Saturday, February 5, 2022

Repeat Performance BLU RAY REVIEW + Unboxing | Film Noir | Flicker Alley

 


Buy Repeat Performance from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3J4othD


#RepeatPerformance #BluRay #Review


Repeat Performance is not available on 4K Ultra HD (UHD). This Blu-ray edition also includes the DVD.


Alfred L. Werker's Repeat Performance (1947), starring Louis Hayward, Joan Leslie, Virginia Field, Tom Conway, and Richard Basehart.


Released by Flicker Alley.


Repeat Performance, the most requested film in the early years of the Film Noir Foundation's restoration campaign, is finally available in digital form! An amazingly original hybrid of film noir, supernatural fantasy, and backstage melodrama, the film stars Joan Leslie as a Broadway actress who magically relives the previous year of her life, but can she alter the fateful mistakes and misjudgments that led to a New Year's Eve tragedy? Think of it as film noir's answer to It's a Wonderful Life or a full-length precursor to The Twilight Zone.


Produced as a rare prestige picture by fledgling Eagle-Lion Pictures, the movie features an array of vivid performances: 21-year-old Joan Leslie as Sheila Page, her first mature role following a parade of teenage ingenues at Warner Bros.; Louis Hayward as her husband Barney, a bitter and vengeful playwright; Virginia Field as Sheila's personal and professional rival, Paula Costello; Tom Conway as suave stage producer John Friday; and Richard Basehart in his movie debut as poet William Williams, one of the era's most sensitive depictions of a gay artist.


In the years after its 1947 release, Repeat Performance seemingly vanished. For many who'd seen it, the film's startling premise and stunning set-pieces became merely a tantalizing memory. It fell so far off the cultural radar people began to think they'd only imagined the movie. But thanks to the dedication and diligence of the Film Noir Foundation, Repeat Performance was restored in collaboration with UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Packard Humanities Institute. And now, it lives again in a beautiful Blu-ray/DVD dual-format edition loaded with special features.


Special Features and Technical Specs:


NEW RESTORATION BY UCLA FILM & TELEVISION ARCHIVE

VIDEO INTRODUCTION by author, film historian, and "noirchaeologist" Eddie Muller who describes the film's restoration process and puts Repeat Performance in context as part of a sub-genre of supernatural noir 

VIDEO PROFILE OF JOAN LESLIE by author and film historian Farran Smith Nehme who describes the actress' transition from teenage ingenue roles to mature adult performances

MINI-DOCUMENTARY on the history of Eagle-Lion Pictures, written and narrated by author and film historian Alan K. Rode and produced by film director and author Steven C. Smith

AUDIO COMMENTARY by film historian Nora Fiore ("The Nitrate Diva") featuring an in-depth history of the film's production

DIGITAL PRESS BOOK: A complete, on-disc "page turning" digital edition of the film's original 1947 pressbook

SOUVENIR BOOKLET featuring author Brian Light's book-to-film comparison of the original 1942 William O'Farrell novel with screenwriter Walter Bullock's script, along with an array of original photos, lobby cards, and posters. 


REGION-FREE

Sunday, June 6, 2021

Essential Film Noir Collection 2 - BLU RAY REVIEW + Unboxing & Menu | Via Vision | Imprint Films


Reviewing and unboxing the Essential Film Noir Collection 2 on Blu-ray. 


Buy it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/34AThUQ


#EssentialFilmNoirCollection2 #BluRay #Review


The Essential Film Noir Collection 2 is not available on 4K Ultra HD (UHD). This edition does not include the DVD or Digital HD.



LIMITED 4 DISC HARDBOX EDITION WITH UNIQUE ARTWORK ON THE FIRST 1500 COPIES!


This collection includes four more acclaimed and much sought after classics including Hollywood Story (1951), The City That Never Sleeps (1953), Plunder of the Sun (1953) and Private Hell 36 (1954) 


Hollywood Story (1951)


During the 1950s Hollywood, an independent producer unwisely opens an old can of worms when he decides to make a movie about the 1929 unsolved murder of a famous silent-film director. Starring Richard Conte With cameos by silent film stars such as Helen Gibson and Francis X. Bushman and produced by William Castle.


Special Features and Technical Specs:


* 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray

* NEW Audio Commentary with professor and film scholar Jason A. Ney (2020)

* NEW Interview with film author & critic Kim Newman on “Hollywood Story” (2020)

* Julie Adams on “Hollywood Story”

* Eddie Muller host of TCM’s Noir Alley and Film Noir Foundation President on “Hollywood Story”

* Theatrical Trailer

* LPCM 2.0 Mono

* Optional English subtitles


City That Never Sleeps (1953)


Film Noir veterans John H. Auer (Hell’s Half Acre) and Steve Fisher (I Mobster) directed and wrote this police thriller in the vein of the popular Detective Story of two years earlier. Johnny Kelly, who plans on resigning from the police force and leaving his wife the next day, has a very eventful last night on duty.


Special Features and Technical Specs:


* 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray

* NEW Audio commentary film critic and historian Imogen Sara Smith (2020)

* NEW Interview with author & film critic Kim Newman On ”City That Never Sleeps” (2020)

* Theatrical Trailer

* LPCM 2.0 Mono

* Optional English subtitles


Plunder of the Sun (1953)


Glenn Ford stars as an American insurance agent who is hired to smuggle a mysterious package from Cuba to Mexico. After his employer is suddenly murdered, Ford winds up embroiled in a hunt for an ancient Zapotecan treasure along with a down-and-out archeologist and a shady antiquities dealer. Diana Lynn, Patricia Medina co-star.


Special Features and Technical Specs:


* 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray

* Audio commentary by Peter Ford (Glen Ford’s son) and writer/historian Frank Thompson

* NEW Video Interview with film critic Barry Forshaw on “Plunder In The Sun” (2020)

* On Location with Glenn Ford” – Brief series of photos accompanied by Peter Ford’s reading of a letter his father wrote to his grandmother while on location.

* “Plundering History” featurette

* The John Wayne Stock Company: Sean McClory” featurette

* Photo Gallery

* Theatrical Trailer

* LPCM 2.0 Mono

* Optional English subtitles


Private Hell 36 (1954)


Ida Lupino co-wrote and stars in this classic film noir about a desperate cop (Steve Cochran) straying off the straight-and-narrow, falling for a world-weary lounge singer (Lupino), and betraying his honest partner (Howard Duff). Directed with grim, artful efficiency by Don Siegel.


Special Features and Technical Specs:


* 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray

* NEW Audio Commentary with Film Historian Drew Casper (2021)

* NEW Video Essay with film critic Kat Ellinger on Ida Lupino (2020)

* NEW Featurette about the early career of Don Siegel (2021)

* NEW Video Interview with film critic Barry Forshaw on “Private Hell 36”

* Theatrical Trailer

* LPCM 2.0 Mono

* Optional English subtitles


Special features and artwork subject to change.

Imprint No 45, 46, 47 & 48


Directors: Don Siegel, John Farrow, William Castle, John H. Auer 


Writers: Jonathan Latimer, Frederick Kohner, Collier Young, Steve Fisher, David Dodge 


Starring: Glenn Ford, Ida Lupino, Gig Young, Richard Conte, Mala Powers 


Producers: Robert Fellows, Collier Young, Leonard Goldstein, John H. Auer, William Grady, Jr.



Friday, January 15, 2021

Fatman BLU RAY REVIEW + Unboxing | Mel Gibson


Reviewing and unboxing Fatman on Blu-ray.

Buy Fatman on Blu-ray from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ifRpHg

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Double Indemnity - Discussion Tribute + BLU RAY REVIEW | Fred MacMurray ...


Documentary discussion and review about Double Indemnity, the great film noir on Blu-ray.
Buy it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3qQvr1p

Monday, December 7, 2020

As Good as It Gets - Discussion Tribute + Blu Ray REVIEW | Jack Nicholso...


Documentary tribute discussing As Good as It Gets, the wonderful film on Blu-ray.
Buy it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3lO4LKY






Sunday, December 6, 2020

Tenet 4K Blu Ray REVIEW + Unboxing | John David Washington, Robert Patti...


Reviewing and unboxing Tenet on Blu-ray 4K Ultra HD (UHD). 

Buy it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2InXGDm


Friday, December 4, 2020

Sunset Boulevard - Discussion Tribute + BLU RAY REVIEW | William Holden,...


Discussing Sunset Blvd., the wonderful film noir on Blu-ray, which is celebrating it’s 70th anniversary.
Buy it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2VDKLzX

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Blade 4K Blu Ray REVIEW + Unboxing | Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff


Reviewing and unboxing Blade on Blu-ray 4K Ultra HD (UHD). 

Buy it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3fYNVYp