Review: World Noir Vol 1
The latest release from Radiance Films (and their final release of what has been a superb 1st year for them) is World Noir Vol 1, a box set containing three noir classics from around the world, with this particular collection concentrating on releases from the 1950s.
1957s I Am Waiting is a Japanese noir which begins with Saeko (Mie Kitahara) being rescued from an attempted suicide by Jôji Shimaki (Yûjirô Ishihara), the catalyst for a love affair being derailed by the pasts of them both catching up with them.
Slowly paced with beautiful rain sodden locations and an intriguing narrative, the only let down is the poorly choreographed fight scenes.
My favourite of the set is the 1959 French noir Witness in the City.
A murder on train kicks proceedings of in an interesting way, with Pierre Verdier (Jacques Berthier) killing his mistress Jeanne Ancelin (Françoise Brion) by throwing her off aforementioned train.
Her husband, Ancelin (Lino Ventura, looking uncannily like George C. Scott throughout), decides to take revenge on Verdier, who has been acquitted of the crime.
So begins a game of cat-and-mouse as Ancelin plans the perferfect revenge, not knowing that events would play out unexpectedly, leaving the “cat” becoming the one being hunted.
The twisting narrative throws curveballs at both Ancelin and the viewer, as seemingly innocuous circumstances conspire to create a weaving web of obstacles for the original simple plan to come to fruition.
Closing out the set is 1959s Italian noir The Facts of Murder, a police procedural with shades of giallo, and a big dollop of the television detective Columbo (as both myself and Tina commented on while watching).
Co-writer and director Pietro Germi is also the lead; Inspector Ciccio Ingravallo, who heads up the investigation of a murder.
Uncovering clues that seem to bring him closer to the killer, subsequent information leads him down an entirely different path, keeping both him and the viewer guessing as to who the killer may be, as well as their motive.
Radiance Films over this past year have brought to my attention many films that otherwise may well have passed me by, with 3 more being in this great box set. So if you have any interest in the noir genre, or even just an interest in movies from around the world, then this set is definitely worth picking up, especially with the informative set of special features included too.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New 4K restoration of The Facts of Murder carried out by L’Immagine Ritrovata at the Cineteca di Bologna, presented on Blu-ray for the first time in the world
- 2K restoration of Witness in the City, on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK
- High Definition digital transfer of I Am Waiting, on Blu-ray for the first time in the world
- Original uncompressed mono PCM audio for all films
- Optional English subtitles for all films
- Newly designed artwork based on original posters
- Limited edition 80-page perfect bound booklet featuring new writing on the films by critics and experts including Barry Forshaw on noir represented outside the US, William Carroll on post-war occupation period in Japanese cinema, Hayley Scanlon on Japanese noir, an interview with Edouard Molinaro, Roberto Curti on the hybrid nature of Italian cinema, and Sam Wigley on 50s world noir from other countries
- Limited Edition of 3000 copies, presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases for each film and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
I AM WAITING
- Audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
- Yujiro in Europe – a documentary on star Yujiro Ishihara during location shooting in Europe (1959, 41 mins)
- The Yujiro Effect – a visual essay by Mark Schilling (2023, 13 mins)
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
WITNESS IN THE CITY
- Introduction by critic Tony Rayns (2023, 17 mins)
- Interview with Philippe Durant, biographer of Lino Ventura, who speaks about the film and the iconic actor (2014, 11 mins)
- French noir – critic and author Ginette Vincendeau provides an overview of noir in France during the 1950s (2023, 23 mins)
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
THE FACTS OF MURDER
- New interview with Pietro Germi expert Mario Sesti (2023, 47 mins))
- The Man With the Cigar in His Mouth – a documentary about Pietro Germi featuring interviews with his colleagues and collaborators including Mario Monicelli, Claudia Cardinale, Stefania Sandrelli, Giuseppe Tornatore among others (Mario Sesti, 1997, 41 mins)
- What’s Black and Yellow All Over? All Shades of Italian Film Noir – visual essay by Paul A. J. Lewis on the presence of noir trends in Italian cinema and the evolution of the genre (2023, 19 mins)
- Newly translated English subtitles
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork
Review by Dave from discs kindly supplied by Radiance Films via Aim Publicity.
