OK, so all that film noir set? Great. Go buy it. Good times. But if you want to see one of the most incredible documentaries about film and film history, go rent/buy Martin Scorsese’s Il Mio Viaggio in Italia, a/k/a, My Voyage to Italy. This two disc, 4-plus hour documentary is the best introduction to classic Italian Neorealism one could hope for. Scorsese leads the audience through the evolution of post-War Italian cinema by relating his own personal exposure to the films of Rossellini, De Sica, Fellini, Antonioni and Visconti. I saw this film for the first time at the New York Film Festival about three years ago (I believe), and was mesmerized for the entire screening. After watching it, I wanted to instantly rush out and see every last one of the films referenced, and since that time, I have seen many. If you’re a film lover and already know about these directors and the Neorealism movement, you will still learn something from this documentary. If you’re a film fan and have never heard of Neorealism (a precursor to the La Nouvelle Vague in France), then watch this docu and let a whole new world of spectacular movies open up to you. This is a spectacular film, and along with A Personal Journey Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, one of the best studies of film you’ll ever see or read.
Briefly: I neglected to mention earlier two other films noir released on DVD yesterday separate from Warner Bros.’ box set. Universal has put out — unfortunately with much less fanfare or promotion — editions of The Big Clock and Criss-Cross. The Big Clock is another classic noir with a fantastic cast featuring Ray Milland, Charles Laughton and Maureen O’Sullivan. Criss-Cross is an oft-forgotten noir classic starring Burt Lancaster and a pre-Lily Munster Yvonne De Carlo. It was directed by the great Robert Siodmak, teaming-up again with Lancaster as they had done just a few years earlier to make another member of the definitive-noir canon: The Killers, which is already out in a spectacular Criterion release.
Out of Focus 