Forgotten Noir & Crime Collection Vol. #4 (9 Movies)
9 movies/3 DVDs
- Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard
- Radar Secret Service,
- Motor Patrol
- Mr. District Attorney” (1941)
- Western Pacific Agent,
- Highway 13
- The Treasure of Monte Cristo
- Skyliner
9 movies/3 DVDs
COUNTERSPY MEETS SCOTLAND YARD – When enemy agents obtain leaked secrets about a guided missile reservation, the chief of America’s counterspy division (Howard St. John) and Scotland Yard’s top sleuth (Ron Randell) get on an investigative trail which quickly leads to a reservation secretary (Gunsmoke’s Miss Kitty, Amanda Blake). “Suspense and excitement”–Harrison’s Reports. 1950|67 min|B&W|1.33:1|NR
RADAR SECRET SERVICE – It’s science versus crime when agents of a foreign power working with local gangsters (including Tom Neal) steal a truck loaded with secret atomic materials, and the members of the Secret Service’s new “radar unit” (including John Howard and Ralph “Dick Tracy” Byrd) use the “latest technology” to run down the lawbreakers. MOTOR PATROL: Roaring down America’s highways in the pursuit of justice, motorcycle policemen put the heat on a car theft ringleader who uses a legitimate garage as a front. When Officer Bill Henry is killed in the line of duty, rookie Don Castle, the fiancé of Henry’s sister, gets him assigned to the case and infiltrates the gang. 1950|60 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY (1941): When Harvard Law School graduate P. Cadwallader Jones (Dennis O’Keefe) bungles his first assignment in the D.A.’s office, he is next assigned the make-work job of reviewing the closed case of a crooked city official (Peter Lorre) who vanished with a stolen $100,000. The cold case suddenly gets hot when the money begins to reappear, and a series of brutal murders ensues! There’s plenty of fast-moving action in this crime melodrama laced with humor. 1941|69 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
WESTERN PACIFIC AGENT – A “modern Western,” set in the year it was released (1951). The railroad assigns its top agent Kent Taylor to investigate a payroll robbery and the murder of a paymaster. Meanwhile, the felon’s father (Morris Carnovsky) is also desperately trying to convince the wayward boy (Mickey Knox) to forsake his life of crime. 1950|64 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
HIGHWAY 13 – It’s murder on wheels when a trucking company loses several vehicles in a series of mysterious crashes–and a company honcho dies in a road accident that is equally inexplicable. Truck driver Robert Lowery soon finds himself enmeshed in the whodunit, which involves a café truck stop, an ex-gangster mechanic and indications of sabotage. This film was produced in 3 days! 1948|60 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
THE TREASURE OF MONTE CRISTO – A web of death, intrigue and daring love entwines merchant seaman Glenn Langan, a descendent of the Count of Monte Cristo, as he searches modern-day San Francisco for the fortune in long-missing jewels to which he is the rightful heir. Crooked lawyers, a murder and a frame-up are among the obstacles thrown in his path. Great location photography. 1949|79 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
ROARING CITY – Private eye Dennis O’Brien (Hugh Beaumont) will do anything for a dame or a dollar, tackling two more assignments filled with pistol-point suspense. The first involves a “fixed” fight, double-crosses and, of course, murder. Later, his reward for hiring out to pose as a young beauty’s husband is a knockout blow to the head and a false murder charge! 1951|59 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
SKY LINER – Attention, Homeland Security! It’s GRAND HOTEL in the air as the usual wild assortment of travelers (movie actress, eloping couple, child singer, spinsters, crooks, more) board a LaGuardia Airport flight, unaware that other passengers might be spies and counter-spies, complete with secret documents, poison and elaborate plans to engage in international espionage! 1949|63 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
SPECIAL FEATURE: Vintage Trailer Collection
ActorsCOUNTERSPY MEETS SCOTLAND YARD: Howard St. John, Ron Randell, Amanda Blake, Lewis Martin, June Vincent, Charles Meredith
RADAR SECRET SERVICE: John Howard, Adele Jergens, Tom Neal, Myrna Dell, Sid Melton, Ralph Byrd
MOTOR PATROL: Don Castle, Jane Nigh, Reed Hadley, William Henry, Sid Melton, Richard Travis
MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY (1941): Dennis O’Keefe, Peter Lorre, Florence Rice, Stanley Ridges, Minor Watson, Charles Arnt
WESTERN PACIFIC AGENT: Kent Taylor, Sheila Ryan, Mickey Knox, Morris Carnovsky, Robert Lowery, Sid Melton
HIGHWAY 13: Robert Lowery, Pamela Blake, Michael Whalen, Dan Seymour, Clem Bevans
TREASURE OF MONTE CRISTO: Glenn Langan, Adele Jergens, Steve Brodie, Robert Jordan, Michael Whalen, Margia Dean
ROARING CITY: Hugh Beaumont, Edward Brophy, Richard Travis, Joan Valerie, Wanda McKay
SKY LINER: Richard Travis, Pamela Blake, Rochelle Hudson, Steven Geray, Greg McClure
Directed byCOUNTERSPY MEETS SCOTLAND YARD: Seymour Friedman
RADAR SECRET SERVICE: William Berke
MOTOR PATROL: Sam Newfield
MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY (1941): William Morgan
WESTERN PACIFIC AGENT: Sam Newfield
HIGHWAY 13: William Berke
THE TREASURE OF MONTE CRISTO: William Berke
ROARING CITY: William Berke
SKY LINER: William Berke
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Forgotten Noir Vol. 7 – David Harding Counterspy/Danger Zone/Big Chase
DAVID HARDING, COUNTERSPY – Based on the popular 1942-1957 network radio series created by Phillips H. Lord. Howard St. John is the Washington DC-based David Harding, head of a covert counter-espionage organization, charged with preventing top-secret scientific information from reaching the hands of America’s enemies around the world, and trying to convince a hell-raising radio correspondent to join the fight. 1950|80 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
DANGER ZONE – When you deal with dames, you are in the Danger Zone, as the character of crime detector Dennis O’Brien (Hugh Beaumont) learns in his inaugural mystery-drama. The private eye first cracks a case involving smuggling ring, then tackles an assignment that involves blackmail, murder and film noir’s top bad guy, Tom Neal. 1951|57 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
THE BIG CHASE – As his expectant wife (Adele Jergens) enters the hospital in anticipation of the blessed event, cop Glenn Langan is off to the races, trailing payroll robbers (including Jim Davis and Lon Chaney Jr.) on a mad chase that goes from cars to rowboat to motorboat to helicopter. The chase sequence, captured in all its bullet-to-bullet glory, comprises a third of the movie. 1954|60 min.|B&W|1.85:1|NR
SPECIAL FEATURES: LORD OF THE RADIO Part 1 – Jean Greenlaw interview, with Richard Roberts; ROBERT L. LIPPERT, JR. INTERVIEW with Tom Weaver (reenactment), Trailers.
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Forgotten Noir Vol. 1 – Portland Expose/They Were So Young
PORTLAND EXPOSÉ – In the 1950’s LIFE Magazine printed a blistering exposé on the rampant sin, crime and Teamsters-controlled corruption that at the time had a stranglehold on Portland, Oregon. Producer Lindsley Parsons seized upon the considerable publicity and assembled a cast of great character actors for the starring roles. Although the film crew was threatened with physical violence, the result is a dark and gritty filmed-on-location crime drama that contains considerable violence for a 1950’s movie, most notably a violent rape scene with the Frank Gorshin character and a teenage girl. 1957|72 min.|B&W|1.85:1/Widescreen|NR
THEY WERE SO YOUNG – Five beautiful European models arrive in Rio under contract to a fashion house secretly owned by a wealthy Brazilian (Raymond Burr), and quickly learn that their duties have more to do with “entertaining men” than modeling. Set in Brazil but actually shot in the swamps and jungles of Italy, “the film is extremely interesting scenically” (Variety). 1954|80 min.|B&W|1.85:1/Widescreen|NR
SPECIAL FEATURES: PORTLAND EXPOSE COMMENTARY by Assistant Director Lindsley Parsons, Jr.; Original Theatrical Trailers, Bios, Photo Gallery, Advertising Materials
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Forgotten Noir Vol. 2 – Loan Shark/Arson Inc.
LOAN SHARK – 1930s gangster great George Raft is an ex-convict now on the right side of the law in this tight-knit crime drama. When a loan-sharking mob preys on tire company workers, dishing out brutal beatings to the men who cannot repay their debts due to the huge interest payments, Raft goes undercover to find and expose Mister Big. 1952|74 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
ARSON INC. – Los Angeles fireman Robert Lowery is assigned to the company’s Arson Detail and begins checking into recent fires of suspicious origin–and the mysterious death of the investigator who had the job before him. The red-hot trail leads Lowery to a cold-blooded pyromaniac (Edward Brophy), an undercover stint as a member of the arson mob and a fiery finish! 1949|64 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
SPECIAL FEATURES: LOAN SHARK COMMENTARY by Richard M Roberts, INSIDE LIPPERT Part 1 as told by Robert L, Lippert Jr, , Movie Trivia, Photo Gallery, Bios, Original Theatrical Trailers
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Forgotten Noir Collectors Set Vol. #3
9 movies/3 DVDs
DAVID HARDING, COUNTERSPY – Based on the popular 1942-1957 network radio series created by Phillips H. Lord. Howard St. John is the Washington DC-based David Harding, head of a covert counter-espionage organization, charged with preventing top-secret scientific information from reaching the hands of America’s enemies around the world, and trying to convince a hell-raising radio correspondent to join the fight. 1950|80 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
DANGER ZONE – When you deal with dames, you are in the Danger Zone, as the character of crime detector Dennis O’Brien (Hugh Beaumont) learns in his inaugural mystery-drama. The private eye first cracks a case involving smuggling ring, then tackles an assignment that involves blackmail, murder and film noir’s top bad guy, Tom Neal. 1951|57 min.|B&W|1.33:1:|NR
THE BIG CHASE – As his expectant wife (Adele Jergens) enters the hospital in anticipation of the blessed event, cop Glenn Langan is off to the races, trailing payroll robbers (including Jim Davis and Lon Chaney Jr.) on a mad chase that goes from cars to rowboat to motorboat to helicopter. The chase sequence, captured in all its bullet-to-bullet glory, comprises a third of the movie. 1954|60 min.|B&W|1.85:1|NR
MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY (1947) –From Phillips H. Lord’s popular NBC radio series comes an intriguing “legal film noir” filled with double-crosses and unusual twists–starting in the opening reel when a woman is slain in her apartment to an escaped killer, and the paper prints that the alive-and-well girlfriend (Marguerite Chapman) of a local crime boss was the victim. 1947|81 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
RINGSIDE – Middleweight boxer works his way up to a title fight, and loses it and his eyesight when the champion seeing that his opponent is blind in one eye goes to work on the other one! His brother decides to avenge him by taking up boxing himself and…and eye for an eye? 1949|63 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
HI-JACKED – Parolee/ truck driver Jim Davis now wants to stick to the straight-and-narrow, but finds himself riding a highway of terror when his truck is hijacked and police suspect him because of his past record. The hijackers will stop at nothing to frame him–and even frame his wife! — unless fugitive Davis can deliver them to justice himself. 1950|61 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
SCOTLAND YARD INSPECTOR – Cesar Romero stars in this Hammer Films mystery as a Yank newspaperman in London who sets out to solve a murder, American style. The rest of the typically tangled plot includes assaults, a mysterious tape recording, a visit to an asylum and even a plot to steal an inventor’s secrets! Lois Maxwell, the James Bond series’ “Miss Moneypenny”, co-stars. 1952|73 min.|B&W:1.33:1|NR
PIER 23 – Two more “brushes with crime” for ace private detective Dennis O’Brien (Hugh Beaumont). In the first, he gets mixed up with a crooked wrestling referee, an equally corrupt arena owner and murderous grappler Mike Mazurki. Next is a case involving a murdered cop and film noir’s ultimate femme double-crosser, the unforgettable Ann Savage (Detour). 1951|59 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
THE CASE OF THE BABY-SITTER: Jewel thieves, operating in the guise of a Duke and Duchess, hire the Ace Detective Agency to “baby sit” the infant they are using as a blind for their thefts. A rival mob dopes the detective’s dumb aide and make off with a valuable diamond. 1947|43 min.|B&W|1.33:1|NR
SPECIAL FEATURES: LORD OF THE RADIO (Jean Lord Greenlaw interview, with Richard Roberts), SCOTLAND YARD INSPECTOR – Featurette by Joel Blumberg, PAT NOVAK FOR HIRE (Radio program and source for PIER 23), , MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY – RADIO PROGRAM, THE BIG CHASE (Robert L. Lippert Jr. interview with Tom Weaver – reenactment), and Trailers.
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