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This follow-up to 2004’s Film Noir Classics Vol. 1 is every bit as meritorious as the first collection, compiling another assortment of skillfully made thrillers that exhibit the easily recognizable qualities of the post-WWII era’s gritty, dark crime dramas. Our favorite from this group is Richard Fleischer’s The Narrow Margin (1952), a claustrophobic suspense yarn mostly set onboard a train that carries a hard-boiled cop (Charles McGraw) and his prisoner, a gangster’s widow (Marie Windsor) needed to testify at the trial of a Mob big shot. Taut, fast-paced, well acted, and beautifully photographed, this is one of the very best noirs; it’s been ripped off many times and was officially remade under the same title in 1990 with Gene Hackman and Anne Archer. Edward Dmytryk’s Crossfire (1947), the second-best film in the box, aroused some controversy with its then-daring exploration of anti-Semitism, which rears its ugly head during the frenzied search by police for an insane ex-solider in the wake of WWII. Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, and Robert Ryan head one of the finest casts in noir history. Forties tough guy Lawrence Tierney is seen to advantage in what are arguably his two best starring films: Max Nosseck’s stylish but cheap Dillinger (1944), in which he plays the notorious real-life gangster shot down by G-men outside a movie theater, and Robert Wise’s savagely unsentimental Born to Kill (1947), featuring the rugged Irishman as a killer who marries good girl Audrey Long for cover but really fancies her sister, bad girl Claire Trevor. To some, Fritz Lang’s Clash by Night (1952) is memorable primarily for an early appearance by Marilyn Monroe. But it’s also a sharply cynical exercise in deceit and betrayal that gives a good role to noir icon Barbara Stanwyck and allows the director to dip into the cinematic bag of tricks he acquired during the golden age of German Expressionism. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Somehow the titles of the films of hardcase actor Lawrence Tierney seemed to be extensions of the man's personality, as witness such films as The Devil Thumbs a Ride and Born to Kill. In the latter picture, Tierney starts the ball rolling by committing a double murder in a jealous pique. {|Claire Trevor|} discovers the bodies, but says nothing to the police; she's leaving town and doesn't want to be impeded. Trevor and Tierney meet and fall in love on the train to San Francisco. Unfortunately, Trevor is married, so Tierney shifts his affections to her sister, {|Audrey Long|} (later the wife of director Billy Wilder). He marries Long, though he keeps up his illicit affair with Trevor. When detectives investigating the murders come snooping, they are bought off by Tierney's pal Elisha Cook Jr.--who is then murdered by Tierney, who suspects that Cook is carrying on with Trevor (Cook seldom survived to the end of any of his films). When Tierney finally does face arrest, it's at the instigation of the jealous Trevor, who is shot full of holes for her trouble. Born to Kill was based on {|James Gunn's|} novel Deadlier Than the Male. Hal Erickson

All Movie Guide

Dillinger, the was the ninth effort from the enterprising King Brothers, and their most financially successful film to date. Lawrence Tierney became an overnight cult favorite with his gritty portrayal of maverick bank robber John Dillinger, though top billing is bestowed upon Edmund Lowe as gang chieftan Specs. The film traces Dillinger's criminal career from his first petty theft to his spectacular 1934 demise outside Chicago's Biograph Theater (incidentally, this film was banned in Chicago for several years). Anne Jeffreys plays Dillinger's fictional moll Helen, while Elisha Cook Jr., Marc Lawrence and Eduardo Cianelli go through their usual crime-flick paces. The film's setpiece is an elaborate armored-car holdup, lifted in its entirety from footage originally shot for Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once (1937). Screenwriter Philip Yordan, fresh from his Broadway triumph Anna Lucasta, earned an Academy Award nomination for Dillinger. Hal Erickson

All Movie Guide

The Narrow Margin is generally considered a "model" B picture; some film buffs go farther than that, labelling this 1952 RKO suspenser as the best low-budget studio production ever made. Nail-hard detective Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) is assigned to protect gangster's widow Mrs. Neall (Marie Windsor) as she rides the train from Chicago to LA, en route to testifying at a grand jury. There's no love lost between the ill-tempered Neall and Brown, especially since Brown's partner (Don Beddoe) was killed by mobsters while shielding Neall from harm. On the train, Brown makes the acquaintance of a likeable woman (Jacqueline White) and her playful young son. He also comes in contact with a rather secretive fat man (Paul Maxey), who may well be a mob assassin. Not long before the train pulls into California, Brown is approached by small-time crook (Peter Brocco), who offers the detective a great deal of money if he'll permit Neall to be silenced. Brown appears to be tempted, but this is only a smokescreen to throw the crooks off the trail. The Narrow Margin was remade (and unnecessarily padded and attenuated) in 1990. Hal Erickson

All Movie Guide

This drama was one of the first major-studio efforts to confront anti-semitism (beating the Oscar-winning Gentleman's Agreement by several months), and it features a standout performance from {|Robert Ryan|} as a bigoted soldier on the run. Monty Montogomery (Ryan) is a violent and unstable soldier who, while out on a pass, goes on a drinking spree with three buddies, Floyd (Steve Brodie), Arthur (George A. Cooper), and Leroy (William Phipps). While boozing it up in a tavern, the four men meet Joseph Samuels (Sam Levene) and his girlfriend Ginny (Gloria Grahame), who invite the soldiers back to their apartment for a party. Monty, however, has a fierce hatred of Jews, and he later goes into a drunken rage in which he beats Joseph to death. Monty's friends can barely remember the incident through their liquor-shrouded memories, but they recall just enough to make themselves scarce when police detective Capt. Finlay (Robert Young) begins making the rounds looking for information on Joseph's murder. Sgt. Kelly (Robert Mitchum), a soldier who knows the four men, begins to suspect that something is up, and he works with Finlay and Ginny to help ferret out the killer in his ranks, while Monty kills Floyd when he becomes convinced that he's going to talk to the authorities. While director {|Edward Dmytryk|} showed real bravery in bringing this story to the screen, it had greater repercussions than he might have expected; the film's controversial themes led to Dmytryk's denunciation by the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy-era investigations of the 1950s; luckily, unlike other filmmakers who suffered similar accusations by HUAC, Dmytryk continued to work steadily through the '50s and '60s. Mark Deming

All Movie Guide

The opening credits appearing over a turbulent ocean serve as a foreshadowing of things to come in this standard-issue love triangle that shifts into high drama thanks to taut direction by Fritz Lang and a sizzling performance by Barbara Stanwyck. Returning to live with her brother, Joe (Keith Andes), at her family's home in a small fishing village, Mae Doyle (Stanwyck) has reached rock bottom. Reeling from the pain of her previous romances, Mae slowly pieces things together and begins dating Jerry (Paul Douglas), a simple-minded fisherman. More along Mae's speed is Jerry's slick, boozy pal Earl Pfeiffer (Robert Ryan), a film projectionist who makes his feelings for her known right away despite the fact that he is married. Mae spurns his advances and decides to marry Jerry. Meanwhile, Joe has grown close to ditzy factory worker Peggy (Marilyn Monroe). Some time later, Mae and Jerry have had a baby, and things appear happy, but Mae is not in love with Jerry, and soon finds herself in Earl's arms. Jerry discovers the affair, and during a confrontation with the deceitful couple, Mae reveals that she is leaving to be with Earl. After some booze and a pep talk from his Uncle Vince (J. Carrol Naish), Jerry confronts Earl and proceeds to nearly strangle him until Mae arrives. Jerry storms off, but when Mae comes to their home to retrieve the baby, she discovers that Jerry has taken the child. Desperately upset, she explains the situation to Earl, but as they talk, she begins to arrive at a new realization about her life and what it takes to find happiness. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

Product Details

• UPC: 012569713314
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Editions: Mixed Media Set
• Time: 6:54:00
• Sales Rank: 7,159

This set contains DVDs which may be available separately:

• Dillinger
• Crossfire
• Clash by Night
• The Narrow Margin
• Born to Kill

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