World Noir Volume 1: Limited Edition – Radiance Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: Italy, 1959 (The Facts of Murder), Japan, 1957 (I Am Waiting), France/Italy, 1959 (Witness in the City)
Directors: Pietro Germi (The Facts of Murder), Koreyoshi Kurahara (I Am Waiting), Édouard Molinaro (Witness in the City)
Cast: Pietro Germi, Claudia Cardinale, Franco Fabrizi, Cristina Gaioni, Claudio Gora, Eleonora Rossi Drago, Saro Urzì, Nino Castelnuovo (The Facts of Murder), Yûjirô Ishihara, Mie Kitahara, Isamu Kosugi, Kenjirô Uemura, Hideaki Nitani, Ken Hatano, Kôjirô Kusanagi (I Am Waiting), Lino Ventura, Sandra Milo, Franco Fabrizi, Jacques Berthier, Daniel Ceccaldi, Robert Dalban, Jacques Jouanneau, Micheline Luccioni, Ginette Pigeon, Janine Darcey, Françoise Brion (Witness in the City)

Release Date: December 18th, 2023
Approximate running times: 114 Minutes 42 Seconds (The Facts of Murder), 90 Minutes 23 Seconds (I Am Waiting), 89 Minutes 28 Seconds (Witness in the City)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (The Facts of Murder, I Am Waiting), 1.66:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Witness in the City)
Rating: 15 (The Facts of Murder), 12 (I Am Waiting, Witness in the City)
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian (The Facts of Murder), LPCM Mono Japanese (I Am Waiting), LPCM Mono French (Witness in the City)
Subtitles: English (All Films)
Region Coding: Region A (The Facts of Murder), B (The Facts of Murder, I Am Waiting, Witness in the City)
Retail Price: £44.99 (UK)

"Though widely considered an American filmmaking style, film noir was first applied by French critics to the visual and thematic darkness of the flood of American films in the post-War period. Those films, often by European emigré filmmakers, were influenced by European filmmaking modes, notably French poetic realism and Weimar cinema. The American noirs that flourished in the 1940s and 1950s in turn influenced cinema around the world again. This ongoing box set series attempts to capture the trails of the noir influence across the globe, from the pre-War period to the emergence of neo-noir, expanding our understanding and availability of this rich filmmaking tradition. 

In this first collection, World Noir Vol 1 focuses on the 1950s with three films exhibiting noir traits while still evoking their home genre trends and quirks. From 1957, in Koreyoshi Kurahara’s I Am Waiting a failed boxer and a waitress with a dark past run afoul of an underworld syndicate that seeks to exploit the woman to its own ends. With dreams of escaping to Brazil, he agrees to help. But neither the past nor the future turns out to be exactly what it seems. A foundational film from the pioneering studio of post-war Japanese noir Nikkatsu, I Am Waiting was directed by a master of the genre and stars Yujiro Ishihara and Mie Kitahara, the on-screen and real-life couple that ruled Japanese popular cinema of the 1950s.

In Edouard Molinaro’s 1959 Witness in the City, a wealthy industrialist murders his lover, throwing her from a train to look like suicide. Her husband, Ancelin (Lino Ventura, The Valachi Papers) seeks revenge but his endeavours leave a witness putting him in a cat-and-mouse game, thrillingly shot on the streets of Paris. An adaptation of the novel by celebrated writers Boileau and Narcejac (Vertigo, Les diaboliques) Molinaro wrings every ounce of tension from the narrative, focusing on evocative shadows and Parisian nightlife shot by Henri Decae (Le Samourai). 

Finally, in Pietro Germi’s The Facts of Murder, Inspector Ingravallo has been called to a Roman apartment building to investigate a robbery. Once there he questions the tenants but soon realises something is amiss. As the investigation progresses a simple robbery leads to a murder case… Directed by and starring Germi (The Railroad Man) as the growling Inspector, The Facts of Murder was loosely adapted from celebrated author Carlo Emilio Gadda’s novel and is shot with inky shadows reminiscent of film noir, while the mystery element prefigures the giallo. Featuring a cast of wonderful supporting actors including Claudia Cardinale (The Day of the Owl) and Claudio Gora (Il sorpasso), the film won multiple awards at Italian institutions including the Golden Globe for Best Film." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (The Facts of Murder), 4.5/5 (Witness in the City), 3.75/5 (I Am Waiting)

Here’s the information provided about The Facts of Murder's transfer, “The Facts of Murder was restored in 4K from the original camera negative by Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with RTI-Mediaset and Infinity+ at L'immagine Ritrovata"

The Facts of Murder comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.1 GB

Feature: 33.2 GB

The source used for this transfer is in excellent shape. Image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.

Here’s the information provided about I Am Waiting's transfer, “I Am Waiting was transferred in high definition by Nikkatsu. Additional restoration was performed by Radiance Films in 2023."

I Am Waiting comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 40.6 GB

Feature: 26.5 GB

The source used for this transfer is in good shape; there is some minor print debris. Image clarity is strong, contrast generally looks very good, and compression is solid. That said, despite black levels looking strong most of the time, it should be noted that there are some moments where they are not as convincing as they should be. This transfer is on par with most of Nikkatsu’s transfers for films from the 1950s and 1960s.

Here’s the information provided about Witness in the City's transfer, “Witness in the City was restored by Gaumont in 2K. Additional color correction was performed by Radiance Films in 2023."

Witness in the City comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 35.5 GB

Feature: 26 GB

The source used for this transfer is in excellent shape. Image clarity and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look. When compared to Kino Lorber’s 2022 Blu-ray release, Radiance's release greatly improves contrast and black levels.

Audio: 4.5/5 (The Facts of Murder, Witness in the City) 3.75/5 (I Am Waiting)

The Facts of Murder comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Italian with removable English subtitles. The audio is in great shape; there are no issues with hiss or distortion. Dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, ambient sounds and the score are well-represented.

I Am Waiting comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Japanese with removable English subtitles. Though the audio is in good shape, there is a faint hiss that can be heard throughout. That said, dialog comes across clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise, things can sound limited.

Witness in the City comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in French with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds excellent. Dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and range-wise things sound great.

Extras:

Extras for The Facts of Murder include a video essay titled What's Black and Yellow All Over? All Shades of Italian Film Noir by Paul A. J. Lewis on the presence of noir trends in Italian cinema and the evolution of the genre (18 minutes 40 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a documentary titled The Man With the Cigar in His Mouth about Pietro Germi featuring interviews with his colleagues and collaborators including Mario Monicelli, Claudia Cardinale, Stefania Sandrelli, and Giuseppe Tornatore (38 minutes 51 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with Pietro Germi expert Mario Sesti (46 minutes 36 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), and reversible cover art.

Extras for I Am Waiting include a video essay by Mark Schilling titled The Yujiro Effect (12 minutes 48 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival documentary about actor Yujiro Ishihara during location shooting in Europe titled Yujiro in Europe (41 minutes 20 seconds, 2.35:1 aspect ratio, DTS-HD mono Japanese with removable English subtitles), an audio commentary with Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp, and reversible cover art. 

Extras for Witness in the City include an archival interview with Philippe Durant, biographer of Lino Ventura (10 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo French with removable English subtitles), an interview with film critic and author Ginette Vincendeau who provides an overview of noir in France during the 1950s (22 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an introduction by film critic Tony Rayns (17 minutes 13 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and reversible cover art.

Other extras include a removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings and a 80-page perfect bound booklet with cast & crew information for each film, an essay titled No Boundaries: The Limitless Parameters of World Noir written by Barry Forshaw, an essay titled Out of the Past: The Mean Streets of Post-War Japan written by Hayley Scanlon, an essay titled Tracing the Hidden Lines of Postwar Japanese Film Noir written by William Carroll, an interview from 1985 with director Edouard Molinaro, an essay titled The Facts of Murder and Hybridization in Italian Cinema written by Roberto Curti, an essay titled International Noir of the 1950s written by Sam Wigley, and information about the transfers.

Summary:

The Facts of Murder: Directed by Pietro Germi, whose other notable films are Four Ways Out, The Railroad Man, Divorce Italian Style, and Seduced and Abandoned.

The narrative revolves around a police detective investigating two crimes that happened in two days that are connected.

When one thinks of Italian thrillers, they think of Gialli, directed by Mario Bava and Dario Argento, which gave Italian thrillers a more hard edge with gory kill sequences and stylish visuals that heighten the mood. And though there have been solid examples of thrillers in Italy that predate the films of Mario Bava and Dario Argento, like Luchino Visconti’s Ossessione and Pietro Germi’s The Facts of Murder, these earlier examples of Italian thrillers owe more to American film noir than they do to the giallo.

Every great thriller has a memorable moment that sets the stage for the investigation that follows. Case in point: The Facts of Murder, a film that actually has two such moments that are ultimately tied together. The first of these moments starts off in silence as the camera slowly pulls away from a shot of a hallway, and as it's much its way up the side of the building, silence is disrupted by a gunshot. And when the dust has settled, it is revealed that there has been a robbery, and the thief was shot at as they fled. The other of these moments occurred a day later in the apartment next door to the first crime. And this time around, a woman has been murdered.

When it comes to the performances, I can only think of one word: flawless. The most memorable performance was by Pietro Germi (who also directed this film) in the role of Inspector Ciccio Ingravallo. He delivers a commanding performance of a character who is willing to put the rules to their limit to catch a killer. Another strength of his performance is how his character effortlessly shifts from calm to aggressive. Another performance of note is Claudia Cardinale (Once Upon a Time in the West) in the role of Assuntina, a servant girl who witnessed the first crime, and she also holds the key to unlocking the killer's identity.

From a production standpoint, The Facts of Murder is a film where everything perfectly falls into place. Though most of the narrative is about moments where the police are investigating, that does not mean that the narrative is not overflowing with tension. In fact, the well-constructed narrative does a phenomenal job building the moment toward the moment of truth. Another strength of the narrative is that it uses flashbacks in the final act, which put the missing pieces of the puzzle into perspective. Ultimately, The Facts of Murder is an extraordinary film that serves as a perfect transition film between noir-influenced Italian thrillers and the giallo.

I Am Waiting: Directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara, whose other notable films are Intimidation, The Warped Ones, I Hate But Love, Black Sun, and Thirst for Love.

The narrative revolves around a former boxer whose path crosses with that of a nightclub hostess who's trying to get away from her gangster boss.

Though there are many elements in I Am Waiting that are in line with film noir, notably, characters who are part of underworld crime and a woman who appears in a protagonist's life are on a collision course with danger. The result is a film that is actually as much of a love story as it is a crime story. Even the look of I Am Waiting is not what one would expect from a film noir.

In its opening moments, I Am Waiting does a great job laying the foundation for the story that unfolds. The protagonist comes across a woman who is contemplating suicide, and his intervention saves her life. From there, these two characters form a bond, and just when things seem to be going well for them, enter the person who the woman was trying to escape from.

When it comes to the performances, the cast is very good, especially its two leads, Yûjirô Ishihara (Rusty Knife) in the role of Joji, a former boxer, and Mie Kitahara (Crazed Fruit) in the role of a hostess named Saeko. Their onscreen chemistry is excellent, which is not a surprise as they had already worked on other films, and three years after I Am Waiting, they would marry.

From a production standpoint, there is not an area where I Am Waiting is lacking. The well-executed narrative has solid pacing, flashbacks are effectively employed to fill in backstory, and there is an excellent ending where the protagonist avenges his murdered brother. That said, the first half of the narrative is more character-driven, while the latter half is where the elements of the crime film come into play. Ultimately, I Am Waiting is a strong debut film from Koreyoshi Kurahara.

Witness in the City: Directed by Édouard Molinaro, whose other notable films are Back to the Wall, Oscar, A Pain in the Ass, and La Cage aux Folles.

The narrative revolves around a man who murders the man who killed his wife, and from there, things go awry as he tries to eliminate anyone who can identify him.

Though film noir is most associated with American cinema, there is a strong case that could be made that countries like Germany, notably German expressionist cinema, played a role in the evolution of film noir, specifically when it comes to visuals. Also, when it comes to other European countries' crime films that have a film noir aesthetic, far too often these films are merely categorized as films trying to mimic American film noir. Case in point: Witness in the City, a French crime film that makes a strong case for French film noir’s own identity that is separate from any outside influences.

A sensational sequence opens Witness in the City: a man and a woman are on a train, and in a struggle, the man throws the woman off of the train. That said, despite this murder being the event that sets the story that follows in motion, this actual murder eventually fades into the background when another murder occurs, and from there, more killings happen to cover the second murder.

Witness in the City has a solid cast who all deliver fantastic performances, especially Lino Ventura (Army of Shadows) in the role of Ancelin, a distraught husband who kills his murdered wife. Though his character spends most of his time alone, even when he’s interacting with other characters, he says little. That said, so much of his performance relies on his expressions and body language.

Another performance of note is Franco Fabrizi (I Vitelloni), in the role of Lambert, a taxi driver who unknowingly becomes a witness to a murder. His character mistakes the killer for the person he is waiting to pick up. Other notable cast members are Sandra Milo (Juliet of the Spirits) in the role of Lambert’s girlfriend Lilliane, and Robert Dalban (Diabolique) in the role of Raymond, an older taxi driver and Lambert’s mentor.

Though there are several murders in Witness in the City, what ultimately drives its narrative are the moments where Ancelin stalks Lambert. Ancelin is waiting for the most opportune moment to get rid of Lambert, the only person who can identify him. The narrative does a phenomenal job of building tension with the anticipation of Ancelin accomplishing his goal. That said, when the moment of truth arrives, things do not go as planned, and Ancelin then finds himself trying to flee the city of taxi drivers and police who are all looking for him.

From a production standpoint, there is not an area where Witness in the City does not excel. The premise is superbly executed, and a tension-filled narrative does an amazing job building momentum towards an exceptional ending. Another strength are stylish visuals, which use light and shadow to heighten the mood. Ultimately, Witness in the City is an exceptional film that fans of film noir should thoroughly enjoy.

Film noir is one of my favorite film genres, and though I had been more entrenched in American film noir’s, it is refreshing to discover film noir’s from around the world and their take on this amazing genre. That said, World Noir Volume 1 is an exceptional release from Radiance Films, in which all three films have never looked or sounded better, and there is a wealth of informative extras. Highly recommended.

Note: World Noir Volume 1 is limited to 3000 copies.

Written by Michael Den Boer