Warner's Film Noir Collection Vol. 2 & Point Blank in July - Artwork added

Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of The Film Noir Classic Collection Volume Two for 5th July 2005. Hollywood’s legendary tough guys and femme fatales collide again with this second collection which includes five smouldering classics, all new to DVD and all digitally remastered: Born to Kill, Clash By Night, Crossfire, Dillinger and The Narrow Margin.

The movies star film noir icons Robert Mitchum, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Lawrence Tierney and Claire Trevor, among others, and feature commentaries from film historians and directors including Robert Wise on Born To Kill Peter Bogdanovich, with archival contributions from Fritz Lang, on Clash By Night; John Milius on Dillinger and William Friedkin and Richard Fleischer on The Narrow Margin.

In addition to the Collection, John Boorman’s (Deliverance, Excalibur) classic neo-noir, Point Blank, will also make its DVD debut featuring commentary from Boorman and director Steven Soderbergh.

The Film Noir titles will be available in both a five-disc set, for $49.92 SRP, or individually for $19.97 SRP. Point Blank will retail at $19.97 SRP.

About The Film Noir Classic Collection Volume Two

Born to Kill (1947)
Director Robert Wise (The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Sound of Music, West Side Story) showed his versatility with this dark gem -- a mix of heiress sisters, stone-hearted men, needy hangers-on and illicit but inevitable love. Walter Slezak portrays the verse-quoting shamus and Claire Trevor and Lawrence Tierney are lovers who play with fire… and burn their names forever into film-noir lore.

DVD special features include:

• Commentary by film historian Eddie Muller with archival contributions by director Robert Wise
• Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Clash by Night (1952)
Film noir master Fritz Lang (M, The Big Heat, Ministry of Fear) directs Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan and rising star Marilyn Monroe in a stark tale of lives burnished by human emotion and shattered by human failings. Intense and powerfully realistic, Clash by Night (from a Clifford Odets play) is about many towns and many families, all serene on the surface but boiling underneath with desperation.

DVD special features include:

• Commentary by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich with archival contributions by director Fritz Lang
• Theatrical Trailer
• Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Crossfire (1947)
Robert Mitchum, Robert Young and Robert Ryan star in this landmark film noir nominated for five Academy Awards® including Best Picture. Edward Dmytryk (Murder, My Sweet) directs, draping the genre’s stylistic backdrops and flourishes around the controversial subject of anti-Semitism, a topic rarely explored in American films.

DVD special features include:

• Commentary by film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini with archival contributions by director Edward Dmytryk
• Featurette Crossfire: Hate is like a Gun
• Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

Dillinger (1945)
Oscar-nominated for its screenplay, this is a bullet-paced story of the legendary gangster whose crimes captivated and terrified the nation. Lawrence Tierney plays the title role, breaking free of screen anonymity and moving into a 50-year tough-guy career that would range from Born to Kill up through Reservoir Dogs.

DVD special features include:

• Commentary by filmmaker John Milius (director of the 1973 Dillinger) with archival contributions by writer Philip Yordan
• Theatrical Trailer
• Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

The Narrow Margin (1952)
The Oscar-nominated story, directed by Richard Fleischer (Fantastic Voyage, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and scripted by his frequent collaborator Earl Felton, zigzags with surprise turns. Film noir favorite Charles McGraw plays a cop guarding a gangster’s moll (fellow genre icon Marie Windsor) as she travels west to testify before a grand jury. Also riding the Pullmans are two determined hit men who know the moll is on the train but don’t know what she looks like. The film was remade in 1990 with Gene Hackman and Anne Archer.

DVD special features include:

• Commentary by filmmaker William Friedkin with archival contributions by director Richard Fleischer
• Theatrical Trailer
• Subtitles: English, French & Spanish

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And released separately alongside the Film Noir Classic Collection Vol.2...

Point Blank (1967)
Based on Donald E. Westlake’s novel The Hunter, Point Blank is an edgy neo-noir that merges a classic revenge story with imaginative New Wave style. Directed by John Boorman (Deliverance), Point Blank stars Lee Marvin in full anti-hero mode as a thief out for payback. The film also features an outstanding supporting cast that includes Angie Dickenson, Carroll O’Connor and Keenan Wynn.

DVD special features include:

• Commentary by directors John Boorman and Steven Soderbergh
• Vintage Featurettes: The Rock Part 1 and The Rock Part 2
• Theatrical Trailer
• Subtitles: English, French & Spanish