Review: Columbia Noir #3

Following on from the great Columbia Noir #1 and Columbia Noir #2 box sets, Powerhouse Films once again delves into the Columbia film archives for 6 more noir movies, all of which are making their worldwide Blu-ray premieres.

• JOHNNY O’CLOCK (Robert Rossen, 1947)
• THE DARK PAST (Rudolph Maté, 1948)
• CONVICTED (Henry Levin, 1950)
• BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN (Gordon Douglas, 1950)
• THE SNIPER (Edward Dmytryk, 1952)
• CITY OF FEAR (Irving Lerner, 1959)

Johnny O’Clock stars Dick Powell as the titular ‘Mr O’Clock’ (the most bizarre, yet memorable name I’ve come across in my movie watching for a very long time): a man who loves living the good life, spending cash from the gambling establishment that he is a partner in, and being popular with the ladies who cross his path.

One such lady, the hat check girl who works for him, turns up dead under mysterious circumstances, and Inspector Koch (the great Lee J. Cobb) has to untangle a web of intrigue to try and solve the case.

Cobb steals every scene he is in for me (as he does in a lot of his movies), but it is the distraction of the title characters name that sticks in my mind long after watching. Not just for how unusual it is, but for the sheer amount of time it is spoken during the 96 minute running time.

Have a shot every time you hear the words “Johnny O’Clock” or “Mr O’Clock”. I guarantee you will lose all track of time before the end credits roll.

The Dark Past is an interesting psychological themed noir, with William Holden starring as Al Walker; a criminal with a repressed and troubled personal history, who inadvertently finds himself breaking up the party of police psychologist Dr Andrew Collins (Lee J. Cobb again) when he and his gang break into Collins home during an escape plan gone awry.

While biding their time to move on from Collins home, Walker slowly finds himself being analysed by Collins, leading to long forgotten memories being remembered with shocking revelations.

Light on action and heavy on dialogue, this is still enthralling thanks to the 2 main leads giving superb performances.

Convicted is a strange one as it is a remake of The Criminal Code, and having watched that earlier this year, it stood out all the more that the earlier version is superior, with better characterisation and performances. Though that’s taking nothing away from Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Millard Mitchell and Dorothy Malone who all do well.

Watch both and decide which one you prefer.

Between Midnight and Dawn concentrates on Officers Rocky Barnes (Mark Stevens) and Dan Purvis (Edmond O’Brien), 2 cops who are partners and friends from their time in the war.

Their friendship is tested when they fight for the attention of Kate Mallory (Gale Storm), a new police radio operator whose voice across the airways gets both of them interested in seeing who she really is.

The most lighthearted of this set, it still has its tense moments, including a young child being held hostage in an upstairs room and threatened with being thrown out.

Who (if either of them) will inevitably end up having a relationship with Kate?

The Sniper was a surprisingly shocking viewing, with female victims taking bullets to the head and crashing through glass. Something I certainly wasn’t expecting from 1952.

Edward Miller (Arthur Franz) has been released from prison after serving times for sex crimes, but his hate for women has not diminished, leading him to kill numerous times while at the same time battling with his conscience about the wrongdoing that he knows his mind is forcing him to do.

As his actions take the lives of more and more women, it is left to a desperate police force to stop him in a tense rooftop finale.

Rounding off this set is City of Fear starring Vince Edwards (who was exceptional in Murder by Contract featured in Columbia Noir #2) as Vince Ryker: an escaped prisoner who is convinced that he has a container filled with heroin that he can sell for a fortune to fund a life of luxury with his girlfriend.

However, unbeknown to him, it actually contains cobalt-60: a highly radioactive substance that will kill thousands of people should it be opened.

Slowly suffering the effects of radioactivity from the container, Vince must be caught before the canister is opened.

One of my favourites of this box set, mostly due to another great performance by Edwards, City of Fear fittingly ends another superb collection of noir, which is again filled to the brim with special features which will inform and entertain for many hours after you have watched all 6 movies.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES