Bad Girls Of Film Noir – Volume One (The Killer
That Stalked New York/Two Of A Kind/Bad For Each Other/The Glass Wall) + Bad Girls
Of Film Noir – Volume Two (Night
Edition/One Girl’s Confession/Women’s Prison/Over-Exposed/Sony DVD Sets)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Films: B-
For a
studio like Columbia Pictures that made so many of the great Film Noirs of the
original Noir period (1941 – 1958), too many of their gems have gone unseen for
years, even decades. Bad Girls Of Film Noir brings us new
transfers of eight of those very worthwhile films in two double-DVD
volumes. Some have not been seen on TV
in any regular way since the late 1970s at the latest, but now they are back
and show what a formidable force Columbia
was in these films.
Volume One includes The Killer That Stalked New York (1950 aka Frightened City) has a smuggler (Evelyn Keyes) who is a carrier for
a smallpox outbreak and intends to get back at her sister and former boyfriend,
both who betrayed her. The authorities
do not know she is infected, but want to stop her just the same. Thanks to a solid cast that includes Dorothy
Malone, Lola Albright, Charles Korvin, William Bishop, Whit Bissell and even an
uncredited Jim Backus, this is an effective noir and was lensed by Director of
Photography Joseph F. Biroc, A.S.C., of Lady
In Cement, The Detective and Tony Rome fame.
Two Of A Kind (1951 and not the Olivia Newton-John/John Travolta dud) features
Lizabeth Scott and Edmond O’Brien as a bad couple trying to rob a rich couple by
creating a double for their son so they can blame the real one for anything and
everything that goes wrong. Though it
does not always work, it is still petty good and was lensed by the great
Burnett Guffey (the original All The
King’s Men, From Here To Eternity,
Homicidal). William Dozier (the 1960s Batman and Green Hornet TV series) produced.
Bad For Each Other (1953 aka Scalpel) is another Lizabeth Scott gem, this time with no less than
Charlton Heston in the lead as a Korean War vet too easily seduced by the
attractive bad girl living in a dead end town.
They are more than enough to make you watch for the whole film, but the
supporting cast is also good, including Dianne Foster, Arthur Franz and Ray
Collins.
The Glass Wall (1953) has Vittorio Gassman
leaving a deportation ship to stay in New
York City, but has to fight to stay and Gloria Grahame
plays the woman who may or may not help.
Director Maxwell Shane co-wrote the film with Ivan Shane and Ivan Tors,
known later for his underwater productions.
Ann Robinson, Jerry Paris, Richard Reeves, Ned Booth, Kathleen Freeman
and Joe Turkel (Blade Runner) also
star. Joseph F. Biroc shot this one too.
Volume Two includes Night Editor (1946 aka The
Tresspasser) as a good cop (William Gragan) gets involved with a Bad girl
(Janis Carter) when they see a murder one night, but he cannot come forward or
he’ll reveal his infidelity. Jeff
Donnell, Harry Shannon and Frank Wilcox co-star on this very enjoyable thriller
that just loves the idea of the power of the press. Burnett Guffey and Philip Tannura co-lensed
the film.
One Girl’s Confession (1953) Hugo Hass directed, wrote
and has the male lead in this Cleo Moore Noir about a bad girl who takes jail
time to clear a small fortune she has stolen, but has she hidden the money well
enough? This was one of the bets films
here with its effectiveness, very low budget, cast of unknowns and great
look. The writing is a plus and is the
kind of Noir the major studios need to get more of released.
Women’s Prison (1955) is the serious take on
what became a later exploitation cycle.
Ida Lupino plays the warden from hell and makes everyone suffer, but
this is done with intelligence. Jan
Sterling, Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter, Phyllis Thaxter, Gertrude Michael, Vivian
Marshall, Mae Clarke, Howard Duff, Warren Stevens and Barry Kelly make up the
exceptionally strong cast.
Over-Exposed (1956) is yet another solid Cleo
Moore vehicle. This time, a blackmail
scheme takes center stage as Moore
plays woman arrested in a night raid of a not-so-legal nightclub. She gets the chance to learn how to be a real
photographer (she was taking pictures for customers there) and a professional
job becomes a fiasco as she captures a death on film, destroys the film, but
has the negatives stolen. When the
pictures show up in the newspaper, she intends to get even. Richard Crenna and Constance Towers
lead the cast and that is Jack Albertson in an uncredited appearance.
The 1.33
X 1 image on seven of the eight films (we get an anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X
1 image on Prison) all look good,
though I expected the widescreen film to look the best, yet the DVD format
cannot capture al the detail, depth and Video Black the extreme film black on
these Noirs offer, so this is the best we can expect for the format. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also as clean
as can be expected for films of their age and budget. The combination is very impressive for films
their age, but made me want Blu-ray editions or film prints of the same. Extras include trailers on all by Editor, while Terry Moore discusses Kind, The Payoff is an All-Star Theater variant of Other and Remember To Live is a an All-Star Theater variant of Confession.
- Nicholas Sheffo