Search - Film Noir, Vol. 1 on DVD

A Budget-Value Box Set of Classic Film Noir

D. Schwenker | 10/17/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Diamond Entertainment released this 2-DVD set to showcase some classic examples of Film Noir. They released two volumes, this is Volume 1.

The films they included are: [Disc One] The Naked Kiss (1964 - 92 min) and The Red House (1947 - 100 min) [Disc Two] The Second Woman (1951 - 91 min) and Kansas City Confidential (1952 - 98 min)

The quality of the prints used varies from film to film. The Naked Kiss's print is actually surprisingly good, very clean and sharp. The Red House's print is rather creeky and features many dust and particles, but it's not bad. The Second Woman's print is rather good, despite some defects, and Kansas City Confidential looks sharp and clean.

The "special features" are hardly anything special. You get a biography of two actors on each DVD which is basically scrolling text that gives you trivia about them. You also get a "photo gallery" which is nothing more than stills from the films. You also will get some information about the films and some basic facts and trivia. The menus are surprsiingly good, they don't appear to be the cheap menus you find on other bargin DVD's, but the box and cover designs could have been better. However, this is purely a cosmetic complaint and is, therefore, irrelevent.

Overall this is a good deal. You pay one low price and you get four films shown in a good presentation. A must for film noir collectors... I would also recommend getting the second volume put out by Diamond Entertainment as well, which you can also find on Amazon."