Indicator/Powerhouse Films: Columbia Noir #4 Blu-ray Coming Soon
HomeIndicator/Powerhouse Films: Columbia Noir #4 Blu-ray Coming Soon
Posted June 10, 2021 04:06 PM by Webmaster
British distributors Indicator/Powerhouse Films have announced that they will release on Blu-ray
Columbia Noir #4. The six-disc box set will be available for purchase on September 20.
Official description: Indicator's ongoing series of Columbia Noir box sets returns with its fourth instalment, once again delving into the studio's archives to select six films which plunge the viewer into a dark world of crime. Featuring Kim Novak, Fred MacMurray, Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun, Abbe Lane, Louis Hayward, and Richard Conte – not to mention gangsters, G-men, foreign spies, criminals on the run, and corrupt cops – Columbia Noir #4 continues the series in fine style.
Presenting all six films on Blu-ray for the first time anywhere in the world, this stunning collection includes newly recorded commentaries and critical appreciations, archival documentaries, six Three Stooges comedy shorts which lampoon the tropes and themes of the titles in the set, and a 120-page book. Strictly limited to 6,000 numbered units.
BOX SET CONTENT:
Walk a Crooked Mile (1948)
Synopsis: After evidence surfaces of an information leak at a major nuclear lab, FBI Agent Dan O'Hara (Dennis O'Keefe) pairs up with Scotland Yard Detective Philip Grayson (Louis Hayward) to track down those responsible. An investigation of the scientists, including the enigmatic beauty Dr. Toni Neva (Louise Allbritton), leads the agents to a Communist Party spy operation in San Francisco, which they must shut down before sensitive state secrets are handed over to the wrong people. Directed by Gordon Douglas.
Walk East on Beacon! (1952)
Synopsis: FBI agent James Belden (George Murphy) is tasked with finding and bringing down a communist spy ring operating in Boston. After an anonymous tip, Belden and his agents tail a man who leads them to various suspects, as they try to determine how far the espionage reaches. Meanwhile, the spies force a scientist (Finlay Currie) to divulge secret information by holding his son hostage. As the investigation continues, it seems the Russian agent Alexi Laschenkov (Karel Stepanek) might be behind it all. Directed by Alfred L. Werker.
Pushover (1954)
Synopsis: In the wake of a bank heist, Paul Sheridan (Fred MacMurray) is part of a team of cops assigned to recover the stolen $200,000. They stake out the apartment of Lona McLane (Kim Novak), the girlfriend of the one of the robbers, and before long Paul and Lona begin a steamy affair. Lona persuades Paul to kill her boyfriend so that the two of them can escape with the money, but, in order to pull it off, Paul first has to trick his boss and fellow detectives. Directed by Richard Quine.
A Bullet Is Waiting (1954)
Synopsis: Storms trap a Utah sheriff (Stephen McNally) and his prisoner (Rory Calhoun) in a coastal cabin with a professor's daughter (Jean Simmons). Directed by John Farrow.
Chicago Syndicate (1955)
Synopsis: An ex-military accountant is recruited by the FBI to infiltrate the mob in Chicago in an attempt to break open the rackets. To complicate his job, two women stand in his way, each with their own agenda. Directed by Fred F. Sears.
The Brothers Rico (1957)
Synopsis: Former Mafia bookkeeper Eddie Rico (Richard Conte) has decided to go straight and lives with his wife in Florida, where they plan to adopt a child. However, his brothers, Johnny (James Darren) and Gino (Paul Picerni), still work for his ex-boss, Sid Kubik (Larry Gates) -- and, when Eddie finds out their lives are in danger, he tries to re-establish his connection to the world he thought he had left behind. But when one of his brothers is killed, Eddie realizes that he may be next. Directed by Phil Karlson.
SPECIAL FEATURES AND TECHNICAL SPECS:
Official description: Indicator's ongoing series of Columbia Noir box sets returns with its fourth instalment, once again delving into the studio's archives to select six films which plunge the viewer into a dark world of crime. Featuring Kim Novak, Fred MacMurray, Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun, Abbe Lane, Louis Hayward, and Richard Conte – not to mention gangsters, G-men, foreign spies, criminals on the run, and corrupt cops – Columbia Noir #4 continues the series in fine style.
Presenting all six films on Blu-ray for the first time anywhere in the world, this stunning collection includes newly recorded commentaries and critical appreciations, archival documentaries, six Three Stooges comedy shorts which lampoon the tropes and themes of the titles in the set, and a 120-page book. Strictly limited to 6,000 numbered units.
BOX SET CONTENT:
Walk a Crooked Mile (1948)
Synopsis: After evidence surfaces of an information leak at a major nuclear lab, FBI Agent Dan O'Hara (Dennis O'Keefe) pairs up with Scotland Yard Detective Philip Grayson (Louis Hayward) to track down those responsible. An investigation of the scientists, including the enigmatic beauty Dr. Toni Neva (Louise Allbritton), leads the agents to a Communist Party spy operation in San Francisco, which they must shut down before sensitive state secrets are handed over to the wrong people. Directed by Gordon Douglas.
Walk East on Beacon! (1952)
Synopsis: FBI agent James Belden (George Murphy) is tasked with finding and bringing down a communist spy ring operating in Boston. After an anonymous tip, Belden and his agents tail a man who leads them to various suspects, as they try to determine how far the espionage reaches. Meanwhile, the spies force a scientist (Finlay Currie) to divulge secret information by holding his son hostage. As the investigation continues, it seems the Russian agent Alexi Laschenkov (Karel Stepanek) might be behind it all. Directed by Alfred L. Werker.
Pushover (1954)
Synopsis: In the wake of a bank heist, Paul Sheridan (Fred MacMurray) is part of a team of cops assigned to recover the stolen $200,000. They stake out the apartment of Lona McLane (Kim Novak), the girlfriend of the one of the robbers, and before long Paul and Lona begin a steamy affair. Lona persuades Paul to kill her boyfriend so that the two of them can escape with the money, but, in order to pull it off, Paul first has to trick his boss and fellow detectives. Directed by Richard Quine.
A Bullet Is Waiting (1954)
Synopsis: Storms trap a Utah sheriff (Stephen McNally) and his prisoner (Rory Calhoun) in a coastal cabin with a professor's daughter (Jean Simmons). Directed by John Farrow.
Chicago Syndicate (1955)
Synopsis: An ex-military accountant is recruited by the FBI to infiltrate the mob in Chicago in an attempt to break open the rackets. To complicate his job, two women stand in his way, each with their own agenda. Directed by Fred F. Sears.
The Brothers Rico (1957)
Synopsis: Former Mafia bookkeeper Eddie Rico (Richard Conte) has decided to go straight and lives with his wife in Florida, where they plan to adopt a child. However, his brothers, Johnny (James Darren) and Gino (Paul Picerni), still work for his ex-boss, Sid Kubik (Larry Gates) -- and, when Eddie finds out their lives are in danger, he tries to re-establish his connection to the world he thought he had left behind. But when one of his brothers is killed, Eddie realizes that he may be next. Directed by Phil Karlson.
SPECIAL FEATURES AND TECHNICAL SPECS:
- High Definition remasters of all six films
- Original mono soundtracks
- Audio commentary on Walk East on Beacon! with In a Lonely Street author Frank Krutnik (2021)
- Audio commentary on Pushover with film historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson (2021)
- Audio commentary on Chicago Syndicate with film historian Toby Roan (2021)
- Audio commentary on The Brothers Rico with professor and film scholar Jason A Ney (2021)
- Introduction to The Brothers Rico by Martin Scorsese (2010)
- Glenn Kenny on Richard Quine (2021): the author and critic examines the eclectic career of the director of Pushover
- Josephine Botting on Jean Simmons (2021): the film historian discusses the early American career of the British actor
- G-Men Combat Saboteurs (1941) and G-Men at War (1942): two March of Time documentaries produced by Louis De Rochemont (Walk East on Beacon!), focusing on the FBI's efforts to apprehend spies and fifth columnists
- Routine Job: A Story of Scotland Yard (1946): short film examining the day-to-day work of the Scotland Yard detective, much like the one in Walk a Crooked Mile
- Policeman's Holiday (1949): short film in which an American detective comes to England to assist Scotland Yard, echoing but reversing the plot of Walk a Crooked Mile
- Six comedy shorts starring the Three Stooges, each lampooning the tropes and themes of the films in this set: From Nurse to Worse (1940), The Yoke's on Me (1944), Dunked in the Deep (1949), Blunder Boys (1955), Commotion in the Ocean (1956), and A Merry Mix-Up (1957)
- Original theatrical trailers
- Image galleries: promotional and publicity materials
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Limited edition exclusive 120-page book with new essays by Beth Ann Gallagher, Bob Herzberg, Sophie Monks Kaufman, Omar Ahmed, Jen Johans, and Monica Castillo, archival articles and interviews, and film credits
- MORE EXTRAS TO BE ANNOUNCED
- REGION-B "LOCKED"
