Hammer Film Noir Double Feature – Volumes One -
Three (VCI)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Films: C+
Though
Film Noir is mostly an American phenomenon, the British did some films that
were Noirs or Noir-like in that same 1941 – 1958 period. Like many of the U.S. productions, many were
B-movies that have been somewhat lost or forgotten. VCI and Kit Parker Films have been going out
of their way to find these films and issue them. The result are three volumes of what the
companies have dubbed the Hammer Film
Noir Double Feature.
Produced
with Robert L. Lippert with Hammer, the films are:
1)
Bad Blonde (1953, aka The Flannigan Boy) was directed by Reginald Le Borg and has Barbara
Payton in a Postman Always Rings Twice
knock off, but there is something amusing about seeing any British take of
it. Guess they missed the Italian
version. Helping it look better is
cinematographer Walter J. Harvey, who worked in Brit Bs for years, including
the British Science Fiction favorite Quatermass
Xperiment. He ended his career with
distinctive work in the final Linda Thorson Avengers seasons, reviewed elsewhere on this site.
2)
Man Bait (1952, aka The Last Page) is one of several films here by the most enduring of
all British journeyman director, Terence Fisher, who helmed most of the films
in this set. This film features Diana
Dors, promoted as a rough British variant of Marilyn Monroe, having an enduring
career that even included the Adam Ant video for Prince Charming. The U.S.
title refers to her, but the British title refers to the married owner of a
bookstore (George Brent) falling for secretary Dors. Amusing and unusual, if not spectacular. Harvey did the camerawork here too.
3)
A Stolen Face (1952) is the best film here,
with the great Lisabeth Scott as a woman after surgery trying to start a new
life, but the face is not an original and craziness ensure. The best film of the six, Fisher directs
again and its 72 minutes never quit.
Harvey yet again was the cameraman.
4)
Blackout (1954, aka Murder By Proxy) - Fisher and Harvey teamed up again in this tale
of a “bad girl” who gets an innocent man drunk to marry and frame him. Then the craziness begins. Not bad, if not great.
5)
The Gambler & The Lady (1952) - Fisher and Patrick
Jenkins directed this Harvey lensed tale of a hustler of a lower socio-economic
class hustler wanting to join high society when he falls in love with someone
of a higher class. With class more
pronounced in the U.K., this film had more weight there and is an interesting
piece, if not always successful.
6)
Heatwave (1954, aka The House Across The Lake) is yet another Postman Always Rings Twice knock off, mixing British and American
actors. It is only 68 minutes and barely
better than Bad Blonde. Ken Hughes wrote and directed the film early in
his career. He later was one of six
directors on the spoofy 1967 version of Casino
Royale, and helmed two big 70mm productions, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The
Trails Of Oscar Wilde. Harvey shot
this one too.
No, the
films are not always successful, but make for an interesting counterpoint to
U.S. Noirs and there is more melodrama in the films that do not work. These can also be seen as forerunners to some
extent of the “angry young man” cycle of films soon to come. All are worth a look.
The 1.33
X 1 black and white image is on the soft side in all six prints, but it is
still at least real black and white stock.
The prints are cleaner than expected and are nicely shot by some
lesser-known B.S.C. cinematographers.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono varies a bit from film to film, but is not in
bad shape for their age. Extras include stills
and trailers, decent commentary tracks on all the films by Richard M. Roberts
that are informative, even when this critic does not agree with them, and text
cast bios for each of the six films as well.
- Nicholas Sheffo
