galleries
· Interactive pressbook
· Theatrical trailer

DANGEROUS CROSSING
Ruth Bowman (Jeanne Crain) is a new bride glowing with delight as she and her charming new husband John (Carl Betz), set sail on the S.S. Monrovia for a transatlantic honeymoon. But when John inexplicably vanishes, Ruth discovers that no one on the ship has any record of his existence! As she slips into hysteria, Ruth has to prove that her marriage ─ and John's existence ─ is not just her own delusion. The ship's physician, Dr. Paul Manning (Michael Rennie), might be the only person onboard who can save Ruth from a terrifying predicament.

Bonus features include:
· Audio commentary by film historian, Aubrey Solomon
· Peril at Sea: Charting a Dangerous Crossing
· Poster, still, and behind the scenes galleries
· Interactive pressbook
· Theatrical trailer

Thanks, Jeff, for posting the specs. No reason to assume that any of these will be disappointing, but, even if they are, the bonus features and commentary tracks always make me satisfied with my purchase.
I am unfamiliar with these film historians who will be doing the commentaries - anyone know anything about them?

There are no bad films noir, and even the sort of bad ones, such as THE RACKET and LADY IN THE LAKE are enlivened by their commentary tracks.

Solomon's been on several of the Fox Studio Classics, the Snake Pit and some others that escape me.

Belmondo wrote:I am unfamiliar with these film historians who will be doing the commentaries - anyone know anything about them?

Foster Hirsch is the author of the new Preminger biography. He also did a commentary (that I haven't listened to yet) on Mankiewicz's House of Strangers. I think he's written a couple of books on noir as well.

They are all fantastic additionally for one huge and overriding reason: they are not Ursini and Silver. These guys are spent and talked out and to top it off they hate each other's guts. The honeymoon is clearly over, and they are suffering workrelationship-rot the same way bands self destruct on tour or in the studio right after a tour after spending WAY too much time together. I think each is feeling they wound up somehow having half-a-career, and won't be considered for an audio essay without the other.

When you sleepwalk through the recovered/resurrected masterpieces of John Brahm and Brute Force, you've hit the end of the line. They need time in the woods beating primevial drums made of rough hides and screaming at the top of their lungs.

Silver is so annoying, the petulant sound of his snobby, always slightly irritated voice... grrrr. Then you see the guy, which is like motionless slapstick.

I can't wait to see Daisy Kenyon!

There's a Foster Hirsch commentary and davidhare likes the film so now I'm really interested! However, how's Fonda in Daisy Kenyon?