Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema VII - BLU-RAY

Three-disc set includes Street Of Chance (1942)Coming to after a Manhattan sidewalk construction accident, Frank Thompson (Burgess Meredith) headed home... to find his apartment rented out, and his wife (Louise Platt) gone for nearly a year. As he desperately tries to piece together what happened to him, he learns that he'd been living under another identity-and he also happened to be the prime suspect in a murder at a wealthy family's estate. Early noir based on Cornell Woolrich's InchThe Black CurtainInch also stars Claire Trevor, Sheldon Leonard, Frieda Inescourt, Jerome Cowan. 74 min. BW/Rtg NR Enter Arsène Lupin (1944)On board the Orient Express, master thief Arsène Lupin (Charles Korvin) was taken with lovely heiress Stacie Kanares (Ella Raines)-so much so he abandoned his plan to relieve her of the family emerald. Looking to renew acquaintances in Britain, he finds her being gaslit and primed for murder by greedy cousins, and turns his considerable wiles towards stopping their plot. Effective programmer based on Maurice Leblanc's gentleman bandit co-stars J. Carroll Naish, George Dolenz, Gale Sondergard, Miles Mander. 72 min. BW/Rtg NR Temptation (1946)Fortune hunter Ruby (Merle Oberon) thought she'd found her payday when she wed the wealthy but stolid Egyptologist Nigel Armine (George Brett). Accompanying him on an expedition and growing bored, she fell into an affair with suave local Mahoud Baroudi (Charles Korvin)-and thereafter connived to fatally take her husband out of the equation. Compelling take on Robert Hichens' oft-filmed InchBella DonnaInch also stars Paul Lukas, Lenore Ulric Aubrey Mather. 99 min. BW/Rtg NR Standard; Soundtrack English; Subtitles English; audio commentary; theatrical trailers.

Three-disc set includes Singapore (1947)Returned to the InchRed DotInch after World War II's end, smuggler Matt Gordon (Fred MacMurray) was set on grabbing the pearls he'd stashed in a hotel wall as the Japanese attacked. The mission wouldn't merely be complicated by cops and criminals following his tracks, but his stunning discovery of Linda Grahame (Ava Gardner), the fiancee he'd thought a bombing casualty... and who was now amnesiac. John Brahm's effective noir romance co-stars Thomas Gomez, Richard Haydn, Roland Culver. 79 min. BW/Rtg NR Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949)Looking to break a murderous heroin smuggling ring, T-man George Morton (Howard Duff) turned to Johnny Evans (Dan Duryea), a dealer he'd put in Alcatraz, to trade early for his help. The unlikely pair follow a trail to Canada and back, but they might not be checking out after they corner the kingpins at a Tuscon dude ranch. Sturdy crime opus from William Castle co-stars Shelley Winters, Tony Curtis, John McIntire. 76 min. BW/Rtg NR The Raging Tide (1951)On the lam after killing a rival, San Francisco mobster Bruno Felkin (Richard Conte) couldn't find girlfriend Connie Thatcher (Shelley Winters) to square his alibi-and settled for ducking into a dockside fishing boat. Setting sail with the kindly captain (Charles Bickford) and his rebellious son (Alex Nicol), he might find the voyage changing his perspectives. Stephen McNally co-stars; Ernest Gann adapted his novel InchFiddler's GreenInch for the screen. 93 min. BW/Rtg NR Standard; Soundtrack English; Subtitles English; audio commentary; theatrical trailers.

Three-disc set includes Undertow (1949)While changing planes in Chicago, gambler/ex-con Tony Reagan (Scott Brady) was only thinking of reclaiming an honest life. When a local crime boss with whom he's had his issues turns up dead, he's fingered for the crime-and he's got to stay one step ahead of the cops in a footrace to prove his innocence. William Castle's thriller co-stars John Russell, Dorothy Hart, Peggy Dow; keep an eye out for Rock Hudson. 71 min. BW/Rtg NR Outside The Wall (1950)Paroled after 15 years in Philly stir, Larry Nelson (Richard Basehart) wanted to keep his nose clean-and thought he could do so as an orderly at an upstate sanitarium. However, a convalescing gangster (John Hoyt) needed someone to deliver hush money to his ex (Signe Hasso)-and it gets dangerous when she greedily starts looking for the whole roll. Marilyn Maxwell, Dorothy Hart, Lloyd Gough, Harry Morgan co-star. 80 min. BW/Rtg NR Hold Back Tomorrow (1956)Due to hang for murder, inmate Joe Cardos (John Agar) passed on the last meal and demanded a woman's company for his final hours. His obliging jailers rousted a hooker (Cleo Moore) coming off a suicide attempt-and the lurid circumstances would bring a profound connection for the two lost souls. Noir melodrama from Hugo Haas also stars Frank DeKova, Harry Guardino, Mel Welles. 75 min. BW/Rtg NR Standard; Soundtrack English; Subtitles English; audio commentary; theatrical trailers.