Here’s the fifth in Imprint's excellent Essential Film Noir box sets. The  Blu-ray boxset takes in four films dating from between the early  1940’s and early 1960’s. Once again we get a nice selection of different takes on the noir genre- going from an undercover agent meets slavery noir/ thriller. Onto an anti-communist noir, through to burglary come character study noir. Finishing off with a crime thriller meets early vigilante example of the genre. 

The set is a  hardback box affair- which classily blends moody black-and-white film stills, with minimal orange texts and colouring. Each of the films comes presented in its own Blu-Ray case- these feature double-side covers- on the front film poster artwork/ specs, and on the reverse a single still from the featured picture.  Each film gets a classy scan- which are nicely crisp, clean and well-defined monochrome pictures. Only one of the films gets extras, aside from trailers- which is slightly disappointing, but I understand it's not always feasible- and well are getting a great selection of noir films here.

First up we have Island Of Doomed Men (aka Dead Man's Isle)- this is from the year 1940. It's an undercover agent meets slavery noir/ thriller- featuring Peter Lorre as his most devilish and cruel- with some fairly intense moments & implied violence.

The film was helmed by Oakland-born Charles Barton. Between the early 1930s and the early 1950’s he racked up an impressive sixty-five features- these went from western detective crossbreed Rocky Mountain Mystery (1935), romantic adventure drama And Sudden Death (1936), black market baby ring crime drama Babies For Sale (1940), romantic comedy What’s Buzzin’, Cousin (1943), Pirate Double Crossbones (1951).  Between the mid 50’s and early 70’s he mainly focused on directing TV episodes- though he did make four films during this time-  taking in family fantasy adventure The Shaggy Dog (1959), and songwriting comedy Swingin' Along (1961).

The film opens by introducing us to our dark-haired 'n' brill creamed hero Mark Sheldon (Robert Wilcox) who has just signed up for an unnamed American Secret Service. He’s instructed to go & meet another man in an office block at night time to find out about his first undercover case. He meets his contact, who informs him about an island off the coast of the States- which is a modern slave camp. But just as he’s about to tell him more- a hand & a gun appear at the blind-covered window with his contact gunned down. One thing leads to another & Mark won’t even reveal his name to the police- so as a result he’s sent to hard labour in prison.

Meanwhile, we meet the man behind the slave island Stephen Dale (Peter Lorre)- he lives in a grand house on the island with his glamorous wife Lorraine (Rochelle Hudson)- who married him to get away from a bad situation and is now very much a prisoner in her own home. Otherwise in the house is  Siggy ( George E Stone) butler/ general dog's body- who has a small pet monkey that Stephen hates.

Time passes, Mark carries on with his hard labour- his parole comes up, and in steps Stephen who the authorities believe is running a respectable mining business on the island. So Mark sets down on the island-  to try to put an end to Stephen's business.

Lorre is excellent here as the despicable & unpredictable Stephen. Hudson makes for a believable trapped in an abusive relationship wife. With the rest of the small lead cast doing well enough. The film has a few moments of fairly intense nastiness for its time- with off-screen floggings, spousal roughing up, and a rather unfortunate fate for Siggy’s monkey.

Island Of Doomed Men runs at the hour & seven-minute mark, and it makes for an engaging at points quite tense noir thriller. And I’d say  Lorre is at his most devilish & unpleasant here- making it well worth watching for that alone.

Next up we have The Red Menace ( aka Underground Spy) is from the year 1949, and as its title may suggest it’s an anti-communist noir. The film is fairly heavy on the drama/dialogue side of things, though there are some effective moments of both atmosphere & paranoia present.

This film was helmed by Tacoma Washington-born R.G. Springteen. In total, he had an impressive seventy-three credits to his name. These went from Western drama Wagon Wheel Westward (1945), comedy fantasy regarding a child who gets the power of telepathy The Main Street Kid (1948), a South Pacific island set comedy Gobs and Gals (1952). As well as a few noirs like I Cover The Underworld (1955), Double Jeopardy (1955), and When Gangland Strikes (1956).

After the credits which sees the US map covered by a sinister-looking octopus- we start off in a car travelling through the night. Inside are Bill Jones (Robert Rockwell) & Nina Petrovaka(Hanna Axmann-Rezzori)- they are seemingly running scared from something or someone, with the tangible feeling of paranoia mixed effectively with the shadowy interior of the vehicle. They stop briefly to get fuel and again are highly twitchy leaving before they get their change.

Next Mr Voice drops in, and ushers back into a flashback to explain how & why these two landed up in the car. We see Bill- going into an office block, and we find out he’s s veteran who has invested all of his money in a build scheme set up by the government- that seems to be somewhat of a con. Listening into Bill's raised-voiced encounter with the government clerk is a moustached & trench coat figure- he catches up with him outside- saying he got ripped off similarly. The two head to a bar the stranger knows, and we quickly find out all of the patrons inside are all part of the Communist party, and they are trying to pull him in.

At first, Bill doesn’t wise up to what is going on- heading back to the apartment of blond Irish American Mollie O'Flaherty (Barbra Fuller) drinking & smooching- though he does notice the book shelve filled with Communist texts. One thing leads to another, and he’s into the party- as well as falling for one of the other members of the party Nina.

To begin with, all seems fine being part of the party- though cracks start to show, as Bill notices crowd manipulation during a  march & those who disagree with the party line are removed fairly rapidly.

Much of the film takes part in apartments & officers, being very dialogue-heavy/ talky in its unfolding. We do get a few moments of moody noir-ness & shadowy paranoia, as well as a few brief nighttime fists fights.

Cast wise Rockwell is ok as the everyman getting pulled into the party- though he is a little wooden from time to time. Rezzori sells well the feeling of building doubt/ fear. Other worthwhile mentions are Shepard Menken as a twitchy Jewish writer, and Betty Lou Gerson as a longtime party member- who gets a wonderfully unbalanced dialogue scene towards the end of the film.

The Red Menace is certainly an interesting curio with its unbalanced/ paranoid look at the communist party. Sure, at times the isn’t America great sentiment gets rather very overbearing/ cheesy. And it’s most certainly not an action-backed example of the noir form. But as a more talky/ growing paranoia example of the genre, it’s not bad.

This is the only disc in the set that has extras, aside from a trailer or two. So on the new side, we get a commentary track from film historian/ writer Samm Deighan- and as always with Ms Deighan, it’s a well-researched & observed track- which is well worth a play or two. She begins by talking about how the film is both problematic and fascinating. She talks about Republic Pictures who released the film, and how this poverty row studio was formed by Herbert Yates- who started his career working in film labs-  the studio run between mid-30s and 60s, with a lot of their output being westerns.  She discusses how the film is a work of propaganda- though it gets little right about the communist party, or Russia.  She touches on the career of Barbra Fuller, talking about her character in the film. Later on, she points out other notable actors, briefly discussing the film's two writers. We get quotes from reviews of the time, she touches on other notable Reds- Under-The-Bed films, and of course much more.

On the archive side, we have. Hollywood on Trial(141.41) – a 1976 documentary regarding the McCarthy trials of the 1950s, narrated by John Huston. The Hollywood 10 (15.01)– a short film from 1950.

The third film in the set is 1957’s The Burglar. It moves from timed & fairly tense big house burglary onto a blend of getaway meets character study.  It was directed by Pennsylvania-born Paul Wendkos- he had sixteen features to his name, as well as one hundred TV credits taking in series & TV films. His feature lengths move from fact-based noir The Case Against Brooklyn (1958),  action drama Battle of the Coral Sea (1959), and evangelist drama Angel Baby (1961) which features Burt Reynolds in his big screen debut.

The Burglar was Wendko's first film- and it certainly is an impressive debut, been all well captured & arranged with interesting darts and changes in pace/ tone as we move along. We begin in a wonderful wrong footing manner- as we see new cinema newsreel- this unfolds in a rather unrelated & cryptic manner- moving from the Orient onto pogo-sticking US models. You start to wonder if you’ve put in the wrong disc, or possibly watching an extra- but it all starts to make sense when next up we get an interview with a famous female spiritualist who has recently been gifted a large house, a fleet of cars, and a diamond necklace. We move back from the newsreel- and see a full picture house, and one of the audience is our lead character Nat Harbin (Dan Duryea).

Next thing we see a blond-rather-down on her luck woman Gladden (Jayne Mansfield) walking up to the spiritualist mansion. She donates her last few coins to the woman- to get asked in for breakfast & lunch with her.  Next, we see Gladden heading back to an apartment/ hideout, and waiting for her is Nat, Baylock (Peter Capell) an ageing crooked jeweller, and the tubby and floppy-haired Dohmer ( Mickey Shaughnessy). After her stakeout, the group plans to rob the mansion stealing the diamond necklace.  

They wait until later in the evening when the spiritualist is watching her favourite news reporter & his fifteen-minute TV show. With Nat breaking into the safe, as Dohmer and Baylock are lookouts. And here I’ll finish my plot detailing- as The Burglar is very much a film that works best knowing as little as possible- as we get some rewarding & at points surprising twists.

The cast is excellent & well-placed throughout. Duryea is perfect as the rather tried, troubled, but loyal gang leader/ safe breaker. Capell is the perfect fit as the ageing crim- dreaming of doing one last job. Mansfield is either leered at, or manipulated by men folk- with a rather sad & lost undercurrent to her character. 

All in all The Burglar is a classy & engaging example of the noir form- with the genre tropes blended wonderfully in with elements of character study and drama. The film is most certainly one highlights of this set, and a stone-cold noir classic.

Finishing off the set we have 1962’s 13 West Street. It finds a juvenile gang rough-up a middle-class man late one night, and he gets focused on capturing the culprits/ vengeance- no matter what the cost is.

The film was helmed by London-born Philip Leacock. He had eighteen features to his name, as well as sixty TV credits. His features go from rural drama Riders of the New Forest (1948), to wartime set romantic drama Appointment in London (1953), though to the romantic comedy Tamahine (1963). 

The pictures focus on middle-aged aerospace engineer Walt Sherill( Alan Ladd)-  we first meet him driving home after working late night, he runs out of gas- so starts walking up the street to find an all-night grange. On his way a car nearly knocks him down- he shouts at it, and they double back. It’s full of a group of juvenile friends who are led up by rich teen Chuck (Michael Callan)- who has a real anger/ authority problem-  they end up beating up Walt- breaking one of his legs, a few ribs, and head injury.

Coming to interview him in his hospital bed is the bow-tied & speckle-wearing Detective Sergeant Pete Koleski( Rod Steiger). He seems forthright & focused in capturing the culprits, and it seems it should be a fairly easy case to solve- as Walt remembers quite a few details from his attack.

Time moves on Walt is on crutches and back to work- but unfortunately, the case has gone no further, and he starts pressurizing the detective. Things go from bad to worse after Chuck becomes aware that Walt is pushing for a result- he breaks one of the windows in Walt’s house, and threatens his blond wife Tracy (Dolores Dorn) over the phone. As things move on the tension notches up and up- as one side keeps upping the ante, risking jobs, liberty, and even life. 

Ladd works well as the middle-class engineer- who gets pushed & pushed. Steiger as always is in great form- playing a cop trying to do his best to solve the case, and keeping Ladd from doing something very stupid. Callan is most effective as the cocky teen, who slowly but surely reveals he’s a sociopath.

The film features a few moments of fairly intense violence for its time, some nicely heated interactions, and a mountaintop carcase. With it's just under one hour & twenty-minute runtime keeping you held throughout. I’m not sure if you’d call the film a true/ pure noir- but it certainly has elements- I guess it’s best-described crime thriller meets early vigilantly film. 

Essential Film Noir: Collection 5 is another great addition to this ongoing series, which is a must for any fan of the noir genre. As with the other boxes in the series, this is ltd to 1500, so I advise acting sooner rather than later.