Film Noir Volume 2 Collection Blu-Ray

Twisted protagonists, sadistic villains, sublimated sex, and murder at its most gruesome. Take a walk through the shadowy streets of Film Noir in these four atmospheric classics. In The Suspicious (1944), the brilliant shopkeeper Philip Marshall is constantly irritated by his bitter wife Cora, while secretly longing for a sweet young stenographer. When Cora falls to her death, the police become suspicious and Marshall's neighbor sees an opportunity for blackmail. A classic noir with an unusual Edwardian setting, directed by Robert Siodmak (The Killers) and starring Charles Laughton (The Big Clock), Ella Raines (Phantom Lady), and Henry Daniell (The Body Snatcher) in the leading roles. In The Sleeping City (1950), an undercover cop investigates murder and drug trafficking at New York's Bellevue Hospital. Starring Richard Conte (Thieves' Highway) and Coleen Gray (Nightmare Alley), this tense, semi-documentary thriller was filmed entirely on location by director George Sherman. In Thunder on the Hill (1951), convicted murderer Valerie Carns is being transported to her execution when a flood strands her and her guards at a convent hospital, where Sister Mary Bonaventure becomes convinced of Valerie's innocence and sets out to find the real murderer. Renowned director Douglas Sirk is best known for his classic melodramas, but he also made a number of noir thrillers, and this is one of the best, starring Claudette Colbert (It Happened One Night) and Ann Blyth (Mildred Pierce). Finally, in Six Bridges to Cross (1955), Jerry Florea is shot and wounded by police cadet Eddie Gallagher as he flees the scene of a robbery. Despite this, the two develop a friendship when Eddie and his wife take Jerry under their wing and try to keep him on the straight and narrow. As an adult, Jerry gets married and seems to settle down, until an armed security company across the street from him is robbed of two and a half million dollars. The film was directed by Joseph Pevney (Man of a Thousand Faces) and stars Tony Curtis (Some Like it Hot), George Nader (Robot Monster), Julie Adams (Creature from the Black Lagoon), and Sal Mineo (Rebel Without a Cause), with cinematography by the great William H. Daniels (The Naked City). This showcase of lesser-known noir classics offers fantastic performances from a host of big movie stars, as well as tight direction, fantastic cinematography, and superb screenwriters such as Oscar Saul (A Streetcar Named Desire), Jo Eisinger (Gilda, Night and the City), Andrew P. Solt (In a Lonely Place), and Sydney Boehm (When Worlds Collide, The Big Heat). Embrace the darkness with these hard-boiled genre gems.

Extras:

Language(s): English, Hearing impaired Subtitles: English, Interactive menu, Aspect ratio 1:1.33, Aspect ratio 2:1.85, Mono, Bonus material, Commentary: "The Suspect": Farran Smith-Nehme; "The Sleeping City": Imogen Sara Smith; "Thunder On the Hill": Josh Nelson; "Six Bridges to Cross": Samm Deighan (researcher and critic), Documentaries: "It Had to Be Done": Alan K. Rode on the life and work of Robert Siodmak, photo gallery, "The Real Deal": Visual essay on "The Sleeping City" by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas; Jose Arroyo on "Thunder On the Hill"; "Style and Place": Visual essay by Jon Towlson on the work of cinematographer William H. Daniels; old radio drama versions of "The Suspicious" and "Thunder On the Hill" with Charles Laughton, Ella Raines, Claudette Colbert, and Barbara Rush; reversible covers, trailers