IMPRINT FILMS NEO NOIR AND MORE NOIR Haul!

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Hello there.

[00:00:02]Welcome to Just the Discs.

[00:00:04]Talk about Blu-rays here.

[00:00:06]And we talk about genres and styles.

[00:00:10]And uh filmmaking pockets that we enjoy.

[00:00:16]Like film noir for instance.

[00:00:20]And today we're talking about a one-two punch of two box sets from Imprint Films.

[00:00:28]We have uh the neo-noir after dark Sorry, neo-noir cinema collection after dark uh volume four. And then we have the essential film noir collection six.

[00:00:45]So two big old box sets uh all about film noir. I'm going to start with the new stuff.

[00:00:54]And these boxes from Imprint are really nice. And um they I've said this before, they have full discs in them so they are very large. I can't you know, stand them up because they're just too big. Um but that's okay. I just want to read this quote on the back of the box here. It says, "There's a beguiling and mag magnetic mood. There's so much darkness and there's so much room to dream. There mysteries and there are people in trouble and uneasiness." David Lynch.

[00:01:31]It's a great quote. Um So this uh after dark neo-noir cinema collection four includes uh Wild at Heart David Lynch's film.

[00:01:44]Uh it includes a 4K of Unlawful Entry uh the Jonathan Kaplan film. The Getaway, the remake. Mulholland Falls.

[00:01:54]Freeway and City of Industry.

[00:01:57]So, you have six movies here plus a book. And I'm not talking about a booklet, folks.

[00:02:04]This is a hardbound book of essays on these films, and I will get to that shortly. Um But, uh let us start with Unlawful Entry, shall we? Because, um it's the 4K of the bunch.

[00:02:25]Uh it is uh a fascinating film, I must say, for sure.

[00:02:32]Um and uh so, I feel like this got a 4K stateside from Shout, maybe? Cuz Shout put out the blue.

[00:02:43]But, this is a fascinating movie, and I do love uh Jonathan Kaplan as a filmmaker. He's >> [sighs] >> just one of those guys that um is a little less heralded than his uh classmates, if you will. And by that, I mean the guys that made movies with him in the Roger Corman school, if you will.

[00:03:07]Like that you know, low-budget, you know, making stuff cheaply. I think he did like And he did like a nurses movie.

[00:03:18]It was Private Duty. I can't remember which. Um or it was Student. Uh then he did the blaxploitation classic Truck Turner, which got a 4K from Shout, which I'm really glad about. I finally got a a hold of that.

[00:03:32]Um and then he did like White Line Fever, and he started to sort of break out into uh you know, his own Hollywood filmmaking.

[00:03:42]You know, he made The Accused and Bad Girls, and just a really fascinating and talented filmmaker that I definitely miss. you know, just a really really cool um auteur, if you will. And and so I really dig his stuff. Um So this volume four set uh and it's predecessors are all really nice sets.

[00:04:13]And I'm a big fan of them.

[00:04:16]But uh I love that this one has a 4K. I I don't think the previous sets have had any 4Ks in them, so it's nice that this one includes that.

[00:04:27]Um okay, so uh Unlawful Entry, uh it's maybe it's a world It says worldwide first on 4K. I I could have sworn it got announced, but maybe this is the first. Um maybe the announcement came after this one.

[00:04:41]So this stars Kurt Russell, Ray Liotta, Madeleine Stowe, a a gritty mystery thriller directed by Jonathan Kaplan.

[00:04:49]Happily married Michael and Karen Carr call the police after Karen is held at knife point during a failed robbery attempt in their home. Taking extra interest in the couple's case, the responding officer Pete Davis, Ray Liotta, helps arrange the installation of a new security system. The grateful Carrs invite him to stay for dinner and strike up an unexpected friendship.

[00:05:08]However, as the lonely policeman develops an intense fixation on Karen, his take on friendship soon develops soon develops into a dangerous obsession and becomes the Carrs worst nightmare.

[00:05:19]Landing on 4K UHD for the first time worldwide, the film was praised on release by critics uh awarded three out of four stars by Roger Ebert and described as a very effective victimization thriller by Variety.

[00:05:32]Uh it is that and it is a great scary performance from Ray Ray Liotta.

[00:05:38]He just He starts out as this cop that you think is going to be helpful and then you realize what at least in terms of the narrative a cop can do to mess you up if he wants to for his own ends.

[00:05:58]Um and yeah, it gets pretty creepy. And I do like this series of thrillers that um Kurt Russell did in the late '80s and early '90s. Things like Mean Season and Breakdown and Unlawful Entry. Like he he did some fun stuff during this period and I really dig it a lot. So, new Dolby Vision presentation on 4K restored from the original 35 mm negative.

[00:06:22]Um and this has an audio commentary by director Jonathan Kaplan.

[00:06:28]This is on the 4K disc. Um theatrical trailer from a new 4K restoration.

[00:06:33]235:1, it's a widescreen movie.

[00:06:36]Uh the Blu-ray also includes an archival making-of featurette, archival interviews with actor Ray Liotta and Madeleine Stowe and director Jonathan Kaplan, Unrestrained Realism an interview with director Jonathan Kaplan, Two Tightly Wound Inside the Filming of Unlawful Entry interview with director of photography Jamie Anderson.

[00:06:56]Um Symphonic Intruder Inside the Thriller Scores of James Horner. I forgot this was a James Horner score.

[00:07:02]And he didn't do enough thrillers as far as I'm concerned. Um interview with film film music historian Daniel Schweiger archival interviews um Yeah, this It's a nice-looking version of this unnerving film. For sure.

[00:07:21]Um so, that's a great start, right? Uh and then I should have started with Wild at Heart. You know, this has come out previously from Shout. Surprisingly not from uh >> [snorts] >> Criterion. Um David Lynch's quintessential surreal road movie Wild at Heart stars Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Diane Ladd, and Harry Dean Stanton. I'm a big fan of this movie.

[00:07:46]Um it's just one that I remember my best friend in high school had an older brother and he was really into David Lynch. And so much so that his best friend when you had the senior quotes uh you still had senior quotes where you'd have for those who don't know, in the yearbook I don't know that they still do it. Um under your senior picture you could have a quote, whatever you wanted. And his best friend's quote was she's dead wrapped in plastic. So clearly they were obsessed with Twin Peaks, they were obsessed with David Lynch. And his brother had this um it was like one of those sh shelving units that was like a drawer system where you could put VHS tapes.

[00:08:32]And he had dubbed a bunch of you know, what we would now consider classic cult films on tape. He had Evil Dead 2, he had Clockwork Orange, he had Wild at Heart.

[00:08:44]And I remember Wild at Heart made uh my best friend get into certain kinds of heavy rock music and anyway, it was a it was a jumping off point for me. It really helped me to discover a lot of cinema. And I owe uh his brother for that >> [clears throat] >> um you know, uh gateway. Uh but I do remember this film from high school and being not ready for it then as I was really not ready for David Lynch at all then.

[00:09:14]And he's obviously he's become one of my favorite filmmakers since, but >> [snorts] >> um okay. So, uh young lovers Sailor and Lula hit the road to start a new life together away from the wrath of Lula's deranged disapproving mother, of course played by Laura Dern's real life mother, the late Diane Ladd.

[00:09:35]Who has hired uh a team of hitmen to cut the lovers' surreal honeymoon short. The winner of the Palm d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress to Diane Ladd, Wild at Heart is a keystone of Lynch's filmography and a defining entry in the gamut of '90s neo-noir thrillers.

[00:09:55]Uh, 1080p high-definition doesn't say anything about a new scan. New audio commentary by producer Monte Montgomery, isolated music and effects track, new interview with actor Willem Dafoe, new interview with editor Dwayne Dwayne Dunham, new interview with casting director Johanna Ray, Love, Death, and Elvis and Oz: The Making of Wild at Heart, Dell's Lunch Counter extended interview segments, Specific Spontaneity: Focus on Lynch featurette, David Lynch on the DVD, archival interview with director David Lynch, archival making-of featurette, uncensored Bobby Peru scene, that is of course Willem Dafoe's character, Yowza, interview with novelist Barry Gifford, um, this is all included on this disc. This is a lovely release of this film. If you even if you had the Shout disc, which I do, I'm ready to, uh, trade it in with that.

[00:10:45]Next up, we have The Getaway, um, which had a release from Kino.

[00:10:52]Uh, and I don't know if this has anything new.

[00:11:01]We'll see.

[00:11:02]Legendary director Roger Donaldson, Cocktail, Dante's Peak, uh, Species, assembled a powerful assortment of stars in this classic neo-noir thriller, including Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Michael Madsen, James Woods, Jennifer Tilly, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

[00:11:17]Um, this, of course, a quasi remake of the Sam, uh, Peckinpah movie. An ex-con and his devoted wife must flee from danger when a heist doesn't go as planned. With a script by Walter Hill and Amy Holden Jones, uh, The Getaway is an action-packed, pulse-pounding tale of criminal punts and a violent double-crossing. It is a noir story through and through and the Steve McQueen Steve McQueen Ali MacGraw film is better for sure, but I do appreciate this '90s interpretation by Donaldson and Walter Hill and Amy Holden Jones.

[00:11:52]This has an audio commentary by my friend and film critic Travis Woods.

[00:11:58]Ambushed scoring The Getaway interview with composer Mark Isham.

[00:12:02]Double-crossed inside The Getaway interview with film historian and author C. Courtney Joyner. Archival making-of featurette. Archival behind-the-scenes footage. Archival interview with Alec Baldwin. Archival interview with Kim Basinger. So a nice presentation of an a 235 aspect ratio. That's pretty cool as well.

[00:12:21]I think this is 185. Nope, also 235.

[00:12:24]Lots of lots of scope happening in this set.

[00:12:28]Next up we have the under-discussed and I think maybe a little under-appreciated Mulholland Falls from 1996.

[00:12:38]Um This isn't America, Jack. This is LA. An enormous ensemble cast came together for the neo-noir crime thriller Mulholland Falls including Nick Nolte, Jennifer Connelly, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Melanie Griffith, Andrew McCarthy, Treat Williams, John Malkovich, Bruce Dern, and Rob Lowe.

[00:12:59]In 1950s Los Angeles a special crime squad of the LAPD investigates the murder of a young woman.

[00:13:06]Adored by critics on its release, Roger Ebert described the film as the kind of movie where every note is put in lovingly. It's a 1950s crime movie but with a modern ironic edge giving it three and a half out of four stars. Wow.

[00:13:20]I kind of remember people hating on this movie when it came out. Um but uh I am excited by the fact that it has a new audio commentary by my friend Ryan V. and Will Dodson of Someone's Favorite Productions.

[00:13:35]There's also a new video essay on neo-noir by Dr. Clayton Dillard, the film critic, interviewer, author, and columnist for Slant Magazine.

[00:13:43]Um two great features and a movie that I am pulling out of this set to watch very soon cuz I'm excited to revisit it.

[00:13:54]Uh next up we have Freeway, which I mean, unfortunately, has had a pretty nice 4K release from Vinegar Syndrome, but uh nonetheless, a nice inclusion in this set. Kiefer Sutherland, Reese Witherspoon, and Brooke Shields star in Freeway, a darkly comic neo-noir and bloody modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. I've always liked that that's what it is in its heart.

[00:14:18]And Kiefer Sutherland is one heck of a big bad wolf. Now considered a cult classic, Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars saying, "Like it or hate it or both, you have to admire its skill and over-the-top virtuosity.

[00:14:31]The over-the-top virtuosity of Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland. They are going for it in this, especially Kiefer.

[00:14:37]Um I mean, we're talking like Dark City going for it, you know.

[00:14:41]Um 1080p presentation, audio commentary by director Matthew Bright, archival interviews with writer-director Matthew Bright, executive producer Oliver Stone, but you forgot that. I know I did.

[00:14:51]Executive producer Samuel Hadida, actor Amanda Plummer, and composer Danny Elfman. Also forgot that.

[00:14:58]Um Josh Olson, Trailers from Hell making-of featurette also included.

[00:15:05]Good stuff.

[00:15:06]That is Freeway. And lastly, we have City of Industry, which was out from Kino in a Blu-ray, but was out of print and pretty expensive. So, um this is a nice one for people that missed out on that. Uh Harvey Keitel, Stephen Dorff, and Timothy Hutton star in the neo-noir thriller City of Industry directed by John Irvin.

[00:15:27]A retired thief uh, swears revenge on the lunatic who murdered his brother and partner while going on the run with the loot they stole. Featuring appearances by Lucy Liu and Elliott Gould, this this gruesome revenge flick features a killer soundtrack along with alongside the mean streets uh, action of the criminal underworld.

[00:15:48]A NAP presentation, new audio commentary by director Irvin, which I guess was not part of the uh, Kino Blu-ray. In fact, I can't remember if it had features. Audio commentary by Steve Mitchell, filmmaker Steve Mitchell, and film critic Nathaniel Thompson, who is great. Um, new interview with actor Famke Janssen, new interview with composer Steven Endelman, archival making-of featurette, archival interviews with cast and crew, archival behind-the-scenes footage.

[00:16:16]Nice. Um, okay.

[00:16:22]Now we have our lovely hardbound book, which is just beautiful, honestly. I just think these are great. You can put all these in a row on your bookshelf and I don't know. I'm pretty psyched about it. Um, so Walter Chaw has a Wild at Heart essay.

[00:16:40]Uh, I just want to read a little bit. I He's one of my favorites, so I'm going to just read. Wild at Heart is feral.

[00:16:45]It's alive in a way very few films are ever alive. Alive and in a rut, Randy, dangerous, territorial, aggressive. It would eat you if it could. It has terrible appetites and worse intentions. It is untamable, and you'd be foolish to try. It's also missing the link between Finnish master Teuvo Tulio's mad collaborations with Regina Linnanheimo and the kind of films the Czechs made when they fled Hollywood before the rise of fascism in their homeland, making a hero of Joan Crawford in the women's picture, the female noir, the easy-to-deride melodrama that is the purest distillation of emotion this medium has ever achieved or ever will.

[00:17:27]Yeah, my goodness. Um so, yeah, we have essays on each one of these films.

[00:17:32]Um >> [clears throat] >> da da da da da da da da da Um And uh yeah, this is just gorgeous. I just I absolutely love this green. I don't know.

[00:17:49]Uh Travis Woods does the um Unlawful Entry. Wonderful.

[00:17:56]Uh Blake Howard uh big fan of uh Blake's show uh Discs Around the Corner, that's part of his One Heat Network series. He does the Mahalan Falls essay.

[00:18:11]Uh Lee Tamahori's Mahalan Falls opens like a home movie that's somehow slipped into a crime uh into a crime film by mistake. Before we meet cops, gangsters, or generals, we're watching private uh images, soft, grainy super-8 footage of a young woman, Alison Pond, 1990s Jennifer Connelly at her most devastatingly hot. Playing for the camera, she's laughing, twirling, flirting with the lens. The film itself is still anonymous at this point. What uh we know is that we are in somebody's memories. We are being asked right from the jump who is this for? Who shot it?

[00:18:47]Who's watching it and why? Those questions are deceptively simple and completely central. In a movie obsessed with power, who has it, who thinks they have it, and who's deluding themselves, the opening positions us inside the most intimate kind of surveillance. The tactile quality of the film stock, the way Connelly's Alison Pond looks straight down the barrel, invites complicity. We are not merely viewers, we are the person behind the camera or the person later replaying the footage wearing it out. The movie is already turning us into voyeurs and crucially witnesses.

[00:19:19]Um Jerry J. Simpson does the uh Freeway interview the essay that there's a lot of great stuff here. This is just a nice really nice box set.

[00:19:30]Uh So, um before I get into the classic noir, I'm actually going to call an audible and I'm going to go grab one more or two more sets off my shelf.

[00:20:01]And I'm grabbing these because I feel like they could be parts of this first collection.

[00:20:08]Uh they could really go well with these movies. So, I figured why not talk about them now. So, that's the After Dark collection. Very excited about that.

[00:20:17]Now, before I get to the classic noir, let's jump into a couple more movies.

[00:20:25]And these are both 4Ks, by the way.

[00:20:28]We have State of Grace and Dark Blue.

[00:20:33]I'm going to start with Dark Blue because of the Kurt Russell connection.

[00:20:38]And um so, this is a 4K, as I said.

[00:20:44]And uh I want to say it might be the first 4K of this. Let me double-check. Um >> [snorts] >> Be sure it's also the first 4K of State of Grace.

[00:21:04]Let's see. Worldwide first on 4K UHD.

[00:21:07]Yes. Okay, so this is a nice box set and it comes again with I mean, I got to give them credit, you know, um Imprint really goes for it in terms of um presentation here. We've got a really nice 4K, we've got another hardbound book uh with an essay open right up to Sam Deegan doing an essay about Dark Blue.

[00:21:38]That's fantastic and then you have a collectible poster as well. So, they really, you know, are trying to Well, that's too big. I'm not even going to try to open that.

[00:21:48]>> [sighs] >> That is great. Um but okay, so here's Dark Blue. And it's always surprised me that a few things.

[00:21:55]One, Kurt Russell, one of the darkest characters he's ever played as far as I'm concerned. I really think this is just a really It's almost like a tough watch now for me because he's so beloved, but we we don't have to get into it, but but okay, so um and it's and it's post LA riots, so it's it's a heavy period in history. Um Sworn to protect, sworn to serve, sworn to secrecy. New neo-noir crime thriller Dark Blue comes to 4K UHD for the first time worldwide fully restored from the original 35 camera negative. Starring Kurt Russell, Ving Rhames, and Brendan Gleeson, director Ron Shelton. That was the other part I was going to get at that I think is really interesting. Ron Shelton.

[00:22:43]Not that the man isn't capable of doing things other than sports movies, but he's certainly most known for his sports movies including Bull Durham, Tin Cup, White Men Can't Jump, Play It to the Bone. I mean, he was a sports movie dude.

[00:23:00]Um and so I do like that he branched out and he does a good job. It's It's a tough movie, like I said, to do. Um but >> [snorts] >> set in Los Angeles Police Department in 1992 um Dark Blue is a thriller that takes place just days before the acquittal of four white officers in beating of a black motorist Rodney King and the subsequent LA riots. In this racially charged climate, the LAPD's elite special investigation squad is assigned a quadruple homicide. As they work the case, detective Elden Kurt Russell tutors SAS rookie Bobby Scott Speedman in the realities of police intimidation and corruption. So, you have a little Training Day um action happening here for sure. Um but again, this movie It's from 2002.

[00:23:51]Um 60-page hardback book and um 4 449 by 665 mm poster.

[00:24:03]Um so, this is a new Dolby Vision presentation on 4K UHD restored from the original 35 negative. New audio commentary by film historians Alan Silver and James Ursini. Audio commentary by director Ron Shelton.

[00:24:16]Theatrical trailer for a new uh 4K restoration of the internegative.

[00:24:22]That's all on the 4K. The Blu-ray has that plus new interview with director Ron Shelton, new interview with producers uh Cady Huffman and David Blocker, new interview with actra actress Lolita Davidovich, and new interview with composer Terence Blanchard. Wanted to mention that as mention that as well. Terence Blanchard, a great and underrated composer.

[00:24:42]Uh Code Blue archival making-of featurette, By the Book archival interviews with art director Tom Taylor, production designer Dennis Washington, and costume designer Catherine Morrison.

[00:24:52]Necessary Force archival interview with technical advisor Bob Souza, behind the scenes photo gallery, blah blah blah.

[00:24:59]So, this looks really good and like I said, this is I Kurt Russell is one of my favorite actors of all time. Like he's up there for me with like you know, um Jeff Bridges and Robert Mitchum.

[00:25:14]Just an all-time everyman amazing actor in some of my favorite movies.

[00:25:21]And as I said, this one is really tough cuz he is not a good person to put it lightly.

[00:25:27]And he's he's definitely the movie is I don't want to say it's copping out a little bit, but it is um trying to portray him a little more sympathetically, which is tough because he's not, you know, it's just not that thing. So, um you almost wanted to commit to the evil, but anyway, it's a good performance and it's not like too many performances he ever did and that's one of the reasons I like it. I also like Ron Shelton in general, so um yeah, really beautiful beautiful, you know, 4K debut for uh Dark Blue.

[00:26:04]Great stuff.

[00:26:06]Uh okay.

[00:26:07]Now, we have Phil Joanou's neo-noir crime thriller the uh sorry, State of Grace.

[00:26:15]And again, we have a 4K and a lovely bound book, which we'll get to in 1 second.

[00:26:25]Um beautiful, yeah. Uh so, State of Grace.

[00:26:30]Um Phil Joanou, for those that don't know is a favorite of mine and will always have a pass with me because of 3:00 High.

[00:26:43]I think it's a an incredible movie and um just one of those '80s movies that is now getting some notoriety, but still not as well known as it should be as far as I'm concerned. So, anyway, I love it.

[00:26:54]I love its style, and this is a little more toned down in terms of style, but it's like a tiny bit like uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh right? And this is a worldwide first on 4K.

[00:27:07]Phil Juana's neo-noir classic thriller State of Grace comes to 4K UHD for the first time uh worldwide. Fully restored from the original 35 negative featuring all-star cast of '90s icons including Sean Penn, Ed Harris, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright, John Turturro, John C. Reilly. Uh director Phil Juana had has personally overseen this 4K restoration and grading given the project his seal of approval.

[00:27:30]That is awesome.

[00:27:31]I also love that Imprint is Not that they weren't getting uh high-profile talent before, but I'm seeing it more and more on every release you're getting you know, the lead actor or the director, you know, and as much as I like features on discs that um that have, you know, some utility players, some behind-the-scenes crew, sometimes it's nice to get >> [snorts] >> those high-profile people, and I know that that's not easy, and you have to have a certain reputation, which clearly Imprint has developed at this point, which is great. Hell's Kitchen uh is a tough New York City neighborhood on Manhattan's West Side renowned for its brawling, hard-drinking Irish residents.

[00:28:11]This traditionally ethnocentric and fiercely loyal community is now threatened by the Italian mafia, outside developers, and a ruthless new generation of Irish gangsters. When Terry returns to the neighborhood after a 10-year absence, he gets involved with mad childhood friend Jackie, Gary Oldman, Jackie's gang leader brother Ed Harris, and rekindles his love affair with Jackie's sister Kathleen, Robin Wright. Complicating matters, Terry's secret uh Terry's secret missions. Terry, of course, is Sean Penn.

[00:28:38]Written by playwright Dennis McIntyre, composer Ennio Morricone provided an original music score for the film, and actor Leonardo DiCaprio has cited Gary Oldman's performance in this film as one of his inspirations, noting that it influenced an entire generation of actors. That is huge praise, and I agree it's an underrated movie, an underrated performance, performances.

[00:28:58]Uh so, it's really nice to see it get this kind of treatment. Now, this booklet or this book has an essay by Rachel Walther.

[00:29:10]State of Grace arrived when fascination with the Westies of Hell's uh Hell's Kitchen in New York was at its peak. The movie though the movie is quick to point out the horror and pointlessness of much of the violence that happened during the era of the 1970s and '80s when the Westies were in their heyday.

[00:29:27]It's loath to judge their actions with cruelty drawn cruelly drawn crudely drawn characters or platitudes. Instead, the film is a richly crafted character-driven thriller that's just as much about a man's need to belong as it is a eulogy for an era of New York not long gone when neighborhoods in Manhattan were still home to long-stayed ethnic groups with their own codes of conduct and standards of justice.

[00:29:51]Again, beautiful book.

[00:29:53]Um but yeah, really excited that this got its 4K debut. Uh this the only DVD I mean, maybe there was maybe there was another import, but this is another one that um Twilight Time did. And that's the last version I had. So, this is nice to have a beautiful-looking um uh 4K of State of Grace.

[00:30:20]Now, for the old-school stuff, we've got Essential Film Noir Collection 6.

[00:30:27]Okay.

[00:30:29]Um and these are really interesting. Um They they do tend to have some crossover with the stuff that Kino's already released.

[00:30:46]Uh but I'm not 100% sure all these have been released by Kino actually. So, this includes four films.

[00:30:54]1954's Naked Alibi, which I know Kino's put out. Ring of Fear 1954, that I'm not sure about. Hell's Island 1955, I think so. And Flame of the Islands, I don't think so. I don't know.

[00:31:07]Um but we will break into these one at a time.

[00:31:11]So, Naked Alibi with Sterling Hayden Gloria Grahame, two of the stalwarts of film noir and classic Hollywood cinema in general as far as I'm concerned.

[00:31:20]Um film noir legends Sterling Hayden and Gloria Grahame.

[00:31:24]Um I mean, if you look at their credits, Hayden's in The Killing and The Asphalt Jungle, just two. And she's in The Big Heat and In a Lonely Place. I mean, these are some of the best noir films ever. Appear together for the first time in a tale of justice and revenge on the very edges of society.

[00:31:41]Reeling from a series of violent robberies and the murders of three of his men, police chief Joe Conroy believes uh baker Albert Baker Albert Willis to be the man behind it all, but lacks sufficient evidence to put him away.

[00:31:54]With conference with a con- When a confrontation with Albert goes too far, Joe is fired for excessive force and Albert flees to the border city Mexico and into the arms of his nightclub singer girlfriend Mariana. No longer bound by a code of conduct, Joe is in hot pursuit will stop at nothing to bring his suspect to justice. Also starring Gene Barry and Marsha Henderson and directed by Jerry Hopper.

[00:32:17]Naked Alibi was described by filmmaker Francis Truffaut as a work that perfectly corresponds to the need for a drug that any lover of American films irresistibly experiences.

[00:32:29]So, he was obviously a fan. Um no mention of new transfer 1080p high definition presentation. Has a new audio commentary by uh author and film historian Sam Deegan, uh Shadows of the Border video essay by film academic Eloise Ross, uh rec- uh recreation of the original Naked Alibi radio ad, uh short film The Cinematographer 1951 by Naked Alibi director Jerry Hopper also included.

[00:32:56]Um I'm intrigued by this one and I want to I It's one I thought I'd seen. We do the series on Pure Cinema called Missing Pieces where we talk about directors or actors.

[00:33:07]And I think at some point we'll do another one about actors and this is like movie stars or whatever.

[00:33:13]I I just love the idea of these two in a movie. I don't know. I got to have to watch that. Um good stuff. Uh I'll just put that aside.

[00:33:23]Uh okay, this one I'm curious about. Uh cuz it's one of the movies with Mickey Spillane. This is a worldwide first time Blu-ray, so it couldn't have been released by Kino before apparently.

[00:33:35]Uh 1954's Ring of Fear.

[00:33:38]A deranged killer, a world-famous lion tamer, a real-life mystery writer, a murderous noir under the big top. Dublin O'Malley is a schizophrenic, possibly homicidal, and and on the loose.

[00:33:50]Uh when the former circus ringmaster escapes from a state mental institution, he takes off for the Clyde Beatty Circus in search of revenge and his beloved ex-girlfriend, star trapeze artist Valerie Saint Saint Denee.

[00:34:03]Following a series of mysterious acts, since circus owner Clyde Beatty is almost killed in an act of sabotage and decides to call in an old friend, Mickey Spillane, to help solve the mystery.

[00:34:13]This is one of those where he plays himself, I guess.

[00:34:16]So so bizarre, so interesting. Uh The Girl Hunters, I think he does that. I feel like there's at least My My Gun Is Quick. I can't remember if he plays himself in that. Um uh to solve the mystery, but is a writer of pulp detective novels any match for a psychopath with murder on the mind.

[00:34:33]One of only two films directed by the prolific writer and frequent John Wayne collaborator James Edward Grant, uh Ring of Fear is notable for featuring two 1950s legends, lion tamer uh Clyde Beatty and author of the Mike Hammer series Mickey Spillane, both playing themselves.

[00:34:53]That is fascinating. Um 1080p presentation "New as Themselves" video essay by filmmaker and film star and Paul Anthony Nelson. I am really curious about this one, folks.

[00:35:04]Just sounds a film noir in a circus. Why why don't we have more of these?

[00:35:09]Why aren't you guys out there making that? What's going on? Come on. Let's get on that.

[00:35:14]All right. Uh Hell's Island with John Payne and um Mary Murphy.

[00:35:21]This one's from 1955. This is apparently a world's worldwide first on Blu-ray.

[00:35:25]So, also not a Kino release. There we go. That answers that. Actually, the rest The next two are. So, these are all uh worldwide Blu-ray exclusive to this box set.

[00:35:35]This one I've heard of though.

[00:35:36]Um "I've been beaten, badgered, hit over the head, and mixed up in three killings, and believe me, I'm going to find out why." Mike McCormick is a hard-drinking Vegas bouncer who still isn't over being dumped by his fiance, but things seem to be turning around when a stranger named Barsland hires him to locate and a ruby that went missing in a Caribbean plane crash. A ruby that may be in possession of the very woman who jilted him.

[00:36:01]Uh the island of Santa Rosario may uh seem bright and idyllic, but with death, betrayal, and a small fortune on the table, nothing here is what it seems.

[00:36:12]Uh film noir legend uh Phil Karlson, that's what I remembered about it, who did Kansas City Confidential and Phoenix City Story and um uh what's the one with um Framed with his was his last movie with Joe Don.

[00:36:28]Um comes a tropical thriller filmed in glorious VistaVision starring John Payne, Mary Murphy, and in his final role renowned English character actor Francis L. Sullivan, who's in Oliver Twist and Night in the City. 1080p presentation, new audio commentary by film historian Gary Gerani, new The United States versus Hell's Island, a recreation a recreation of the 1955 US Senate hearing that examined the film's lurid advertising. Wow.

[00:36:56]Controversial movie, apparently. Um yeah, this is I was really into um John Payne and Phil Karlson for a while, and I swear I saw this, but I wouldn't uh have seen it in a very good version, so I don't really remember it all. Um but yeah, worldwide Blu-ray debut of VistaVision, I'm into it.

[00:37:16]And then lastly, we have Flame of the Islands with Yvonne De Carlo.

[00:37:22]Is that Howard Duff?

[00:37:25]It is Howard Duff. My, my, my. Okay, well, let's talk about it, shall we?

[00:37:30]Shall we?

[00:37:33]Flame of the Islands, 1956, worldwide first time Blu-ray. Yvonne De Carlo is a the working woman determined to enter high society, but at what cost? Rosalind Diaz is secretary who dreams of living it up with the wealthy and the elite.

[00:37:45]When a small fortune unexpectedly lands in her lap, she is suddenly able to fulfill that dream, purchasing a stake in a glamorous Bahamas casino.

[00:37:54]But Rosalind has left behind dark past, and it's one that soon threatens to catch up with her. When Rosalind's old flame Doug appears, so too does scandal and murder. Based on an unpublished novel by Academy Award nominated writer Adele Comandini Comandi Comandini. Uh Flame of the Islands stars screen legend uh Yvonne De Carlo, uh of course Lily Munster, alongside Howard Duff, uh Zachary Scott, and Kurt Kaznar as her rival suitors. 1090P presentation, new video essay on star Yvonne De Carlo by film historian Filippo Berri.

[00:38:32]And that's it.

[00:38:33]This is a cool little set. You got three Blu-ray debuts in here and one of them about a circus noir. So, I mean, what could you want? Um, yeah, definitely check out anything and everything you want to know about Imprint Films over at the Via Vision website.

[00:38:47]And um, I've got a lot more of their stuff to talk about, some westerns, some horror films, a bunch of singles, the next Sidney Lumet box. I mean, there's so much stuff to talk about.

[00:39:00]I'll get back to it in another episode.

[00:39:02]Thank you so much for listening.

[00:39:04]And I will talk to you soon.

[00:39:06]Bye-bye.