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

Three-disc set includes Flesh And Fury (1952)The skill of deaf amateur boxer Paul Callan (Tony Curtis) impressed fan Sonya Bartow (Jan Sterling) and trainer Pop Richardson (Wallace Ford) into relentlessly backing him for the big time. After meeting compassionate CODA journalist Ann Hollis (Mona Freeman), he pursues surgery to correct his hearing-but will the pro debut Sonya still pushes him into undo the doctors' efforts? Slugging saga also stars Louis Jean Heydt, Tom Powers, Harry Guardino. 83 min. BW/Rtg NR The Square Jungle (1955)San Francisco grocery clerk Eddie Quaid (Tony Curtis) found the surest way he could take care of his alcoholic ex-pug dad Pat (Jim Backus) was to get into the ring himself, and turned to Pat's old trainer (Ernest Borgnine). As a path to the middleweight title opened before him, will his growing arrogance cost him his girl (Patricia Crowley) as well as the belt? Powerhouse boxing noir co-stars Paul Kelly, John Marley, David Janssen, and Joe Louis as himself. 86 min. BW/Rtg NR World In My Corner (1956)Scrappy Jersey City boxer Tommy Shea (Audie Murphy) managed to capture the backing of Long Island businessman Robert Mallinson (Jeff Morrow)-as well as the interested eye of his lovely daughter Dorothy (Barbara Rush), Will he fall under the sway of a sleazy promoter (Howard St. John) in order to keep up with her expensive tastes? Ring saga and rare non-western vehicle for Murphy co-stars John McIntire, Tommy Rall, Art Aragon, Chico Vejar. 82 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 Rope Of Sand (1949)Burt Lancaster stars as Mike Davis, an American who's tortured and nearly killed in South Africa by a mining company official (Paul Henreid) who wants the location of a stash of diamonds he found in the desert. Davis refuses to talk and returns to the region two years later to claim the ice, but this time he'll have to contend with a gorgeous nightclub singer (Corinne Calvet) recruited by the local diamond syndicate boss (Claude Rains) to seduce and double-cross him. Peter Lorre also stars in this taut action yarn. 104 min. BW/Rtg NR Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)Jimmy Cagney is in fine fettle in this intense thriller, playing Ralph Cotter, a violent hood who kills his fellow escapee in the course of their prison breakout and takes up with the dead man's sister. Cotter then blackmails a pair of corrupt cops into helping him on his savage crime spree. With Ward Bond, Barton MacLane, William Frawley, Helena Carter, and Cagney's brother William as his screen sibling. 102 min. BW/Rtg NR Never Love A Stranger (1958)Based on the novel by Harold Robbins (who co-scripted and co-produced), this compelling gangster drama stars John Drew Barrymore as an embittered, orphaned delinquent who falls in with mobsters and goes on to become the ruthless head of a crime syndicate. With Lita Milan, Robert Bray, and Steve McQueen in his first featured role. 93 min. BW/Rtg NR Standard; Soundtrack English; Subtitles English; audio commentary; theatrical trailers.