World Noir Vol. 2 (Blu-ray) (UK Import)

As the 1960s got underway, the golden age of film noir in Hollywood came to an end, with a new wave of filmmaking emerging that would define itself against the studio system. But while the classic noir fell out of favour with American audiences and producers, filmmakers from across the world - particularly in countries that continued to grapple with the devastating fall out of the Second World War - continued to produce first-rate examples of the genre, with three such examples collected here, in our second volume of titles showcasing the best of World Noir.

BLACK GRAVEL (Schwarzer Kies, 1961)

Sohnen is a town built on vice for the occupying American forces in Cold War Germany. Robert, a local truck driver who sells off gravel from the site he works on as a side hustle, runs into an old flame, Inge. Inge is now respectably married to American officer John who runs the site. Driving in Robert’s truck, tragedy strikes and he and Inge must do their best to cover up a pair of dead bodies. From Helmut Käutner, unknown in the UK but the subject of numerous recent retrospectives and hailed as an underappreciated master, his films have remained difficult to see outside of Germany until recently: Black Gravel has been restored by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung in two versions, the ‘Premiere version’ and a ‘Distribution version’, the latter of which removing two moments of antisemitism, something which Käutner was unafraid of portraying in the film as still being present in society but proved to be too uncomfortable for audiences at the time.

SYMPHONY FOR A MASSACRE (Symphonie pour un massacre, 1963)

Five gangsters raise the cash to buy a large shipment of drugs which they plan to sell on. One of the gang however plans to secretly rob his partners, beginning an escalating spiral of violence and deception that leaves a trail of bodies across France. Fiendishly plotted with a twisty script from José Giovanni (Le trou) and Claude Sautet (Classe tous risques) adapting a novel by Reynaud-Fourton, Symphony for a Massacre sees the French master of the mystery thriller Jacques Deray (La piscine) directing with real energy and verve. Featuring an icy performance by Jean Rochefort (Tell No One), support from a remarkable cast of France’s finest character actors, and stunning photography by Claude Renoir (La grande illusion), this is French crime cinema of the highest quality.

CRUEL GUN STORY (Kenjū zankoku monogatari, 1964)

Togawa (Joe Shishido, Branded to Kill) is released from prison early by his underworld bosses. They make him execute a daring heist on an armoured vehicle, knowing he has no choice to do it as he needs the money for his sister’s surgery. With multiple partners and facets to the operation, much is at risk and all is never as it seems. A variation on Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing from Nikkatsu’s Action line, Takumi Furukawa directs this yakuza tale with every bit of the deftness found in classic American noir of the 1950s, featuring hard-boiled characters and enough twists to make your fedora spin.

BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES:

4K restoration of Symphony for a Massacre by Pathé
2K restoration of Black Gravel by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung
High-Definition digital transfer of Cruel Gun Story
Original uncompressed mono PCM audio for all films
Optional English subtitles for all films
Newly designed artwork based on original posters
80-page perfect bound book by critics and experts including Carmen Gray on post-war German politics and film, Elena Lazic on Jose Giovanni, David Hering on noir’s evolution in the 1960s, and Jake Cole on the filmography of Joe Shishido
Limited Edition of 3, 000 copies presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases for each film and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

BLACK GRAVEL

Includes both uncensored original cut and the re-edited distribution cut
Audio commentary with film historian Olaf Möller (2020)
Newl introduction from writer and programmer Margaret Deriaz (2024)
Newsreel footage of film set featuring behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with Käutner (1960)
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

SYMPHONY FOR A MASSACRE

New audio commentary by critic Travis Woods (2024)
New introduction by critic Christina Newland (2024)
Archival interviews with cast members Charles Vanel, Jean Rochefort and director Jacques Deray (1963)
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

CRUEL GUN STORY

Audio commentary by author and filmmaker Jasper Sharp (2024)
New introduction by critic and programmer Tony Rayns (2024)
Archival interview with actor Joe Shishido
Visual essay by critic Hayley Scanlon on Nikkatsu’s noir films of the 1960s (2024)
Original trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork