Synopsis
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The Film Foundation and Turner Classic Movies partner on the third collection in the series, Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics III on DVD. In this volume, presented for the first time on DVD, the five restored and remastered films included in Film Noir Classics III represent key films in the genre by such masters of the form as Joseph H. Lewis, Phil Karlson and Robert Parrish. (My name is Julia Ross, 1945) An unemployed London secretary is hired as a live-in assistant for an elderly woman but soon finds herself in a nightmarish situation. Trapped in an isolated mansion on the Cornwall coast, she begins to question her own sanity as sinister strangers try to manipulate her in a murder plot. A low-budget B-movie is transformed into a chilling noir masterpiece through the stylish direction of Joseph H. Lewis (Gun Crazy, 1950) and highlighted by superb performances by Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty and George Macready. (The Mob, 1951) In one of his most dynamic roles, Broderick Crawford plays a police detective who goes undercover as a dock worker in New Orleans in order to investigate the criminal activities of a waterfront racket. Directed by Robert Parrish (Cry Danger, 1951), this gritty, unflinching expose of organized crime features atmospheric cinematography by Oscar-winning cinematographer Joseph Walker and a rogue's gallery of screen heavies including Ernest Borgnine, Neville Brand and Matt Crowley. (Drive A Crooked Road, (1954) Los Angeles mechanic and race car enthusiast Eddie Shannon is seduced by a gangster's girlfriend and blackmailed into participating as the getaway driver in a bank robbery. A fast-paced, entertaining noir from a screenplay by Blake Edwards (Experiment in Terror, 1962) and director Richard Quine (Pushover, 1954) that features Mickey Rooney in one of his most underrated performances. With Kevin McCarthy, Jack Kelly and Dianne Foster as an irresistible femme fatale. (Tight Spot, 1955) A district attorney springs former model Sherry Conley from prison and tries to pressure her to testify against a powerful mobster she knew through close mutual acquaintances. Tension mounts as the court day approaches and Sherry begins to fear for her life despite 24-hour police protection in her sequestered apartment. Ginger Rogers, cast against type, makes a tough, unsentimental heroine in this tense, claustrophobic melodrama by director Phil Karlson (The Phenix City Story, 1955) which co-stars Edward G. Robinson and Brian Keith. (The Burglar, 1957) Based on the pulp fiction novel by David Goodis (The Moon in the Gutter, 1983), who also penned the screenplay, this little known crime thriller stars Dan Duryea as a cunning jewel thief who targets the mansion of a wealthy evangelist as his final career heist. Mickey Shaughnessy, Jayne Mansfield and Peter Capell are vivid and compelling as accomplices in crime and the film, directed by Paul Wendkos (The Mephisto Waltz, 1971), has more twists and hairpin turns than a winding mountain road.