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THE AMERICAN PREMIERE OF JESS FRANCO'S TWO LONG-UNSEEN FILM NOIRS Following his international breakthrough with THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF, director Jess Franco next delivered a startling pair of crime-thrillers that pistol-whipped European notions of film noir while lighting the fuse on Uncle Jess' own insane aesthetic. Set in New Orleans and based on a novel by the authors of VERTIGO, DEATH WHISTLES THE BLUES is a hard-boiled tale of betrayal, violence and revenge featuring smoky jazz compositions by Franco himself. Jean Servais of RIFIFI fame stars in RIFIFI IN THE CITY, a nihilistic trip through a pulp underworld of thugs, snitches, nightclub dames and black-gloved giallo-style murders. Both films - which led an impressed Orson Welles to hire Franco as his assistant on CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT - now feature HD scans from the original negatives for the first time ever.

Media

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Bonus Materials

• Franco Noir — Interview With Stephen Thrower, Author Of “Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema Of Jesús Franco”

Sales Points

• For film noir completists
• For fans of THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF
• For fans of THE DIABOLICAL DR. Z
• For fans of RIFIFI

Press Quotes

An absolutely classic film noir... As a Franco fan, DEATH WHISTLES THE BLUES will make you immensely happy.

     —Italo Cinema

A lost gem... If any Franco film deserves rediscovery, it's RIFIFI IN THE CITY.

     —Senses of Cinema

The two films in this set are really a rather pleasant surprise, with fun, twisty plots, good performances and some really bracing stylistic choices. Technical merits are generally solid, and the Stephen Thrower supplement very well done. Recommended.

     —Blu-ray.com

But if like me you enjoy sampling every side of the director's work/ and or you’re a fan of noir- this is most certainly a must-have release. The release appears on Severin, with the disc being topped off with an interview/ feature with Franco expert Stephen Thrower.

     —Musique Machine

Bottom line: those delightful devils at Severin have brought to light two of Franco’s lesser seen flicks, and that alone should have Franco-fans doing some groovy gyrations to beat the beastly band!

     —DanXIII, Horror Fuel

Two early efforts by the prolific exploitation filmmaker Jess Franco, both offering solid evidence that had he not waded deeply into obsessive/surreal horror and erotica, he might have enjoyed a modest career as a director of mainstream thrillers.

     —Paul Gaita, The Los Angeles Beat