DVD: Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 3 out July 18



Warner Home Video's third batch of film noir classics includes six films featuring the likes of Robert Montgomery, Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price, Ida Lupino and Lizabeth Scott, along with a bonus disk featuring a documentary on the genre. Featured directors include Nicholas Ray, John Farrow and Anthony Mann.

You can pre-order the set now via Amazon.

Here's a look at each film:

On Dangerous Ground
Stars: Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond, Charles Kemper, Anthony Ross
Director: Nicholas Ray
Hard, withdrawn city cop Jim Wilson roughs up one too many suspects and is sent upstate to help investigate the murder of a young girl in the winter countryside. There he meets Mary Malden, whom he finds attractive and independent. However, Mary's brother is chief suspect in the killing. And Mary herself is blind.

Lady in the Lake
Stars: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames
Director: Robert Montgomery
The camera shows Phillip Marlowe's view from the first-person in this adaptation of Raymond Chandler's book. The detective is hired to find a publisher's wife, who is supposed to have run off to Mexico. But the case soon becomes much more complicated as people are murdered.

His Kind of Woman
Stars: Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price, Tim Holt, Charles McGraw
Director: John Farrow
Theatrical Release Date: August 29, 1951
Nick Ferraro, deported crime boss, needs to re-enter the USA. His plan involves "honest" gambler Dan Milner, who's subjected to a series of "misfortunes," then bribed to take a trip to Mexico. En route, Dan meets chanteuse Lenore Brent, truly his kind of woman. But on arrival at posh Morros Lodge in Baja California, Dan finds the ostensibly rich, carefree guests all playing roles...except, possibly, ham actor Mark Cardigan. What does Ferraro want with him? Can he trust anyone?

The Racket
Stars: Robert Mitchum, Lizabeth Scott, Robert Ryan, William Talman, Ray Collins
Director: John Cromwell
Theatrical Release Date: December 12, 1951
The big national crime syndicate has moved into town, partnering up with local crime boss Nick Scanlon. There are only two problems: First, Nick is the violent type, preferring to do things the old-fashioned way instead of using the syndicate's more genteel methods. The second problem is McQuigg, the only honest police captain on the force, and his loyal patrolman, Johnson. Together, they take on the violent Nick and try to foil the syndicate's plans to elect Welch, the crooked prosecutor running for a crooked judgeship.

Border Incident
Stars: Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Howard Da Silva, James Mitchell, Arnold Moss
Director: Anthony Mann
Theatrical Release Date: October 28, 1949
To penetrate a gang exploiting illegal Mexican farmworkers smuggled into California (and leaving no live witnesses), Mexican federal agent Pablo Rodriguez poses as an ignorant bracero, while his American counterpart Jack Bearnes works from outside. Soon, both are in deadly danger from the ringleader, sinister rancher Owen Parkson, and find night on the farm to be full of shadowy film-noir menace...

Forbidden Passage
Stars: Addison Richards, Wolfgang Zilzer, Hugh Beaumont, George Lessey, George Cleveland
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Theatrical Release Date: February 8, 1941
This entry in MGM's series of shorts, "Crime Doesn't Pay", features the U.S. Department of Immigration's efforts to halt the smuggling of illegal aliens into the country. Desperate immigrants, tired of waiting for legal entry, pay exorbitant fees and risk a grisly death to enter by illegal means.


A Gun in His Hand
Stars: Tom Trout, Richard Gaines, Anthony Caruso, William Challee, Robert Emmett O'Connor
Directors: Joseph Losey
Theatrical Release Date: September 15, 1945
A young man graduates from the police academy at the top of his class. He then teams up with some local thieves and uses his knowledge of police procedures to commit several warehouse robberies. The police are baffled at first. But when a police officer is murdered during one of the robberies, they start to gather the evidence they need to solve the crimes.

You, the People
Stars: C. Henry Gordon, Byron Shores, Paul Everton, Matt McHugh, Raymond Bailey
Directors: Roy Rowland
Theatrical Release Date: November 30, 1940
This entry in MGM's series of shorts, "Crime Doesn't Pay", features a big city crime boss's attempt to use his crime "machine" to fraudently win re-election for the current corrupt mayor. By using several illegal tactics, and aided by voter apathy, the crime boss nearly continues his control of the city.

Women in Hiding
Stars: Marsha Hunt, Jane Drummond, Mary Bovard, C. Henry Gordon, Granville Bates
Directors: Joseph M. Newman
Theatrical Release Date: June 22, 1940
This Crime Does Not Pay series short focuses on unwed mothers, specifically those who believe that they cannot confide in anyone and, therefore, go to clinics run by people more interested in profit than proper medical care. In this dramatization, women pay $500 to enter a clinic and must sign papers in which they agree to give up their babies for adoption. Childless couples then pay the clinic operators $500 to adopt the children.

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