Hammer Noir Collector’s Set #1

6 movies/3 DVDs

BAD BLONDE (The Flanagan Boy) – Tony Wright is a prizefighter who goes from the ring to a fling with his promoter’s wife, played by the baddest of ’50s bad blondes, Barbara Payton. When Payton comes up pregnant, Wright realizes that only by eliminating one unneeded husband will Baby Make Three. Murder and mayhem ensue in this film noir takeoff on The Postman Always Rings Twice. 1953|79 min.|B&W|1.33:1

MAN BAIT (The Last Page) – Diana Dors, a stick of blonde dynamite working as a clerk in an English book store, catches a customer attempting to steal a rare volume–but instead of hollering “Cop!,” the two instead cook up a sinister scheme to blackmail the store manager (George Brent). One of Hammer Films’ best noirs, helmed by their future horror specialist Terence Fisher.  1952|80 min.|B&W:1.33:1|NR

A STOLEN FACE – Plastic surgeon Paul Henreid molds the face of a woman (Lizabeth Scott) who rejected him onto the mug of a horribly scarred prison inmate (also played by Scott), and proceeds to wed the parolee despite her social-misfit status. Now, of course, the original gal reappears, and Henreid has one Scott too many–the “new” one dangerously psychotic!  1952|73 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR

BLACKOUT (Murder By Proxy) – Down-and-out Canadian Dane Clark is soused in a London club the night he’s approached by a beautiful stranger (Belinda Lee) offering him £500 to marry her. The too-good-to-be-true offer turns sour when Lee goes missing and her wealthy father is found murdered. With only hazy memories of that unusual night, Clark doesn’t know himself if he is the killer. 1954|88 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR

THE GAMBLER AND THE LADY – In the days before Hammer Films became famous for their horrors, they produced this crime drama with Dane Clark as the American ex-con owner of an English nightclub, getting mixed up with gangsters, stock swindlers, a titled beauty (Naomi Chance)–and murder. Great location shots of Windsor Castle and the Ascot Race Course. 1952|72 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR

HEAT WAVE (House Across the Lake) – For Hammer Films, director Ken Hughes adapted his novel “High Wray” with Alex Nicol as an author ensnared by a socialite (Hillary Brooke) with murderous plans for her ailing husband. When hubby is accidentally knocked unconscious during a fishing trip, and sexy Brooke begs Nicol to drop him in the drink, the temptation proves too strong. 1954|68 min.|B&W|1.33:1 (widescreen)|NR