Product Details

• Actors: James Kenney, Joan Collins, Betty Ann Davies, Robert Ayers, Hermione Baddeley
• Directors: Lewis Gilbert, Gordon Parry
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: VCI Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: February 23, 2010
• Run Time: 150 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B002Y4Z4OW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #128,864 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "British Film Noir Double Feature (The Slasher (Cosh Boy) / Twilight Women (Women of the Twilight))" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

The Slasher: A swift moving, no punches pulled exposé set in London's tenement district, with a ruthless teenager (James Kenney, reprising his stage role) blackjacking an old woman to get her purse, and "graduating" to gang leader whose young cutthroats spread terror over the entire city. At the start of her "bad girl" career, Joan Collins is the girl he loves and leaves, with tragic results. A controversial motion picture in its era and still potent today. Based on the play, "Master Crook." RT: 75 min B&W 1952. Twilight Women: Originating on the London stage, this hard-hitting tale is set at a boarding house-haven for unmarried mothers, owned by a woman (Freda Jackson) whose outward show of upstanding character hides her true personality: a fiend who abuses the women and farms out their babies! Madness, squalor, bedbugs and a dead baby add to the atmosphere of shock. Lois Maxwell (James Bond's Miss Moneypenny) and Laurence Harvey co-star. RT: 75 min B&W 1953. Bonus Features: Trailers. Product Specs: DVD-9; Mono; 150 minutes; B&W; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; Year - 1952, 1953; SRP - $14.99.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very decent double bill of British crime dramas, February 2, 2010

By 

mackjay (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: British Film Noir Double Feature (The Slasher (Cosh Boy) / Twilight Women (Women of the Twilight)) (DVD)

These are not Film Noir in any real sense of the term. A pair of very decent British crime programmers that should satisfy anyone with a taste for this kind of material. The transfers are excellent.

THE SLASHER (aka COSH BOY, 1953) is the lesser of the two films, but it has some merits. James Kenney fully lives up the lead role of a hardened young gang leader. He's got carry the film and he does with exemplary flair. Some moments in Kenney's performance may remind viewers of Richard Attenborough in BRIGHTON ROCK. Joan Collins makes a good appearance in one of her earliest films, and we have both Hermiones, Baddeley and Gingold in supporting parts. This film has lettle true depth, it's mainly making a statement about corrupt youth of "today", but it's well worth at least one look

Far superior is TWILIGHT WOMEN (aka WOMEN OF TWILIGHT, 1952). A taut, engaging little thriller. Laurence Harvey fans may be disappointed at the actor's small role in this film, still his character's fate looms large over one of the other characters. Fine performances all around, in a story set in a boarding house for unwed mothers. This film could never have been produced in the US at the time, it's quite frank about the women's circumstances and even has a healthy dose of humor. Freda Jackson is top notch as the deceptively humanitarian landlady. René Ray is good (she looks like a British Tallulah Bankhead) and Dora Bryan is in typically fine form as is Vida Hope. Harvey's two scenes are very well acted and it's easy to see what a superb actor he would soon prove himself to be. His singing is surely dubbed, but he handles that well too. This is high melodrama, well worth seeking out.