I have many Fox Noirs from the 1940's on DVD. All are very good, usually with fine audio commentaries. " Somewhere in the Night, starring John Hodiak is an exception. The Commentary is good, but the film, Directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, is rather boring, with an uninspired lead
(Hodiak), an untrained female lead ( Nancy Guild ),and a waste of such character actors as Seldon Lenoard,Lloyd Nolan, Fritz Kortner ( way over the top, but good ), Harry Morgan, Josephine Hutchinson, and Richard Conte.
I'm not up on what studios produced/released what films and the movie I'm going to mention is from the 40's but not a noir by any means. It's not even a crime drama. Of all the films I've seen with John Hodiak, I think the best was "Lifeboat" which I think was an Alfred Hitchcock film. I'm sure you've seen the movie, it had a terrific cast with Talulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Henry Hull and several others whose names I can't recall without looking up the film. It's funny, but even though the movie took place in the North Atlantic and was not at a loss for sunlight, it was a sort of "dark" film, maybe because of the subject at hand. It's one of my favorites but I haven't seen it for quite a while. I keep suggesting it at TCM but all I know is what it says, "This title is not currently scheduled." There's no way I can afford to purchase all the movies that I like and would want to add to my library. Now I'm having a problem with my DVD player/recorder and if it's dead I don't know when I'll be able to replace it. C'est la guerre!
I have a few of the films in this series, and have watched three - Laura, I Wake Up Screaming and Nightmare Alley.
All were great films. I can't decide which I like best, but it is either Laura or I Wake Up Screaming. Nightmare Alley is too depressing, although Tyrone Power is very good.
I must confess, however, that I rarely listen to audio commentary on ANY DVD, and these are no exception. So I can't comment on the commentary bit.
I think one of the ones I have but have not watched yet is the one you mentioned. But I've only seen John Hodiak in a few things, so I really cannot comment on his skill as an actor.
There was something I liked in Hodiak.Maybe it's because I do have several films that he's in. Lifeboat, Battleground, Desert Fury, Across the Wide Missouri and Somewhere in the Night. I didn't think he was that bad in "Somewhere in the Night". I think he never really showed his star quality.He was only 41 when he died, so he never would. I do like the Fox noir and I'm STILL waiting for the release of "Boomerang" with Dana Andrews.
A few months back, I took advantage of an Amazon.com half-price sale on Fox titles and got all the Fox Film Noir titles I could afford. Later, I even found a sealed copy of BOOMERANG on eBay. (If I had moved a little faster, I could have gotten that one from Amazon.com, too!) That leaves only two or three titles in the series that I don't have yet.
That said, I'm really impressed with the packaging of the Fox Film Noir titles and the excellent quality of the prints. I just watched NIGHTMARE ALLEY over the weekend and was bowled over by Tyrone Power's performance. Joan Blondell and Helen Walker were good too, but Power's portrayal was . . . well, I can't find enough good words to say about it. From what I understand, this film has been out of circulation for years and wasn't even released on VHS. How did it fall through the cracks?
Other Fox Film Noirs I've enjoyed so far include:
I WAKE UP SCREAMING -- Laird Cregar is great, and Victor Mature kinda reminds me of Robert Mitchum in this one.
WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS -- The re-teaming of Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney after the success of LAURA. I love how Alfred Newman's "Street Scene" is used in this film.
FALLEN ANGEL -- with Alice Faye cast against type, not entirely successful; still, you can't take your eyes off her. Another great Dana Andrews performance -- he really carries this film.
LAURA -- Can anyone tell I've been seeking out Dana Andrews' films in this series, right out of the box? I've gained a whole new appreciation for his work, and this is the film that started it all for me. It's practically a perfect film -- Andrews, Clifton Webb, Gene Tierney, and Vincent Price all shine here, as does co-screenwriter Samuel Hoffenstein's dialogue.
BOOMERANG -- Yes! More Dana Andrews! And effectively directed by Elia Kazan. Andrews gets his most sympathetic role here, as a police detective who clears an innocent man (Arthur Kennedy) of a murder charge after a whole town has practically tried and convicted him. Not quite a police procedural, but pretty close. I heard that Fox pulled this one a week after it hit the racks because of a last-minute rights problem -- hope they re-release it soon.
That still leaves a lot of pleasures to be found in the series, and I'll report on those as I get to them . . .
Laura is my favorite, but I've enjoyed all those mentioned so far, except Nightmare Alley which I'm still waiting to see. It's interesting that Tyrone Power didn't do that many movies in the genre, with his dark good looks and ability to project ambivalence, I think he is a natural for it. Much better than Cornel Wilde, who I have yet to see a performance of his that impresses me.
And I actually did like Somewhere in the Night tremendously---I thought Richard Conte was fantastic and really had me fooled. The leading lady was ineffective, too inexperienced I think, but that's my only quibble. Loved it! But then, I'm a huge fan of Mankiewicz.
