Sony has released an exciting new collection of Film Noir gems in association with Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation. Here is the official press release for the set, which will be released in July.
Sony
Pictures Entertainment (SPHE) and Martin Scorsese’s non-profit film
preservation organization, The Film Foundation, partner once again to bring
five films to DVD for the first time, fully-restored and re-mastered, in Columbia
Pictures Film Noir Classics II, debuting on DVD July 6. This must-have
collection includes Pushover (1954), Human Desire
(1954), The Brothers Rico (1957), Nightfall (1957)
and City of Fear (1959). In this second volume, renowned directors
Fritz Lang, Phil Karlson and Irving Lerner are joined by Jacques Tourneur and
Richard Quine in proving that lust, adultery, greed and revenge all add up to
cold, calculated murder. Film Noir Classics II takes viewers on a dark journey
among low-lifes and mobsters, cops and gun molls, and the dim-witted, hapless
pawns who forever changed the landscape of cinema, and whose doomed paths are
as disturbing today as when they were first committed to film.
The
bonus materials include special introductory featurettes with a trio of award
winning talent – “Martin Scorsese on The Brother’s Rico,†“Pulp
Paranoia†with Christopher Nolan and “Terror and Desire†with Emily Mortimer. Columbia
Pictures Film Noir Classics II will be available as a five-disc set for
$59.95 SRP.
Human
Desire (1954):
Korean War veteran Jeff Warren (Glenn Ford)
returns home to his old, familiar job as a railroad engineer, but he quickly
succumbs to his boss's wife, Vicky Buckley (played with frank, unvarnished
carnality by Gloria Grahame). Thus begins a tangled web of suspicion, sex and
murder involving Vicky and her thuggish husband Carl (Broderick Crawford, in a
display of brutish physicality). Directed by Fritz Lang, adapted from Emile Zola's
La Bete Humaine (famously filmed by Jean Renoir in 1939), Human
Desire evokes a powerful emotional landscape of envy, greed, lust and
violent anger.
Pushover
(1954):
Fred MacMurray, in a role reminiscent of
his classic noir, Double Indemnity, plays one of the duty-bound cops who
stake out the apartment of Lona McLane (Kim Novak), the girlfriend of a bank
robber-killer. Paul Sheridan (MacMurray) gets close to the beautiful
blonde in order to get the lowdown on her boyfriend and the stolen cash, but
she turns on the heat and he falls for her, leading to a double-cross with
fatal results. Directed by Richard Quine, screenplay by Roy Huggins (The
Fugitive), with E.G. Marshall, Philip Carey and Dorothy Malone.
Nightfall
(1957):
Directed by Jacques Tourneur (Out of the
Past), and drawn from one of the masterful, despairing novels of David
Goodis, Nightfall is the tale of an innocent man trapped in a
senseless and lethal web of seduction and crime. When a young man, an artist,
is ensnared in a bungled robbery and murder; he flees from the killers who then
relentlessly track him down in this taut thriller adapted for the screen by
Stirling Silliphant (In the Heat of the Night). The cinematography by
noir-specialist Burnett Guffey (In A Lonely Place, Human Desire, The
Brothers Rico) ranges from the elegant, shadowy, neon-lit city to a vast
and borderless winter landscape, ranking among his greatest achievements. Brian
Keith, Aldo Ray, Anne Bancroft star in this masterpiece.
The
Brothers Rico (1957):
Eddie Rico (Richard Conte), a
"respectable" businessman and husband, receives a call in the middle
of the night from his former mafia boss. Eddie’s deluded sense of loyalty
allows him to agree to one last favor, pulling him back into the violence and
terror of the mob and putting everything he loves in danger--including his wife
(Dianne Foster), and brother (James Darren). Phil Karlson directs this
cold, efficient noir, based on a story by Georges Simenon.
City
of Fear (1958):
Irving Lerner (Murder by Contract)
again directs Vince Edwards, this time as Vince Ryker, a convict who breaks out
of prison with a canister of what he thinks is pure heroin, hoping to make a
big score. But this white powder turns out to be a deadly radioactive substance
called Cobalt-60. As Vince tries to sell the "heroin", he works
through his sleazy contacts -- all of whom are doomed by their greed and
stupidity, with the police desperately trying to find him before he
contaminates the whole city. The setting is the modern suburban landscape of
Los Angeles, brilliantly photographed by Lucien Ballard (The Wild Bunch).
Special
Features Include:
Digitally Remastered Audio and Video, widescreen
Featurette: “Martin
Scorsese on The Brothers Ricoâ€
Featurette: “Pulp Paranoia†with Christopher Nolan
Featurette: “Terror and Desire†with Emily Mortimer
Original Theatrical Trailers
About The Film
Foundation
The Film Foundation (www.film-foundation.org)
is a nonprofit organization established in 1990 by Martin Scorsese. The
foundation is dedicated to protecting and preserving motion picture history,
and provides substantial annual support for preservation and restoration
projects at the leading film archives. Since its inception, the foundation has
been instrumental in raising awareness of the urgent need to preserve films and
has helped to save over 525 motion pictures. Joining Scorsese on the board are:
Woody Allen, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint
Eastwood, Curtis Hanson, Peter Jackson, Ang Lee, George Lucas, Alexander Payne,
Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg. The Film Foundation is aligned with the
Directors Guild of America whose President and Secretary-Treasurer serve on the
foundation’s board.
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