Forgotten Noir: Series 3 - David Harding, Counterspy

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Customer reviews

review by: Mr. Jim date: 2008-05-19 rating:
"Kit Parker Films ... Forgotten Noir Series 3 ... VCI Ent. (2008)"
VCI Entertainment and Kit Parker Films presents "FORGOTTEN NOIR COLLECTOR'S SET - SERIES 3" --- (1947-1954) (554 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Film noir has sources not only in cinema but other artistic mediums as well...the low-key lighting schemes commonly linked with the classic mode are in the tradition of chiaroscuro and tenebrism, techniques using high contrasts of light and dark developed by 15th- and 16th-century painters associated with Mannerism and the Baroque --- film noir's aesthetics are deeply influenced by German Expressionism, a cinematic movement of the 1910s and 1920s closely related to contemporaneous developments in theater, photography, painting, sculpture, and architecture --- opportunities offered by the booming Hollywood film industry and, later, the threat of growing Nazi power led to the emigration of many important film artists working in Germany who had either been directly involved in the Expressionist movement or studied with its practitioners --- Directors such as Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak, and Michael Curtiz brought dramatic lighting techniques and a psychologically expressive approach to mise-en-scène with them to Hollywood, where they would make some of the most famous of classic noirs --- Lang's 1931 masterwork, the German M, is among the first major crime films of the sound era to join a characteristically noirish visual style with a noir-type plot, one in which the protagonist is a criminal (as are his most successful pursuers) --- M was also the occasion for the first star performance by Peter Lorre, who would go on to act in several formative American noirs of the classic era --- featuring top performances from the '40s and '50s with outstanding drama and screenplays, along with a wonderful cast and supporting actors to bring it all together --- another winner from the vaults of almost forgotten film noir gems

Excellent review posted by fellow reviewer - "Calvinnme: The Texan Refugee from Fredericksburg, VA --- Check his story line and plot which saved me the review space, is right on.

Films with titles, date released, time, director and some of the cast inclusive:
First up we have "DAVID HARDING COUNTERSPY" (13 July 1950) (71 mins/B&W) - Ray Nazarro (Director)
Willard Parker ... Jerry Baldwin
Audrey Long ... Betty Iverson
Raymond Greenleaf ... Dr. George Vickers
Harlan Warde ... Hopkins
Alex Gerry ... Charles Kingston
Howard St. John ... David Harding

Second we have "DANGER ZONE" (20 April 1951) (56 mins/B&W) - William A. Berke (Director)
Hugh Beaumont ... Dennis O'Brien
Edward Brophy ... Prof. Frederick Simpson Schicker
Richard Travis ... Lt. Bruger
Tom Neal ... Edgar Spadely
Pamela Blake ... Vicki Jason
Virginia Dale ... Claire Underwood

Third we have "THE BIG CHASE" (18 June 1954) (60 mins/B&W) - Arthur Hilton (Director) Glenn Langan ... Officer Pete Grayson
Adele Jergens ... Doris Grayson
Lon Chaney Jr. ... Henchman Kip (as Lon Chaney)
Jim Davis ... Brad Bellows
Douglas Kennedy ... Police Lt. Ned Daggert

Fourth feature "MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY" (20 February 1947) (81 mins/B&W) - Robert B. Sinclair (Director)
Dennis O'Keefe ... Steve Bennett
Adolphe Menjou ... Craig Warren
Marguerite Chapman ... Marcia Manning
Michael O'Shea ... Harrington
George Coulouris ... James Randolph
Jeff Donnell ... Miss Miller

Fifth feature "HI-JACKED" (7 July 1950) (65 mins/B&W) - Sam Newfield (Director)
Jim Davis ... Joe Harper
Marcia Mae Jones ... Jean Harper (as Marsha Jones)
Sid Melton ... 'Killer'
David Bruce ... Matt
Paul Cavanagh ... Hagen
Ralph Sanford ... Stephen Clark
House Peters Jr. ... Hank

Sixth feature "RINGSIDE" (14 July 1949) (68 mins/B&W) - Frank McDonald (Director)
Don 'Red' Barry ... Mike O'Hara aka King Cobra
Tom Brown ... Joe O'Hara
Sheila Ryan ... Janet 'J.L.' Brannigan
Lyle Talbot ... Radio Announcer
Margia Dean ... Joy White
Joseph Crehan ... Oscar Brannigan

Seventh feature "SCOTLAND YARD INSPECTOR" (31 October 1952) (73 mins/B&W) - Sam Newfield (Director)
Cesar Romero ... Philip 'Phil' O'Dell
Lois Maxwell ... Margaret 'Peggy' Maybrick
Bernadette O'Farrell ... Heather McMara
Geoffrey Keen ... Christopher Hampden
Campbell Singer ... Inspector Rigby
Alastair Hunter ... Detective Sergeant Reilly

Eighth feature "PIER 23" (11 May 1951) (58 mins/B&W) - William A. Berke (Director)
Hugh Beaumont ... Dennis O'Brien
Ann Savage ... Ann Harmon
Edward Brophy ... Prof. Shicker
Richard Travis ... Inspector Lt. Bruger
Margia Dean ... Flo Klingle
Mike Mazurki ... Ape Danowski

Final feature "THE CASE OF THE BABY-SITTER" (26 July 1947) (41 mins/B&W) - Lambert Hillyer (Director)
Tom Neal ... Russ Ashton
Allen Jenkins ... Howard 'Harvard' Quinlan
Pamela Blake ... Susan 'Susie' Hart
Virginia Sale ... Veronica Hoopler
George Meeker ... Phil Russell, alias the Duke
Rebel Randall ... Mamie Russell, alias the Duchess
Keith Richards ... Silk (henchman)

SPECIAL FEATURES:
1. The Big Chase: Robert L. Lippert Jr. interview with Tom Weaver (reenactment)
2. Lord of the Radio Part 1
3. Jean Greenlaw interview, with Richard Roberts, Trailers
4. Lord of the Radio Part 2 - Jean Lord Greenlaw interview, with Richard Roberts
5. Mr. District Attorney - Radio Program
6. Scotland Yard Inspector Featurette by Joel Blumberg
7. Pat Novak for Hire - Radio program and source for "Pier 23"
8. Trailers (all the above film noir)

Hats off and thanks to Robert Blair and his staff at VCI Entertainment --- VCI was named in Variety and Hollywood Reporter as the first company to produce and release motion pictures directly to the home marketplace --- order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch releases --- VCI are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector -- looking forward to more Nostalgic Collections.

Total Time: 554 mins on DVD ~ VCI Home Video KPF-600 ~ (4/29/2008)

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