NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (July 2022): Kino have transferred three films for their eighth edition of Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema series to Blu-ray. This boxset has Street of Chance (1942), Enter Arsène Lupin (1944) and Temptation (1946). They are cited as being from "Brand New 2K Masters". They are on single-layered Blu-ray discs, in 1080P with supportive bitrates. The only real issues are speckles that are dominant in Street of Chance and exist, but less invasive, on both Enter Arsène Lupin and Temptation. Other than that there are a few weaker contrast sequences that look like they are inherent in the source - and possibly the original production. They looks consistent and pleasing with only a film-level cleaning capable of tackling the prevalent speckles.

NOTE: We have added 142 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. The films have a few aggressive moments that come through with occasional surprising depth. The score for Street of Chance was by David Buttolph (The Horse Soldiers, Wake Island, This Gun For Hire, Western Union, Pete Kelly's Blues, Rope, Three Secrets, Kiss of Death, Blood and Sand and many more.) The score for Enter Arsène Lupin was by Milton Rosen (Sudan, The Spider Woman Strikes Back, Jack Arnold's 3-D The Glass Web, serials like Junior G-Men of the Air or Jungle Queen.) The score for Temptation was by Daniele Amfitheatrof (Singapore, The Capture, An Act of Murder, The Last Hunt, I'll Be Seeing You, Edge of Eternity, The Lost Moment, The Desperate Hours, Human Desire, Letter From An Unknown Woman.) They support tension, suspense and infrequent romance - sounding clean with consistent dialogue in the lossless transfers. I had no audio issues. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their three Region 'A' Blu-rays.

The Kino Blu-ray offers three new commentaries; by Film Scholar Jason A. Ney on Street of Chance, Film Historian Anthony Slide on Enter Arsene Lupin and Film Historian Kelly Robinson on Temptation. Jason talks about Street of Chance as a solid early B-Noir, he references a dozen other amnesia films incorporating relevant passages from an article he wrote entitled "I Know Who I Am, Amnesia and Identity - Postwar to the Present", where Street of Chance fits into the noir cycle, how it compares to its source novel (The Black Curtain by Cornell Woolrich), its production history and reception, and where it fits into the lives/careers of the key players plus significantly more... I found it very informative. Anthony Slide discusses Enter Arsène Lupin as obviously intended to be part of a series, how Charles Korvin was making his film debut, the Clouseau-like J. Carrol Naish's portrayal as Arsène's nemesis, George Dolenz (father of Monkee 'Micky'), the aloof performance of Ella Raines - that he found did not fit the character - plus Gale Sondergaard, director Ford Beebe's career and much more not labeling the film as a Noir. Kelly Robinson (who's few commentaries I really like - and am glad to hear more from her) talks about this being the 4th version of 'Bella Donna' (the working title - a toxic perennial herbaceous plant) and how this version uses the most noir-ish tropes. She relates details of the earlier versions, director Irving Pichel (The Most Dangerous Game) how Merle Oberon's work is criminally underrated (agreed!) - how she was of hidden mixed-race ancestry / how her biological mother gave birth to her at age 12, she compares George Brent to George Clooney and frequently cites the the incredible costumes / gowns - one cited as a pure femme-fatale dress. It's filled with wonderful tidbits. Excellent. There is also a trailer for Enter Arsène Lupin and other films. 

While none of the three films in Kino's eighth edition of Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema series on Blu-ray, are Essential Noir - I really enjoyed them very much. Street of Chance had the amnesia-angle and Burgess Meredith navigating his unknown persona - surviving while on the run - seeking truth. Enter Arsène Lupin has favorite Ella Raines courted by international gentleman-thief played by handsome Charles Korvin. An evil and statuesque Gale Sondergaard is lurking. Temptation has Korvin again, but the star may be Merle Oberon's extensive wardrobe and her self-serving femme-fatale charms as she manipulates men around mysterious Egyptian excavations with blackmail and revenge ensuing. She's delightful. All above-average films with crime as the focus; amnesia, femme-fatale, Mummy's curses, cute Raines, stunning Oberon - too much value with the three new, informative, commentaries. Certainly recommended!     

Gary Tooze