He Walked by Night (1948) - ClassicFlix Trailer

Here's a trailer we cut for our restored He Walked by Night (1948). It streets on November 7th.



Links to the Blu-ray & DVD.

Beautifully restored and first time on Blu-ray in this special edition.

When a Los Angeles police officer is savagely gunned down, a city-wide manhunt ensues for his cunning and ruthless killer. 

But finding the murderer, chillingly played by Richard Basehart in only his third film, proves difficult for Detective Marty Brennan (Scott Brady) and his colleagues as Basehart’s Roy Morgan is always one step ahead of the law. Will modern police methods and sheer determination be enough to find the elusive cop-killer before he strikes again?

Visually stunning, cinematographer John Alton’s brilliant use of light and shadows shine in this groundbreaking police procedural that paved the way for the TV series Dragnet; which itself spawned an entire sub-genre of television crime-dramas that are still popular to this day.

Based on true events, He Walked by Night was directed by Alfred L. Werker, along with an uncredited Anthony Mann (who is believed to be responsible for the film’s most iconic scenes). Co-written by John C. Higgins (Raw Deal) and Crane Wilbur (The Phenix City Story), it also features Jack Webb who went on to create and star in the aforementioned Dragnet.

The mono soundtrack has been restored is uncompressed on this release (Blu-ray only).

BONUS FEATURES:

  • Audio Commentary by biographer and producer Alan K. Rode & writer and film historian Julie Kirgo
  • Below the Surface: He Walked by Night - Featurette with cinematographer Richard Crudo, film critic & author Todd McCarthy, writer and film historian Julie Kirgo, film historian & director Courtney Joyner and biographer & producer Alan K. Rode
  • Image gallery with rare stills and posters
  • PLUS: A 24 page booklet with an essay by author Max Alvarez (The Crime Films of Anthony Mann) featuring stills, posters and other production material

Clip from the RESTORED Anthony Mann Noir HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948)

Here's a clip from Anthony Mann's HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948). The RESTORED Blu is out on 11/07/17!


KINO: Four Faces West & More Arrive on Blu in December - 3 Day Special Price

Four titles are scheduled for release in December from Kino including the Blu-ray premiere of Four Faces West (1947).

Click here for details.


More HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948) Screen Caps from ClassicFlix Restoration

More stunning screen caps of John Alton's camera work from the last scene from the restored HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948) which streets on Nov. 7th!








CLASSICFLIX: Colbert & Welles Drama Tomorrow Is Forever Coming to Blu

Restored and on Blu-ray for the first time, Tomorrow is Forever (1946) is set to street on December 19th from ClassicFlix.
For all the details, click here.

COLUMBIA CLASSICS: Indian Uprising Arrives on DVD

Sony's Columbia Classics debuts the Western Indian Uprising (1952) on DVD for the first time. 

Click here for details.

Adding one more bonus feature to RAW DEAL (1948)

Just added one more bonus feature to RAW DEAL (1948), an image gallery with rare stills, posters and other promotional material.


CLASSICFLIX: Raw Deal - Special Edition is Coming in December

Anthony Mann's Raw Deal (1948) comes to Blu-ray in a Special Edition this December 12th from ClassicFlix.

This highly celebrated film noir re-teams director Mann with his T-Men collaborator cinematographer John Alton and stars Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor and Marsha Hunt (WHO TURNS 100 TODAY!).

Having undergone a major restoration, this Special Edition will also be loaded with bonus features, including a 24-page booklet (info below).

Retail price is $39.99, but for three days only (until October 19th) you can pre-order the Blu-ray for only $24.98.
A restored DVD version is also being issued on the same date and will retail for $24.99, but will not carry any of the added content that is on the Blu-ray.

SYNOPSIS:

All Joe Sullivan wants is “a breath of fresh air.” But when you’re serving time in stir for robbery, fresh air is a rare commodity. That’s about to change though as mob boss Rick Coyle has greased the skids inside the prison walls, so Joe can make it outside where girlfriend Pat will be waiting.

But things don’t exactly go as planned for the duo as car trouble during their getaway forces them to get help from the only person nearby -- strait-laced legal assistant Ann Martin, whom they kidnap and use to evade capture. Things aren’t going as planned for Rick either who set up the escape fulling expecting the fugitive to get “cut down” so he could keep the $50,000 he owes Joe for taking the rap for him.

Now past the dragnet, the trio each find themselves increasingly conflicted in their loyalties and core beliefs as Joe is torn between the two women, who both care for him, while Pat and Ann each make decisions that prove they’re not as bad, or as good, as they’re supposed to be.

Raw Deal presents the moviemaking team of director Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton at the peak of their success (fresh off their box office smash T-Men), offering dark, moody atmosphere filled with fog-shrouded landscapes and characters who are no strangers to the “left-handed endeavor” of crime. Scenarist John C. Higgins (He Walked by Night) and co-writer Leopold Atlas offer a taut, suspenseful tale of one man’s desperate bid for freedom and the two women who love him.

Dennis O’Keefe, star of the earlier T-Men, contributes a first-rate performance as the determined Joe, with Marsha Hunt (Pride and Prejudice) as Ann and Oscar® winning actress Claire Trevor (Key Largo) as the fiercely loyal Pat. Raw Deal also features a suitably slimy Raymond Burr as Rick, John Ireland as Burr’s sadistic henchman Fantail, and noir standbys Regis Toomey and Whit Bissell. Raw Deal is film noir at its finest!

BONUS FEATURES (Blu-ray Only):
  • Feature length audio commentary by author and film historian Jeremy Arnold
  • Deadly is the Male: The Making of Raw Deal - A Featurette with writer and film historian Julie Kirgo, film historian & director Courtney Joyner and biographer & producer Alan K. Rode
  • Dennis O’Keefe: An Extraordinary Ordinary Guy - A featurette with Jim O’Keefe (son of Dennis O’Keefe) and biographer & producer Alan K. Rode & film historian & director Courtney Joyner
  • PLUS: A 24 page booklet with an essay by author Max Alvarez (The Crime Films of Anthony Mann) featuring stills, posters and other production material
  • The mono soundtrack has been restored is uncompressed on this release
ABOUT CLASSICFLIX:

What are others saying about ClassicFlix releases?

  • Glenn Erickson - Cinesavant
    • "ClassicFlix’s Special Edition Blu-ray of T-Men is a revelation."
    • "I’ve seen T-Men many times, but never like this." 
    • "It looks so good that I was hard pressed to detect signs of digital cleanup. It’s as if somebody obtained the negative through a time machine."
  • Gary Tooze - DVDBeaver
    • "Absolutely recommended! A must-own for Noir aficionados."
  • Matt Hough - HomeTheaterForum
    • "Would that all black and white noirs from the 1940s were blessed with such pristine and spectacular transfers! The grayscale is so extraordinary that words can’t really do it justice, but the blacks are really deep, and details in the shadows will test the very best televisions and projectors with reproducing all of the detail that is present. Contrast has been majestically rendered in this transfer while the images are sparkling clean and free from age-related artifacts of all kinds."
    • "The ClassicFlix special edition Blu-ray boasts a superlative audio and video transfer of the movie and offers an abundance of bonus material that makes it a highly recommended addition to your video collection."
  • Jeffrey Kauffman - Blu-ray.com
    • "This is another great looking restoration and transfer from ClassicFlix."
    • "ClassicFlix has upped its game with this release, offering not just a stellar looking transfer but some enjoyable supplements and a really beautiful insert booklet."


CLASSICFLIX: Casanova Brown and Along Came Jones Arrive in December

Along Came Jones (1945) and Casanova Brown (1943), both starring Gary Cooper are coming to Blu-ray and DVD this December 5th from ClassicFlix.

Click here for details.

T-Men (1947) Trailer

Here's a trailer we cut for T-Men (1947) It streets on October 10th.


Links to the Blu-ray & DVD.

Restored and first time on Blu-ray.

When the trail goes cold on a counterfeit ring in Los Angeles, Treasury agents Dennis O’Brien (Dennis O’Keefe) and Tony Genaro (Alfred Ryder) are called upon to infiltrate the shadowy and dangerous underworld of organized crime. Their only lead takes them to Detroit where they convince mob kingpin Carlo Vantucci of their criminal pedigree and start piling up clues to tie the Vantucci mob to the “tough, tight outfit” in L.A.

O’Brien and Genaro finally get a break when they learn a former Detroit hood – The Schemer (Wallace Ford) – is on the outs with the syndicate and has been demoted to pushing the fake paper in Los Angeles. Not wasting a second, O’Brien heads to L.A. and tracks down his cigar-smoking target, quickly duping the counterfeiter into being introduced to the “higher-ups”. But the deeper O’Brien penetrates the organization, the more harrowing the mission becomes for him and fellow T-Man Genaro, with their every move being scrutinized and carrying the risk of deadly exposure.

A major box office success upon its release, T-Men holds a special place in film noir canon not only as director Anthony Mann’s breakout film, but as the initial pairing of the filmmaker and cinematographer John Alton. Like none before them, their combination of highly stylized camera set-ups, along with the brilliant uses of light and shadows, created the gritty realism and visual tension that made their crime thrillers popular with critics and movie patrons alike.

With a story by Virginia Kellogg (White Heat) and a screenplay by John C. Higgins (Raw Deal), T-Men also features Charles McGraw, Jane Randolph and, in a brief but key scene, June Lockhart.

BONUS FEATURES:

  • Audio Commentary by biographer & producer Alan K. Rode
  • Into the Darkness: Mann, Alton and T-Men - Featurette with cinematographer Richard Crudo, film critic & author Todd McCarthy, writer and film historian Julie Kirgo, film historian & director Courtney Joyner and biographer & producer Alan K. Rode
  • A Director’s Daughter: Nina Mann Remembers - An Interview with Nina Mann
  • PLUS: A 24 page booklet with an essay by author Max Alvarez (The Crime Films of Anthony Mann) featuring stills, posters and other production material
  • The mono soundtrack has been restored is uncompressed (Blu-ray only) on this release

T-MEN (1947) is in the house and ready to ship!

T-MEN (1947) is in the house and ready to ship! Street day is just 6 days away! Order today!




6 MORE DAYS until T-MEN is out on Blu!

6 MORE DAYS until T-MEN (1947) is out on Blu & DVD from ClassicFlix!
We could literally post 100s of gorgeous screencaps from this restoration, but these 8 will have to do until Tuesday.









OLIVE: Signature Series Returns with Father Goose and Operation Petticoat

It's been nearly a year since Olive released their last feature as part of their Criterion-esque Signature series but they have announced the next two titles, both starring Cary Grant: the 1959 military comedy Operation Petticoat and 1964's Father Goose.

Click here for more details. 

WARNER ARCHIVE: The Sea Wolf on Blu, Glenda Farrell, Guy Kibbee & More in Latest Wave

Seven new releases have been announced by Warner as part of their Archive Collection, including the Blu-Ray debut of the Edward G. Robinson adventure The Sea Wolf (1941).

Click here for details.