Absent that type of information (and we can only hope that Scorsese et al have someone at work to document the peregrinations of the Republic "edited for TV" efforts ), we can only provide a provisional set of film titles culled from Mike's noir list.
Before doing that, let's note that most of the films in Scorsese/MOMA's "Republic Rediscovered" series from 2018 dealt with films that are clearly not noir: the only such films that made the cut into the 30 titles presented at MOMA were the ones that have been well-known for years: MOONRISE, CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS, HELL's HALF ACRE, and THE FLAME. There was the tip of the cap to Tarantino by providing a couple of westerns from William Witney, but those are not noir (and, indeed, it's hard to find more than a handful of Witney films that are "noir" and it appears that only one of those, CITY OF SHADOWS, was made for Republic).
So let's start by culling from Mike's list the films that are already well-known and/or have been screened by someone (primarily Muller or Lavine) over the course of the past thirty years. First, the "big four":
Moonrise†, 1948, Frank Borzage,, 90, 42, 7.1
Macbeth, 1948, Orson Welles,, 107, 54, 7.5
House by the River, 1950, Fritz Lang,, 83, 45, 7.1
Johnny Guitar, 1954, Nicholas Ray,, 110, 127, 7.7
We can set these aside as part of Republic's occasional effort to position some of its product as "A" features. There are more of these, but they are not noirs (and, of course, MACBETH and JOHNNY GUITAR are not "noir" in the standard sense of the term, they are more "noir by association" due to the identity of the director).
Here, then, are the noirs from Republic that have become well-known at various points over the past thirty years:
Strangers in the Night, 1944, Anthony Mann,, 56, 14, 6.4
Storm Over Lisbon†, 1944, George Sherman,, 86, 2, 6.0
The Great Flamarion†, 1945, Anthony Mann,, 78, 32, 6.6
Jealousy, 1945, Gustav Machaty,, 71, 6, 6.6
Strange Impersonation†, 1946, Anthony Mann,, 68, 21, 6.4
Specter of the Rose, 1946, Ben Hecht,, 90, 21, 6.0
The Madonna’s Secret, 1946, William Thiele, x, 79, 14, 6.5
The Flame†, 1947, John H. Auer,, 97, 6, 6.6
The Pretender, 1947, W. Lee Wilder,, 69, 10, 6.5
The Red Menace, 1949, R. G. Springsteen,, 81, 9, 5.0
Hoodlum Empire, 1952, Joseph Kane,, 98, 8, 5.9
City That Never Sleeps, 1953, John H. Auer,, 90, 37, 6.8
Hell’s Half Acre, 1954, John H. Auer,, 90, 14, 6.2
You might quibble about THE RED MENACE as a noir, and that would be worth some form of discussion. Since many of the "red scare" movies depict some type of criminal activity, however, and given that the others are often lumped into a discussion of film noir, we're simply going to list it here and let the chips fall as they may.
Clearly some form of "auteurism" is at work WRT this list, what with Mann, Hecht and Auer (the only longtime Republic contract director to have been elevated into semi-mainstream discourse) dominating it. Many of these films feature actors who are well-known for other, better known works; many of you know who those folks are already, so we won't take up the time to list them here.
So that gets us to a list of Republic noirs that, based on some semi-subliminal consensus and the advocacy of IMDB critics who've spent more time seeking out and studying these films than anyone else, seem to be the films with more substance and originality: this list is a good starting point for any film programmer to explore (hopefully with those who've been involved in the Republic restoration project) with the idea of presenting a "rare Republic film noir" festival.
Here are those titles:
A Man Betrayed, 1941, John H. Auer,, 82, 16, 6.1
*The Mantrap, 1943, George Sherman,, 57, 4, 6.7
Port of 40 Thieves, 1944, John English, x, 58, 6, 6.5
*Grissly’s Millions, 1945, John English, x, 71, 4, 6.8
The Tiger Woman, 1945, Philip Ford, x, 57, 7, 6.6
Identity Unknown†, 1945, Walter Colmes,, 71, 10, 6.1
Murder in the Music Hall, 1946, John English,, 84, 9, 6.0
The Last Crooked Mile †, 1946, Philip Ford,, 67, 6, 6.4
The Mysterious Mr. Valentine, 1946, Philip Ford,, 56, 6, 6.3
Exposed, 1947, George Blair, x, 59, 8, 5.8
Blackmail, 1947, Lesley Selander,, 67, 8, 5.9
I, Jane Doe †, 1948, John H. Auer,, 85, 2, 7.2
Out of the Storm, 1948, R. G. Springsteen,, 61, 2, 6.0
Secret Service Investigator, 1948, R. G. Springsteen,, 60, 1, 6.2
Post Office Investigator, 1949, George Blair, x, 60, 2, 5.8
Hideout, 1949, Philip Ford, x, 61, 6, 6.2
Lonely Heart Bandits, 1950, George Blair, x, 60, 3, 6.6
Unmasked, 1950, George Blair,, 60, 3, 6.5
The Blonde Bandit, 1950, Harry Keller,, 60, 3, 6.7
Tarnished, 1950, Harry Keller,, 60, 2, 6.2
Insurance Investigator, 1951, George Blair, x, 60, 5, 6.3
No Man’s Woman, 1955, Franklin Adreon,, 70, 15, 6.3
Double Jeopardy, 1955, R. G. Springsteen,, 70, 5, 6.3
The Man is Armed, 1956, Franklin Adreon, x, 70, 7, 6.1
Terror at Midnight, 1956, Franklin Adreon,, 70, 1, 6.5
*The Wayward Girl, 1957, Lesley Selander,, 71, 2, 7.0
This list provides a generous dollop of three Republic directors with what appears to be a pronounced affinity for noir/crime films: John English, George Blair, and Phil Ford. Additional directors who show up here more than once have names such as Springsteen, Adreon, Keller and Selander. And there are several extra films from Auer (the early John Wayne non-western A MAN BETRAYED and the hard-to-classify I, JANE DOE) which could be hooked to those more familiar titles if the programmer wanted to ensure a larger turnout.
With so many of these films listed in the 54-60 minute time frame, one could also try to market this to a more select audience via the "triple bill" gimmick. (I'm sure folks familiar with my particular predilections in that area would quickly catch on to my initial impulse to bundle all three "generic" INVESTIGATOR titles into a triple bill: you could charitably chalk that up to a personality quirk, if you were so inclined. Or, you could do what Bogie does in THE BIG SLEEP, which is to go to "the bookstore across the street." Of course, Dorothy Malone may not be waiting for you there...)
At any rate, here are 26 Republic noir titles that could provide a solid basis for a "Rediscovering Rare Republic Noir" series. It really should be a followup for Scorsese and MOMA, but I'm not convinced that such is within their interests: we'll need a Muller or (more likely) a Lavine to make this happen.
But what we also need is someone more akin to the late Art Lyons to write a book about this aspect of Republic's output. That would be a very intriguing read, but it doesn't seem likely that the so-called "guardians of noir" are interested in such a subject, given that Lyons' own festival (or, at least, the one that is named in his honor...) is now completely bereft of such films. Perhaps someone else will emerge from the shadows...stay tuned!
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