“I coulda lied there forever, but the phone rang.” And with that bit of hard-boiled narration we are introduced to the world of private investigator John Rosow (Shannon), a rumpled burn out cut from the same cloth as Elliott Gould’s gumshoe in The Long Goodbye (1973). Rosow is hired by an attorney over the phone to tail a man (Wood) from Chicago to Los Angeles by train. Rosow may come across as a burn out but when it’s called for, he displays the necessary private eye skills: paying off a taxi cab driver to tail his target, pulling a fast one on the hotel clerk where the man is staying at, and listening in on the man’s room.

Rosow eventually finds out that there is much more to this mystery man than meets the eye and that there is much more to the job than he was initially led to believe. Halfway through the film, the story veers off in an unexpected direction that gives the film noir genre an interesting spin as we gain significant insight into both Rosow and the man he is following. Without giving too much away, we begin to realize that the film’s title applies not only to Rosow’s target but to the private eye himself.

Writer/director Noah Buschel makes good use of Michael Shannon’s world-weary face. Rosow seems to sport a permanent grimace as if every action were a painful chore. It doesn’t help that he appears to be a barely functioning alcoholic. Over the course of the film, it becomes apparent that he is haunted by memories of his past that come to him in his dreams. Through several flashbacks, Buschel hints at a happier time for Rosow when he was involved with a beautiful woman that was probably his wife. Shannon doesn’t overplay his character’s affectations but does make one aware of them by the way he carries himself and through body language.

Buschel has a good ear for snappy film noir dialogue, like when Rosow trades barbs with two FBI agents that are tailing him. It evokes a bygone era which juxtaposes rather nicely with the contemporary setting. For example, Rosow is approached by a dishy, femme fatale (Colin) type and asks her, “You’re not one of those gals that uses sex as a weapon, are ya?” to which she replies, “No. I don’t like violence.”

While Chicago is photographed by cinematographer Ryan Samul to look drab and drained of color, L.A. is sunny and vibrant so that Rosow, with his plain brown suit, looks out of place. Like Gould’s P.I. in The Long Goodbye, Rosow is a man out of time. He listens to music from the 1950s and dresses like a gumshoe from the 1940s which is rather fitting seeing as how Shannon looks like an actor who could’ve had a pretty good career appearing in film noirs from that era. Shannon is fascinating to watch and is an actor that makes interesting choices when it comes to a given scene. The world weary private eye genre has been done to death but Shannon, along with Buschel’s excellent writing, keeps us engaged for the entire running time of The Missing Person.

Special Features:

None.

The Sniper (1952) features Edward Miller (Franz), a lonely troubled man – a ticking time bomb ready to explode. He served time in the psycho ward of a prison for hitting a woman. Miller tries desperately to get help but no one will give him the time of day. He has trouble relating to women and takes out his frustration by shooting and killing them with his sniper rifle. Arthur Franz does an excellent job of playing a conflicted serial killer. You can see the inner turmoil all over his face and in some ways he’s kind of a tragic figure – a cinematic prototype for Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976).

In The Big Heat (1953), police detective David Bannion (Ford) investigates the suicide of a fellow officer who was ill. However, an ex-lover of the deceased tells Bannion that it wasn’t suicide. She soon winds up brutally murdered and despite pressure from his superiors, Bannion continues his investigation. He soon finds himself butting heads with a powerful gangster and his vicious henchman played by a young Lee Marvin. Glenn Ford is quite good as a loving family man and dedicated cop. Bannion is willing to pursue a case with single-minded determination despite all the obstacles thrown in his path. He’s also tough and more than capable of taking care of himself in a fight.

Based on a short story by Jack Finney (who wrote the book that Invasion of the Body Snatchers was based on), 5 Against the House (1955) features a quartet of Korean War veterans enjoying themselves on a gambling trip to Reno, Nevada. They goof around and have fun trying to pick up women. One of them, Al (Madison), has a girlfriend named Kay (Novak) who is a sultry nightclub singer and the film’s femme fatale. Another one of the group, Brick (Keith), becomes extremely violent when provoked – a byproduct of his experiences in the war – so you know he’s going to be trouble later on in the film. The quartet returns to college and the humdrum routine of the daily grind. The brainy one of their group devises a plan to rob one of the casinos in Reno for one million dollars. Of course, this being a film noir, it isn’t going to be that easy and the “perfect” plan begins to unravel.

Director Don Siegel wastes no time as The Lineup (1958) starts off with an exciting chase as a taxi cab driver tries to drive away with a stolen suitcase, runs over a cop and is shot and killed. Inside the case is a statuette containing $100,000 worth of heroin. The cops return the case to its owner in the hopes that he’ll lead them to a possible narcotics ring. Siegel does a good job showing us the process of a police investigation: inspecting the crime scene, questioning witnesses, the forensics lab and organizing line-ups of potential suspects. Eli Wallach plays Dancer, a sociopathic hitman who figures into the drug deal. He’s a consummate professional judging from the way he questions the driver of his car for the job at hand. The Lineup’s most memorable sequence is an exciting car chase that takes place on the then-unfinished Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco and anticipates other intense chases in The French Connection (1974) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985).

The last film in this set is Murder by Contract (1958). Claude (Edwards) moonlights as a hitman who doesn’t make mistakes. He’s pretty sure of himself and smart. He does a few jobs, saving up the money he makes to buy a house. Claude’s latest job takes him Los Angeles where he’s contracted to kill a woman who is set to testify against the mob. It’s the first time he’s had to kill a woman and his cool confidence is visibly shaken. She’s heavily guarded by the cops and Claude has to bide his time and pick his moment. Murder by Contract takes it time to show Claude’s methodical nature and how it is put to the test with this latest assignment.

Special Features:

The Sniper features an audio commentary by author Eddie Muller. He starts off talking about the origins of the film – a husband and wife writing team. He mentions that it was a very controversial film at the time because of its subject matter. Muller provides all kinds of fascinating production details, like how much of the film was shot on location in San Francisco. He explains that The Sniper is a landmark film because it was one of the first to prominently feature a serial killer.

“Martin Scorsese Presents The Sniper” features the legendary filmmaker talking about the documentary feel of the film thanks to the use of authentic locations.

Also included is an original theatrical trailer.

The Big Heat starts off with “Michael Mann on The Big Heat.” He speaks admiringly about the prominent female characters in the film. The director talks about the ethnic aspect of the film as well as the uncompromising nature of Glenn Ford’s character.

“Martin Scorsese on The Big Heat” features the director talking about how Ford’s character becomes what he’s fighting against. Scorsese draws particular attention to the flat look of the film and how director Fritz Lang directs us to the behaviour of the characters.

Also included is the original theatrical trailer.

The only extra for 5 Against the House is the original theatrical trailer.

The Lineup includes an audio commentary by author Eddie Muller and James Ellroy. Muller says that this film started off as a television show cut from the same cloth as Dragnet. He plays the straight man on this track, rattling off facts, while Ellroy is his usual colourful and profane self offering his bizarro opinions on this film. He sings the praises of Don Siegel’s more than capable direction. Fans of Ellroy will love this track as he gets to cut loose have some fun commenting on The Lineup.

“The Influence of Noir with Christopher Nolan” sees this respected director citing noir as an influence on his own work, most notably the psychological states of the characters, the atmosphere and the style in relation to the substance and how they all interact with one another.

Also included is the original theatrical trailer.

Murder by Contract features “Martin Scorsese on Murder by Contract.” He reminisces about when he first saw the film as a teenager and how it would later influence aspects of Taxi Driver. The director speaks admiringly of the “economy of means” – how Irving Lerner depicted the passing of time. Scorsese gives us a brief background to Lerner and talks about how he got to know and even work with him.

Finally, there is the original theatrical trailer.

Le Doulos begins with typical noir imagery: a man in a hat and trenchcoat walks along deserted city streets to a foreboding score that seems to hint at his impending doom. The man’s name is Faugel (Reggiani) and he’s just been released from prison. In a matter of minutes he kills a local fence for his money and jewelry – apparently settling an old score.

Faugel meets up with Silien (Belmondo), a criminal associate who is a ruthless sociopath not above tying up and slapping around Faugel’s girlfriend for information. He ends up double-crossing Faugel on what should have been a routine home invasion. The cops show up, shots are fired, people die, and Faugel narrowly escapes despite being wounded. He realizes that Silien set him up and decides to get revenge. As the film continues, one quickly picks up a decidedly fatalistic vibe: this is not going to end well for anyone.

Fresh off of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960), Jean-Paul Belmondo is excellent as a cold, calculated criminal that is oddly charismatic thanks to the actor. Our sympathies like with Faugel as played by Serge Reggiani because he is being unfairly set up by Silien. Or is he?

Melville presents a tough, criminal underworld where life if predictably cheap and on one can be trusted. They are tried and true clichés but are executed so well that they seem fresh and new. There are no truly good or bad characters in this film – there are elements of both in everyone in Le Doulos. Melville plays with out notion of perception and includes plot twists that keep us guessing right up to the final scene.

Special Features:

There is a select-scene commentary by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau. She talks about the opening credit sequence and how it establishes the themes of Le Doulos. Stylistically, this sequence evokes American film noir of the 1940s. Vincendeau picks a scene that develops the character of Silien. She analyzes the clothes that the characters were. Finally, she takes a look the film’s conclusion and how our perception of the characters and the events in the film change.

“Archival Footage” features excerpts from three French television programs from the 1960s and 1970s. In the first one, Melville and Belmondo talk about the film. In the second one, Reggiani is interviewed about his career and is quite candid. In the last one, Reggiani is a few years old and talks about the film with Melville joining him.

Also included is an interview with filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier who was a publicist for Le Doulos. He talks about meeting and working with Melville. The actor offers his recollections of working on the films and he tells some good stories.

There is an interview with filmmaker Volker Schlondorff who was an assistant director on Le Doulos and he talks about his impressions of Melville. He goes on to tell some very engaging and fascinating stories about the man. Good stuff.

Finally, there is a theatrical trailer.

To break down the labyrinthine plot into a reasonably concise statement is not easy, but here goes: Two actresses; one involved in a car crash in Hollywood and left with amnesia; the other just arriving in town with the naive hopes of becomming the next Nicole Kidman, cross paths. Sweet Betty (Watts) decides to try and solve the riddle of who Rita (Harring) really is and why she’s carrying wads of cash in her purse.

Fans of neo-noir will be in their element here. Indeed, there’s a deliberate look about the film that hints at Hollywood style of the fifties. The classic ‘woman lures man into shady dealings’ setup is swiftly turned on its head with both the female leads hiding who they really are. And this is Lynch, so if you want the story to add up to something linear, you might as well try and unwravel that old piece of knotted string in your kitchen cupboard.

As with the recent Donnie Darko, this is a film that positively demands repeat viewings, not only to fully realise the structure of the story, but to notice little in-jokes and references that you missed first time around. Nothing is what it seems, and characters float in and out of the story, sometimes as completely different people – such is the dream logic of the film.

Whilst Betty and Rita are trying to find Rita’s memory, film director Adam Kesher (Theroux) is having a hard time with the studio about casting his new movie and having to deal with his cheating better-half (a laugh-out-loud scene involving pink fluorescent paint is something to treasure forever). The beauty of Mulholland Dr is separating each character’s memories/dreams from reality. (I’ll give you a clue: The Dinner Party scene is the key to the whole story).

Fans of the director have declared this the ultimate Lynch experience, Empire magazine gave it the full monty, but despite its glowing reviews and awards, it has divided audiences on both sides of the pond. Like Vanilla Sky, it’s either something you love or hate, with very little room inbetween. You have to work hard to make sense of it all, and the casual renter may be left with a ‘what the hell just happened?’ scowl on their face. But film-fans may be left with a pleasantly stoned look in their eyes and drool running down their chin (and not just from the steamy lesbian sex scenes).

Special features:

Sadly Lynch isn’t a fan of DVD extras and hunting around on other versions, the most I found were some Cannes interviews on the Region 2 disc. Here you get a trailer and some brief filmographies. He also doesn’t like chapter stops because it spoils the flow of the film, so you can’t jump to a specific scene. But the film is the main thing here and it looks great (a little too great – at the cinema it was dark and shady, on crystal clear DVD the colours jump out and the overall look of the film is lighter. Indeed, a nude scene has obviously been digitally blurred to save the actress’s embarressment).

The one niggle I had was with the running time, but this is coming from the bloke who’s sat through the 3-hour Two Towers twice so far, so it’s not a major gripe. The lack of extras lets it down too, but you can’t help but feel a director commentary from the man himself would ruin the surreal effect of the film. It would be like watching a magician do tricks and then explain them in detail to the audience. I love commentaries, but sometimes things are better left to work out for yourself.

However, the music is a stand-out and the dialogue clean and crisp despite the director’s tendancy for tread-softly sound design (people who saw Lost Highway know what I mean). He goes to a lot of trouble to create original sounds, from the haunting moans over the end credits, through to Angelo Badalamenti’s score, which veers from bizarre comedy (the afforementioned pink paint scene) to spine-chilling horror with ease. Badalamenti is surely one of the most original and under-rated film composers around, and MD shows some of his best work to date.

To conclude: The acting is exceptional (Watts is a force of nature in both ‘roles’) and Lynch fans will be in heaven, but even if the casual observer were to come upon the film and be left stone cold, there’s no denying it would stick in their heads, and in the age of mindless blockbusters, that’s definitely something to applaud.