Arrow Academy will release two new catalog titles on Blu-ray: Jacques Tourneur's Nightfall (1957) and Carol Reed's The Running Man (1963). The two releases will be available for purchase in June.
Synopsis:
During his long and varied career, Jacques Tourneur (The Comedy of Terrors, Cat People) tackled a breadth of genres on both sides of the Atlantic. With 1956's Nightfall, he returns to the noir trappings he tackled so successfully with Out of the Past for a tale of deception, intrigue and paranoia.
Adapted from the novel by prolific crime fiction author James Goodis (Dark Passage), Nightfall is the story of Jim Vanning (Aldo Ray, The Violent Ones; The Naked and the Dead), an innocent man wrongly accused of murder. On the same night he has a chance encounter in a bar with glamorous model Marie (Anne Bancroft, The Graduate), the hoods he's spent the past year running from catch up with him, determined to recover the money they believe he stole from them. Pursued by both the hoods and law enforcement, Vanning and Marie go on the lam, leading to a desperate chase that takes them from the streets of Los Angeles to the snowy peaks of Wyoming.
Eschewing both the big names associated with the genre and its familiar urban locales, and featuring striking monochromatic photography by Oscar-winner Burnett Guffey (From Here to Eternity), Nightfall is a gripping and inventive late-period noir which shows that, even in its twilight years, the genre still had room for innovation.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation, restored from original film elements
Original lossless mono soundtrack
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
New audio commentary by author and critic Bryan Reesman
White and Black, a new video appreciation of Nightfall by film historian Philip Kemp
Do I Look Like a Married Man?, a new video essay on the themes of Nightfall by author and critic Kat Ellinger
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio
First pressing only: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Amy Simmons
Synopsis: Over a decade after redefining the thriller with The Third Man, director Carol Reed returned to the genre with The Running Man. Reuniting with that film s cinematographer Robert Krasker (BAFTA-nominated for his work here), Reed goes in the opposite direction visually, framing the twisty plot in sun-kissed widescreen color.
Rex Black (Laurence Harvey, Walk On The Wild Side) has successfully faked his death in a plane crash and escaped to sunny Málaga under a new identity, waiting for his wife Stella (Lee Remick, Anatomy Of A Murder) to arrive with £50,000 of life insurance money. It s the start of a blissful, trouble-free new life for the couple until Stephen (Alan Bates, Gosford Park), the insurance agent in charge of investigating Rex s death, suddenly arrives in town. Is he just holidaying in Spain, as he claims, or is he on assignment to foil Rex s scheme?
Adapted by John Mortimer (later the creator of Rumpole of the Bailey) from the novel The Ballad of the Running Man by Shelley Smith, this underappreciated entry in Reed s celebrated oeuvre makes its official worldwide home video premiere, complete with insightful new bonus features.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
2K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM SONY PICTURES
Original uncompressed mono audio
Isolated music and effects track
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by Peter William Evans, author of British Film-Makers: Carol Reed
On The Trail Of The Running Man, all-new featurette with crew members such as script supervisor Angela Allen and assistant director Kits Browning
Lee Remick at the National Film Theatre, an audio-only recording of the actor's appearance at the NFT in 1970
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork
First pressing only: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Barry Forshaw
U.S. STREET DATE: JUNE 18.
UK STREET DATE: JUNE 17.