Noir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Noir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 22, 2019

Kit Parker Films and Mill Creek Entertainment continue their deep dive into what might be thought of as the substratum of film noir with this third collection culled from the Columbia catalog. The fact that this latest offering supposedly spans the years of 1956 through 1960 may give some indication of just how deep this particular dive is, since many film fans will probably (rightly or wrongly) feel like the late fifties and first year of the sixties are decidedly past the heyday of film noir. (That "supposedly" is in the previous sentence because the earliest actual release date for the films in this set seems to actually be 1957, not 1956, which perhaps makes my point even better.) Still, as with the first two collections, there are some really interesting films in this set, and genre aficionados will most likely find at least a few titles in this set, including some more British productions, that may well spark interest.

For an overview of the previous two releases in this series, please click on the following review links (which, like this one, will contain links of their own pointing to reviews of the individual films in the set):

Noir Archive Volume 1: 1944-1954 Blu- ray review

Noir Archive Volume 2: 1954-1956 Blu- ray review

For reviews of the nine films in this set, please click on the following links:

The Shadow on the Window Blu-ray review

The Long Haul Blu-ray review

Pickup Alley Blu-ray review

The Tijuana Story Blu-ray review

She Played with Fire Blu-ray review

The Case Against Brooklyn Blu-ray review

The Lineup Blu-ray review

The Crimson Kimono Blu-ray review

Man on a String Blu-ray review

Noir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Noir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Noir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

None of the three discs in this set feature any supplements.

Noir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

1956 and/or 1957 to 1960 may indeed be well past the perceived heyday of film noir, but this collection proves that least noir-ish elements were still being regularly utilized in a number of Columbia programmers. The Crimson Kimono is probably the best overall film in this set, but there are a number of undeniable pleasures to be found in any number of the other films included. Technical merits are generally solid, and for genre fans at least, Noir Archive Volume 3 comes Recommended.