ESSENTIAL FILM NOIR: COLLECTION 5 (1940-1962)
Imprint Collection #262 – #265
Limited Edition 4-Disc Hardbox
1500 copies only
ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN (1940)
Imprint Collection #262
Label: Imprint Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 67 Minutes 21 Seconds
Audio: English PCM 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: Charles Barton
Cast: Peter Lorre, Rochelle Hudson, Robert Wilcox
In the Charles Barton (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein) directed crime-thriller Island of Doomed Men (1940) Hollywood's ultimate sinister creeper Peter Lorre (The Comedy of Terrors) plays Stephen Danel, the owner of Dead Man’s Island, an off-the-radar island colony where he keeps paroled convicts against their will as slave-labor for his diamond mine. Undercover agent Mark Sheldon (Robert Wilcox, The Mysterious Dr. Satan) is wrongly convicted of murder and gets sent to the island, becoming a prisoner on the island. There he attempts to persuade the guards and the on-site doctor to rise up against the sinister Danel, also attempting to turn his deeply unhappy wife Lorraine
(Rochelle Hudson, The Night Walker), who is also being kept prisoner in the mansion of her tyrannical husband. The real reason to watch this is for Lorre who as the subtle but sublimely sinister slaver is pure pulp candy for cinema lovers, he's so evil, he even throws his personal cook's pet capuchin monkey to the ground in a fit of rage and shoots it dead! A wonderful post-code thriller along the lines of Devil's Island that pushes the boundaries, not really a noir but still a banger.
Special Features:
- None
The controversial anti-communist McCarthyism propaganda thriller The Red Menace (1949) (later re-released as Underground Spy) wears it's not-so-thinly-veiled anti-communist sentiment on it's sleeve and hilariously puts it right in your face in the most self-righteous of ways. In it a disgruntled ex-soldier named Bill Jones (Robert Rockwell, Destination Big House) becomes disillusioned with capitalism when a land deal goes sour and the Veteran's Bureau offers no help when he reports it. This opens him up to being recruited by the American Communist Party after being seduced by sexy commie-blonde Mollie (Barbra Fuller, Rock Island Trail). He ends up in love with another commie, Nina Petrovka (Hanna Axmann-Rezzori, 5 Fingers) but both soon enough come to see how wrong they were about the communist party, finding themselves on the run from communist agents who want to do them harm. That it ends with a Texas lawman the locals call "Uncle Sam" seemingly saving the day is pretty dang funny.
Special Features:
- 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray, from a 4K Scan of the 35mm Nitrate Original Negative (2013)
- NEW! Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan
- Hollywood on Trial – 1976 feature documentary, narrated by John Huston (1:41:41)
- The Hollywood 10 – 1950 Short film (15:10)
In the Paul Wendkos (The Mephisto Waltz) directed noir crime-thriller Dan Duryea (Black Angel) plays the titular burglar Nathaniel, who along with his three associates
THE RED MENACE (1949)
Imprint Collection #263
Label: Imprint Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 87 Minutes 14 Seconds
Audio: English PCM 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: R.G. Springsteen
Cast: Robert Rockwell, Betty Lou Gerson, Barbra Fuller, Shepherd Menken, Lester Luther
The controversial anti-communist McCarthyism propaganda thriller The Red Menace (1949) (later re-released as Underground Spy) wears it's not-so-thinly-veiled anti-communist sentiment on it's sleeve and hilariously puts it right in your face in the most self-righteous of ways. In it a disgruntled ex-soldier named Bill Jones (Robert Rockwell, Destination Big House) becomes disillusioned with capitalism when a land deal goes sour and the Veteran's Bureau offers no help when he reports it. This opens him up to being recruited by the American Communist Party after being seduced by sexy commie-blonde Mollie (Barbra Fuller, Rock Island Trail). He ends up in love with another commie, Nina Petrovka (Hanna Axmann-Rezzori, 5 Fingers) but both soon enough come to see how wrong they were about the communist party, finding themselves on the run from communist agents who want to do them harm. That it ends with a Texas lawman the locals call "Uncle Sam" seemingly saving the day is pretty dang funny.
Special Features:
- 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray, from a 4K Scan of the 35mm Nitrate Original Negative (2013)
- NEW! Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan
- Hollywood on Trial – 1976 feature documentary, narrated by John Huston (1:41:41)
- The Hollywood 10 – 1950 Short film (15:10)
THE BURGLAR (1957)
Imprint Collection #264
Label: Imprint Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 90 Minutes 23 Seconds
Audio: English PCM 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Paul Wendkos
Cast: Dan Duryea, Jayne Mansfield, Martha Vickers, Peter Capell, Mickey Shaughnessy,
In the Paul Wendkos (The Mephisto Waltz) directed noir crime-thriller Dan Duryea (Black Angel) plays the titular burglar Nathaniel, who along with his three associates
Baylock (Peter Capell, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory), Dohmer (Mickey Shaughnessy, Conquest of Space), and Gladden (Jayne Mansfield, The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield) the daughter of his mentor; plan to heist a emeralds necklace from wealthy elderly spiritualist Sister Sarah (Phoebe Mackay, Splendor in the Grass). The heist goes off but not without a hitch, in the aftermath there's some inner turmoil regarding how to best fence the stolen loot, and Nathaniel ends up sending Gladden to Atlantic City after his male partners get a bit too handsy with her. There she comes under the influence of a crooked cop, meanwhile Nathaniel meets a potential femme fatal by way of Della (Martha Vickers, The Big Sleep). The noir culminates on the neon-lit Atlantic City boardwalk with the crooked cop Charlie (Stewart Bradley, The Night God Screamed) pursuing the Nat and Gladden through a carnival funhouse. Artfully shot with some wonderful noir atmosphere this is the gem of the set for me, Duryea as the conflicted burglar with a heart of gold is wonderful, I was getting some heavy William H. Macy vibes from him that I just ate up. The flick also has a great score from Sol Kaplan (Over the Edge) that deepens tension, and surreal flashback sequences that help explain his strict set of rules and allegiance to Gladden.
Special Features:
- Introduction by Martin Scorsese. (2:13)
- Theatrical Trailer (1:58)
In the crime thriller 13 West Street (1962) rocket scientist Walt Sherill (Alan Ladd, The Black Cat) is brutally beaten by a gang of vicious teenage delinquents lead by Chuck Landry (Michael Callan, Chained Heat) after his car breaks down. The investigating officer Detective Koleski (Rod Steiger, The Kindred) is on the case but it's slow going, the
Special Features:
Theatrical Trailer (2:30)
- Introduction by Martin Scorsese. (2:13)
- Theatrical Trailer (1:58)
13 WEST STREET (1962)
Imprint Collection #265
Label: Imprint Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 79 Minutes 57 Seconds
Audio: English PCM 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Philip Leacock
Cast: Alan Ladd, Rod Steiger. Michael Callan, Dolores Dorn, Kenneth MacKenna, Margaret Hayes
In the crime thriller 13 West Street (1962) rocket scientist Walt Sherill (Alan Ladd, The Black Cat) is brutally beaten by a gang of vicious teenage delinquents lead by Chuck Landry (Michael Callan, Chained Heat) after his car breaks down. The investigating officer Detective Koleski (Rod Steiger, The Kindred) is on the case but it's slow going, the
traumatized and increasingly obsessive Sherill not only hires a private detective, Finney (Stanley Adams, Act of Vengeance) to find the teens, but buys a gun much to his wife's chagrin, and begins stalking potential suspects himself. The teens realizing the heat is on further attack Sherill, telling him he should just forget about the incident, but he's obsessed with tracking them down, which not only puts his wife Tracey (Dolores Dorn, Truck Stop Women) in danger, but his relentless pursuit results in him terrifying a teen girl and lands him in the pokey for the night. This is a solid and briskly paced crime-noir with teen-delinquent elements that never wears out it's welcome.
Special Features:
Theatrical Trailer (2:30)
Audio/Video: All four films arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Imprint in Films in 1080p HD, both Island of Doomed Men and Red Scare are framed in 1.37:1 while The Burglar is 1.85:1 and 13 West Street is 1.78:1. The only film that indicates a new scan is The Red Menace which is advertised as "a 4K Scan of the 35mm Nitrate Original Negative". Three of these are making their worldwide Blu-ray debuts here, with Red Menace previously having received a barebones Blu-ray release from the mow defunct Olive Films back in 2014. The four flicks look solid in HD but are not perfection, there are some source related blemished by way of small scratches, vertical lines, but there are minimal. Contrast fares well and black levels are pleasing throughout. Audio on all for films come by way of uncompressed English PCM 2.0 dual-mono with Optional English subtitles. All four tracks are well-balanced and clean, sounding their vintage without any source related hiss or distortion.
Looking at the extras, we start off with The Island of Doomed Men which sadly is bereft of any extras. The Red Menace gets a new Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan; the archival 142-min Hollywood on Trial – 1976 feature documentary, narrated by John Huston, and the 15-min The Hollywood 10 – 1950 Short film. The Burglar includes an archival 2-min Introduction by Martin Scorsese and a 2-min Theatrical Trailer, while 13 West Street gets just a 2-min Theatrical Trailer.
The 4-disc 4-film set arrives in a rigid, top-loading hardbox . Lifting off the top reveals a four 14mm clear keepcases housing the feature-films, the wraps are 2-sided but non reversible, all featuring original illustrated theatrical poster artworks with black and white images from the film on the reverse side, the disc inside some of the same key art as the wraps.
I have not picked-up any of other Essential Film Noir Collections sets from Imprint Films as they look pretty damn addictive and take up some serious shelf real estate - and sure enough now that I've opened the door to this one volume, loaded with four bangers - three making their worldwide Blu-ray debuts, I think I am hooked!
Screenshots from the Imprint Films Blu-rays:
Island of Doomed Men
The Red Menace
The Burglar
13 West Street
