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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Hammer Noir Vol. 5 – The Glass Tomb/Paid to Kill
THE GLASS TOMB (The Glass Cage) – Honor Blackman, Goldfinger’s perfidious “Pussy Galore,” co-stars in this Hammer Films murder drama. Booking sensational acts for sleazy carnivals, John Ireland gets mixed up with a bookmaker, a blackmailer, a poisoner and, his newest sideshow attraction “The Fasting Man” (Eric Pohlmann), a chap who goes without food while publicly displayed in a glass cage.
PAID TO KILL – A man’s business deal fails and to provide for his “adoring” wife, he hires his best friend to kill him so his wife can collect on his insurance. The business deal comes through at the last minute, but he finds he can’t call off the murder. His treacherous double-crossing wife has different ideas! First time on video.
SPECIAL FEATURES – The Glass Tomb Commentary by Richard Roberts, Bios, Advertising Gallery, Photo Gallery, 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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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. From Hammer Films.
1954|88 mins|B&W|1.37:1|NR -
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
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