Kino Lorber have revealed two upcoming film noir box sets from the
Dark Side of Cinema series, which will arrive on the market later this year.
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXII
The Enforcer (1951)
For as long as crime boss Albert Mendoza (Everett Sloane) has been running a notorious ring of hired hit men, District Attorney Martin Ferguson (Humphrey Bogart) has been hunting him down. But Ferguson cuts a deal with Mendoza's henchman Joe Rico (Ted De Corsia), and the mob boss is finally arrested. However, Rico dies mysteriously before he can testify against Mendoza, and Ferguson must reexamine years of potential evidence, desperately searching for something to incriminate the gangster with.
The Scarlet Hour (1956)
She'd Do Anything for a Thrill…Including Kill! From Michael Curtiz, the legendary director of Angels with Dirty Faces, Casablanca and Mildred Pierce, comes another dramatic triumph—The Scarlet Hour. Introducing Tom Tryon (The Cardinal) and Carol Ohmart (House on Haunted Hill) as sales manager E.V. "Marsh" Marshall and his boss's wife Paulie, who, while scandalously parked out on Lovers' Lane, overhear burglars planning for a heist of precious jewels. Driven by desire, Paulie and Marsh proceed to concoct a criminal scheme of their own. Twists and turns abound in Curtiz's suspense-packed VistaVision production shot by Lionel Lindon (The Manchurian Candidate), co-starring Jody Lawrance, James Gregory, Elaine Stritch and E.G. Marshall. Guest star Nat King Cole, crooning "Never Let Me Go," is a jazzy highlight.
Plunder Road (1957)
Roaring Down Hell's Highway with $10,000,000 in Stolen Gold! In this gritty, one-of-a-kind heist film, five men carry out an elaborate plan to rob $10 million in gold bullion from a San Francisco-bound U.S. Mint train on a dark and stormy night. To throw the police off the track, they split the massive haul into three concealed truckloads and go off in different directions, hoping for a perfect getaway. But will the looters escape justice, or meet their cruel fates on Plunder Road? Starring character-actor greats Gene Raymond, Wayne Morris, Elisha Cook Jr., Stafford Repp and Steven Ritch, with soap opera legend Jeanne Cooper (The Young and the Restless) as Raymond's gun moll. Directed by cult favorite Hubert Cornfield (The Night of the Following Day) and shot in glorious Scope by the esteemed Ernest Haller (Mildred Pierce).
STREET DATE: OCTOBER 15.
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXIII
Rope of Sand (1949)
After a two-year hiatus, Mike Davis (Burt Lancaster) returns to the same African city where he was tortured and left for dead at the hands of a sadistic Police Commandant (Paul Henreid). Originally innocent of all charges, Mike is back to claim the diamonds he had supposedly stolen two years ago. He enlists the help of an alcoholic stranger (Peter Lorre) and the doctor (Sam Jaffe), who had helped him back to health. The diamond syndicate head (Claude Rains) recruits a nightclub temptress Suzanne Renaud (Corinne Calvet) to seduce and betray Mike as an alternate to brute force. This suspense-noir classic was directed by William Dieterle (Dark City).
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
The legendary James Cagney (White Heat) in his final great gangster role. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye offers Cagney at his nastiest. The star plays career criminal Ralph Cotter, a lowlife maniac who doesn't care about anything except his next "kill." After violently busting out from prison and murdering his partner, the cold-blooded mobster satisfies a pent-up lust for violence in an unstoppable and vicious crime-spree. Dirty cops, Inspector Charles Webber (Ward Bond) and Lieutenant John Reese (Barton MacLane) try to strong-arm the fascinating creep, but he turns the table on them and blackmails them with the help of a crooked lawyer, Keith 'Cherokee' Mandon (Luther Adler).
Never Love a Stranger (1958)
An orphan raised in the Catholic faith discovered he is Jewish, and is promptly expelled. Angry and disillusioned, he turns to crime and soon becomes New York's top boss - but justice awaits.
STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 2024.