https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/a-gleaming-collection-of-french-noir/ar-AA1UGth7

Note that three of the four films in Kino's second French noir smorgasbord never made the cut for screening in THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT festivals.

Not that at least two of these films (LA VIERGE DU RHIN, with Gabin; LE FAUVE EST LACHE, with Ventura) are worthy of big-screen exposure (as with David Mermelstein of the WSJ, we will pass on LES DISTRACTIONS, a early Belmondo misfire). But that we didn't do it (in a series that had 155 films in 189 screening slots...) is testament to the almost boundless depth of classic French noir (still mostly hidden away.

The gem of this set, LA MORT DE BELLE (given the strange American title of THE PASSION OF SLOW FIRE), was indeed part of FHANFI, screened in 2019 to shattering effect, with Jean Desailly at his best in a performance lauded by Mermelstein and by many of the FHANFI 6 attendees. Such a great collection of sixties noirs could be released by Kino, with this among them--to do so would reinforce Mermelstein's conclusion and his almost plaintive plea for more:

This set’s value, as with its predecessor, lies in its core content: French movies of the old school more interested in character than in making the sorts of political points so important to the ascendant Nouvelle Vague. That these films now look so striking and preserve, as if in time capsules, both Paris and less urban Gallic precincts only increases their worth. Would it be greedy to request Kino Lorber return to the vault yet again?

Better yet, David--convince the American gatekeepers of French cinema history to stop wallowing in their endless worship of Truffaut and Godard and mount a series of festivals in the hub of cultural pretension (hint: if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere...) that screen, not three, not four, not fifteen or twenty, but 155 films covering the landscape of France's "lost continent" of classic film noir. Talk about a revolution...