Customer Reviews

Forgotten Noir & Crime: Vol. Four

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In the days of little or no television, the usual behavior was to go to the movie theater once or twice a week while gaining one's majority of entertainment with what's now called old-time radio (OTR). Usually, there was a new film each week, so besides the blockbusters, there was a steady stream of films coming from"Hollywood."

Many of these films were good, but not great. This is a collection of some of such films. One of the films, Roaring City, is modeled very closely on the radio show of the time, Pat Novak For Hire, but without Jack Webb's delivery on pulp-fiction similies. The Treasure of Monte Cristo is a fairly clever story of a man frame d for a murder, following a strange marriage of convenience. A couple of the films were derived directly from OTR programs, Mr. District Attorney (from the show of the same name) and Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard (from the program known first as Counterspy, then David Harding, Counterspy). "Counterspy" was a sequel for another David Harding film, and the title is a little misleading, since one of the characters is a Scotland Yard agent, a friend of Harding's, who coincidentally is working on the same case as the Counterspies. Another film, Sky Liner, involvs a killing aboard an airliner, the venerable Constellation, where victim and suspects are conveniently isolated aboveground for a lot of the film.

Many of these films are entertaining, though none is really an A film. One could do far worse than in this collection.

VCI Entertainment and Kit Parker Films presents "FORGOTTEN NOIR & CRIME COLLECTION 4" (1949-1951) --- (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Film noir has sources not only in cinema but other artistic mediums as well...the low-key lighting schemes commonly linked with the classic mode are in the tradition of chiaroscuro and tenebrism, techniques using high contrasts of light and dark developed by 15th- and 16th-century painters associated with Mannerism and the Baroque --- film noir's aesthetics are deeply influenced by German Expressionism, a cinematic movement of the 1910s and 1920s closely related to contemporaneous developments in theater, photography, painting, scultpture, and architecture --- opportunities offered by the booming Hollywood film industry and, later, the threat of growing Nazi power led to the emigration of many important film artists working in Germany who had either been directly involved in the Expressionist movement or studied with its practitioners --- Directors such as Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak, and Michael Curtiz brought dramatic lighting techniques and a psychologically expressive approach to mise-en-scène with them to Hollywood, where they would make some of the most famous of classic noirs. Lang's 1931 masterwork, the German M, is among the first major crime films of the sound era to join a characteristically noirish visual style with a noir-type plot, one in which the protagonist is a criminal (as are his most successful pursuers). M was also the occasion for the first star performance by Peter Lorre, who would go on to act in several formative American noirs of the classic era ... featuring top performances from the '40s and '50s with outstanding drama and screenplays, along with a wonderful cast and supporting actors to bring it all together --- another winner from the vaults of almost forgotten film noir gems

DISC ONE (1) - KPF 595 - Volume 10:
"Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard" (21 November 1950) (67 mins/B&W) - Seymour Friedman (Director) -- Cast Includes: Howard St. John, Ron Randell, Amanda Blake, Lewis Martin, June Vincent & John Doucette -- Story line, Another "David Harding, Counterspy" series, Howard St. John stars as Harding travels to England joining forces with Scotland Yard --- Operative Simon Langton (Ron Randell) and Harding attempts to break up a spy ring that uses hypnosis as one of its "weapons." --- Could this also be a future tool for smokers to quit smoking --- Watch for the future Miss Kitty Amanda Blake bring some class to this noir.

"Radar Secret Service" (28 January 1950) (59 mins/B&W) - Sam Newfield (Director) -- Cast includes: John Howard, Adele Jergens, Tom Neal, Myrna Dell, Sid Melton & Ralph Byrd -- Storyline, G-men track stolen Uranium-238 shipment using new radar technology; they also recruit the girlfriend of a gang member as an informant --- Radar helps, but it takes an undercover blonde to really get the goods on criminal masterminds, this could be a trend.

"Motor Patrol" (12 May 1950) (67 mins/B&W) - Sam Newfield (Director) -- Cast includes: Don Castle, Jane Nigh, William Henry, Gwen O'Connor, Onslow Stevens, Reed Hadley, Richard Travis & Sid Melton -- Story line, Don Castle as Ken, a rookie policeman plays his part to the hilt --- Take note that when his fiancee's brother is killed by car thieves, Ken volunteers to bring in the killers --- What happens when Ken poses as a big-city racketeer and infiltrates the gang --- The high point is the feeling this is a documentary dramatizing real-life police procedure.

DISC TWO (2) - KPF 596 - Volume 11:
"Mr. District Attorney" (27 March 1941) (69 mins/B&W) - William Morgan (Director) - Cast includes: Dennis O'Keefe, Florence Rice, Peter Lorre, Stanley Ridges & Minor Watson -- Story line, Republic's release follows for laughs the original radio segments, Dennis O'Keefe stars as P. Cadwallader Jones, a guileless assistant DA straight out of Harvard --- Goes up against the master criminal Mr. Hyde (Peter Lorre). Florence Rice, daughter of sports columnist Grantland Rice, is appropriately cast as a newspaper sob sister --- Watch as the fun gets better with each scene that follows.

"Western Pacific Agent" (10 April 1950) (65 mins/B&W) - Sam Newfield (Director) - Cast includes: Kent Taylor, Sheila Ryan, Robert Lowery, Mickey Knox, Morris Carnovsky & Sid Melton - Story line, Mickey Knox is a fantastic cold-blooded killer; Kent Taylor brings his usual touch of class to the title role --- Sid Melton, a Lippert regular, is added for comic relief as a near-sighted mail-order detective school graduate --- Robert Lowery as a local railroad employee who is an early victim, and a very moving performance by Morris Carnovsky as Knox's father, who knows what his son has become yet still loves him and believes he can change, some touching moments.

"Highway 13" (28 December 1948) (58 mins/B&W) - William Berke (Director) - Cast includes: Robert Lowery, Pamela Blake, Michael Whalen & Lyle Talbot -- Story line, Robert Lowery plays Hank Wilson, an honest truck driver who suspects foul play after a series of trucking accidents --- Lowery joins forces with undercover detective George Montgomery (Gaylord Pendleton) --- Lowery finds himself in hot water as the villains who hope to put a major transportation firm out of business when Montgomery is murdered --- The plot thickens as we watch this exciting little film unfold.

DISC THREE (3) - KPF 597 - Volume 12:
"Treasure of Monte Cristo" (27 August 1949) (76 mins/B&W) - William Berke (Director) - Cast includes: Glenn Langan, Adele Jergens, Steve Brodie, Bobby Jordan, Michael Whalen, George Davis, Margia Dean & Sid Melton - Story line, This modern tale borrows from an old story in establishing Langan, who works on a ship that docks in San Francisco, as a descendant of the Count of Monte Cristo --- Crooked Lawyer Brodie sets up a scheme to get at the treasure of Langan's famed ancestor, and using the beautiful blonde Jergens, tries to lure Langan into a trap --- Langan proves worthy of his heritage, using a gun instead of a sword, and wins legitimately both his forturne and Jergens --- Steve Brodie is at his evil best.

"Roaring City" (4 May 1951) (59 mins/B&W) - William Berke (Director) - Cast includes:Hugh Beaumont, Edward Brophy, Richard Travis, Joan Valerie & Anthony Warde -- Story line, Hugh Beaumont, who previously had played Michael Shayne for a series of detective films at PRC in the 1946-47 season put the trench-coat back on for a series of three hour-long feature films as detective Denny O'Brien, released in short succession through Lippert Pictures in 1951 --- This particular film has two stories: one of a fixed fight that O'Brien is hired to bet on, and the other where O'Brien is hired to pose as a woman's husband for an evening --- Beaumont fans will NOT be disappointed --- The other two Denny O'Brien films are DANGER ZONE and PIER 23, both of which I also recommend to detective film fans who do not mind bargain-basement productions in the PRC/Lippert vein --- These are directed by the ever-reliable William Berke.

"Sky Liner" (28 July 1949) (61 mins/B&W) - William Berke (Director) - Cast includes: Richard Travis, Pamela Blake, Rochelle Hudson, Steven Geray & Greg McClure -- Story line, stars Richard Travis as FBI agent Steve Blair --- Here's the plot, as a government courier is murdered by a foreign spy during a transcontinental flight --- Blair manages to collar the spy, who is then promptly murdered himself --- Blair is now forced to play detective, checking out the guilty members from the passenger list --- Much suspense and who-dun-it went into this production, which in the final scenes pays off.

Hats off and thanks to Robert Blair and his staff at VCI Entertainment --- VCI was named in Variety and Hollywood Reporter as the first company to produce and release motion pictures directly to the home marketplace --- order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch releases --- VCI are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector -- looking forward to more Nostalgic Collections.

Total Time: 575 mins on DVD ~ VCI Home Video KPF-601 ~ (11/18/2008)

Hokey,for the most part (in a good,B-Movie way}yet there are a couple of gems hidden inside.Mickey Knox's intense performance as the amoral,murderous hobo in Western Pacific Agent steals the movie.And,for fans of the great character actors of old,Highway 13 is an especial treat,with real surprises in the casting.No Oscars here,just three discs of good old second feature adventure.

You know you're in for it when one of the flicks ("Radar Secret Service") was mercilessy riffed in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. This collection is (for the most part) sludge of the variety usually found in those Mystery Classics 100 Movie Pack. At the price, it's no bargain. Most are less than an hour, so if you're looking for something to fall asleep to or want to get the gang over for a riff session, it'll do.

While I enjoy watching the big film noirs such as Out of the Past or The Asphalt Jungle, I also like watching more obscure films. Kit Parker Films has dug through the vaults of the Poverty Row studios (most particularly, Lippert Productions) and put out some nice collections of movies appropriately enough called Forgotten Noir. Collection 4 has nine movies on three DVDs.

Volume 10 is the first in the set, with previous volumes belonging to other Forgotten Noir collections. Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard is a spy story with a young Amanda Blake (later of Gunsmoke fame) as a secretary hynotized into revealing secret missile information. This movie is the second Counterspy movie featured in these collections. Radar Secret Service is a silly crime movie in which radar somehow gives crime fighters near omniscience; this movie would eventually be given the ultimate bad movie honor, being featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Motor Patrol has motorcycle cops taking on a murderous auto theft ring. This second film also feature Sid Melton, a comic relief character who is in many Lippert films.

Volume 11 has Mr. District Attorney which is something of a screwball comedy about a young prosecutor and a girl reporter taking on mobsters, most notably Peter Lorre. Western Pacific Agent has a detective working for the Western Pacific trying to track down a drifter who has stolen some payroll cash and killed a couple people. This one also has Melton. Highway 13 has a trucker trying to prove his innocence when he's tied to a series of fatal accidents.

Volume 12 contains what I believe is the last of a set of movies featuring Hugh Beaumont as a wisecracking jack-of-all-trades getting tangled up in murders. Roaring City is obviously a pair of TV episodes tied together (just as the earlier movies were). The Treasure of Monte Cristo is a modern retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo (another movie with Melton), though only in the basic plot points of an innocent man wrongly jailed and escaping to seek revenge. Sky Liner is a spys-on-a-plane movie.

No one would mistake these movies for being quality films, but they are all fun diversions, and averaging just over an hour each, they pass the time rather quickly. I, for one, am looking forward to the next collection.