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

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.

This collection features three film noir classics of the '50s. THE ENFORCER (1951) They Called Him The Enforcer. Screen legend Humphrey Bogart (The Maltese Falcon, Deadline U.S.A.) is in fine form as a crusading District Attorney out to convict the head of a vicious murder-for-hire ring. But when his star witness is killed, Bogie must race against time to find the evidence he needs to bring the mob boss to justice. Told in a series of flashbacks, this tense, tough-as-nails crime thriller on the cutting edge of film noir was based on the true-life Murder, Inc. Trials. Stylishly directed by Bretaigne Windust (June Bride) with uncredited help from the great Raoul Walsh (High Sierra, Pursued) and beautifully shot by Robert Burks (Vertigo). The stellar cast includes Zero Mostel (The Producers) as nervy thug Big Babe Lazick, with villainous favorites Ted de Corsia (The Lady from Shanghai) and Everett Sloane (Citizen Kane). THE SCARLET HOUR (1956) She'd Do Anything for a Thrill Including Kill! From Michael Curtiz, the legendary director of Angels with Dirty Faces, Casablanca and Mildred Pierce, comes another dramatic triumph. The Scarlet Hour. Introducing Tom Tryon (The Cardinal) and Carol Ohmart (House on Haunted Hill) as sales manager E.V. Marsh Marshall and his boss's wife Paulie, who, while scandalously parked out on Lovers' Lane, overhear burglars planning for a heist of precious jewels. Driven by desire, Paulie and Marsh proceed to concoct a criminal scheme of their own. Twists and turns abound in Curtiz's suspense-packed VistaVision production shot by Lionel Lindon (The Manchurian Candidate), co-starring Jody Lawrance, James Gregory, Elaine Stritch and E.G. Marshall. Guest star Nat King Cole, crooning Never Let Me Go, is a jazzy highlight. PLUNDER ROAD (1957) Roaring Down Hell's Highway with $10,000,000 in Stolen Gold! In this gritty, one-of-a-kind heist film, five me

Three-disc set includes Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)Former intelligence officer Captain Webster Carey (Alan Ladd) returns to post-WWII Italy to find the traitor who divulged a secret OSS mission to the Nazis, resulting in the deaths of his men and the Italian resistance fighter (Wanda Hendrix) he loved. Shocked to learn she is alive and married to a local nobleman, Carey undertakes a deadly quest to learn the truth. Exotic suspenser, which also marked the Oscar-winning debut of the song InchMona Lisa,Inch co-stars Francis Lederer, Joseph Calleia. 83 min. BW/Rtg NR Appointment With Danger (1951)Alan Ladd's last film noir casts him as Al Goddard, a postal inspector looking into the murder of a colleague. The trail leads him to the killing's sole witness, a nun (Phyllis Calvert) able to identify the assassin. All that remains is for Goddard to bust up the evildoer's gang before they can pull off an elaborate mail heist. Future InchDragnetInch co-stars Jack Webb and Harry Morgan play two of the thugs. 89 min. BW/Rtg NR Make Haste To Live (1954)Crystal Benson (Dorothy McGuire) was trying to live as normal an existence as a single mother could have in a small New Mexico town. That would end with the reappearance of her abusive gangster ex-husband Steve Blackford (Stephen McNally), who just finished an 18-year bit for murder after she refused to exonerate him... and who'd start insinuating himself into her new life as her InchbrotherInch until he gained his vengeance. Disquieting Republic noir co-stars John Howard, Edgar Buchanan, Carolyn Jones. 90 min. BW/Rtg NR Standard; Soundtrack English; Subtitles English; audio commentary; theatrical trailers.