Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XIV [Undercover Girl / One Way Street / Appointment with a Shadow]

This collection features three film noir classics. UNDERCOVER GIRL (1950) – The Inside Story of America’s Daring Police Women! NYPD cop Christine Miller (the wonderful Alexis Smith, Conflict, The Turning Point) goes undercover to investigate her father’s killing in this electrically charged thriller directed by noir master Joseph Pevney (Shakedown, Female on the Beach). Posing as a drug buyer named Sal Willis, Christine infiltrates a narcotics ring in order to take down the crooks responsible for her father’s death. But blackmail, gunplay, murder and other duplicities await her as she embarks on her most dangerous case. The sterling cast also features Scott Brady (Undertow), Richard Egan (Violent Saturday), Gladys George (The Maltese Falcon), Edmon Ryan (Topaz), Gerald Mohr (Gilda), Royal Dano (Man in the Shadow), Connie Gilchrist (Flesh and Fury) and Regis Toomey (The Big Sleep). ONE WAY STREET (1950) – Menacing Mason vs. Dangerous Duryea! Screen great James Mason (Odd Man Out, The Man Between, North by Northwest) stars in this south-of-the-border film noir about a stolen fortune, a borrowed woman and a man too many. After stealing an L.A. gangster’s money—and his girlfriend—the crooked Dr. Frank Matson (Mason) hides out in a small Mexican village. When the townspeople take him in, he decides to live an honest life in Mexico. But, in true noir fashion, destiny awaits the doc in fatalistic Los Angeles. Co-starring Dan Duryea (Scarlet Street, Storm Fear) as the maniacal mobster and Märta Torén (Spy Hunt, Deported) as his moll, One Way Street was the first U.S. picture from prolific Argentine director Hugo Fregonese (Blowing Wild, Black Tuesday, Marco Polo). APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW (1957) – Was This the Man They Hunted...or the Killer Who Hunted Them? Alcoholic reporter Paul Baxter (George Nader, The Female Animal, The Unguarded Moment) has drowned his career in liquor. A comeback opportunity presents itself when Baxter is a bystander at the arrest of a notorious criminal. But he suddenly finds himself up against a wall and at the wrong end of a deadly set-up in Appointment with a Shadow, a compelling CinemaScope noir co-starring Joanna Moore (Touch of Evil, Ride a Crooked Trail), Brian Keith (Chicago Confidential, The Rare Breed) and Virginia Field (Waterloo Bridge, The Earth Dies Screaming), helmed by Richard Carlson (director of Riders to the Stars and star of Creature from the Black Lagoon) and co-written by suspense specialist Alec Coppel (Vertigo, Moment to Moment).