Just in time for Noirvember, Kino Lorber has another set of relatively obscure film noirs for our viewing pleasure. These films are all low-budget, but mostly good. And since none of them run longer than 80 minutes, you could watch all three in about the time it takes you to watch most modern blockbusters, and you’ll probably enjoy yourself more.
Buy Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXVIIIWe begin with Citadel of Crime (1941), which is the least noir-like of the films in this set and the most silly. Robert Armstrong stars as Cal Fellerton, a gangster recently released from prison. Immediately, the bosses have a new line for him. They want a piece of the moonshine business, but the hillbillies who make the stuff won’t let them get near it. They don’t like outsiders and aren’t afraid to shoot at anyone who comes close. But Fullerton is from them parts, and he can probably talk them into expanding their business.
He does exactly that. He convinces the Pappy of the hillbillies that he can make a lot of money selling his shine to city folks. He even gives Pappy a good percentage of the profits. Naturally, this annoys the bosses back home, but Fellerton is tough enough to take them out.
But he’s not tough enough to take out Jim Rogers (Frank Albertson), a Federal Agent who has been working undercover as an engineer in hopes of catching the moonshiners. Naturally, there is a love interest (Linda Hayes), a kindly girl who’s in love with Jim. It is all a bit silly, and with a runtime of just under an hour, it stuffs a lot into its story. But there are some good stunts (including a couple of thrilling jumps from cars onto other moving vehicles) and plenty of ridiculous hillbilly caricatures.
Up next is Cry Danger (1951), my favorite film in this set. It helps that it has real stars with Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming, and, presumably at least, a slightly bigger budget. Powell plays Rocky Mulloy, a guy serving a prison sentence for a crime he didn’t commit. He gets let out when Delong (Richard Edman), a one-legged Marine, provides an alibi. The alibi is fake. Delong figures Rocky did the crime, and as thanks for springing him, he’ll be willing to share in the loot he stole.
You’d think that when he learns that Rocky didn’t steal the loot, there might be some conflict between the two. But there isn’t. Instead, they form a trusting friendship. Rocky knows it was bookmaker Louie Castro (William Conrad) who actually did the robbery he was put up for and framed him for it. Rocky figures Castro owes him some money for that bit of business. Castro seems to agree but pulls a fast one on Rocky, leaving him with some of that stolen money that also happens to be marked.
This alerts Detective Lt. Gus Cobb (Regis Toomey), who is more than happy to put Rocky back in jail. It will be up to Rocky and Delong to prove Castro is the villain. I’ve neglected to mention that there was another innocent guy who was sent up with Rocky, but he wasn’t so lucky to have a guy like Delong to provide an alibi.
Fleming plays the still-in-prison guy’s wife, Nancy Morgan. She’s sweet on Rocky and will also help him nab Castro. Naturally, Delong gets a girl, too. She’s Darlene LaVonne (Jean Porter), a blonde bombshell who is prone to stealing Delong’s wallet, but she’s so much fun he never really minds.
Director Robert Parrish keeps things moving along. The story is a lot of fun, and the entire cast is great. But the film belongs to Powell and Edman. They have such a lovely, natural chemistry together, and it’s a real treat to find a movie where two men are such wonderful friends.
Terror at Midnight (1956) is my least favorite film in this set. It feels like a TV-movie and has barely a thrill. Scott Brady is Neal Rickards, a policeman who has just landed a promotion. One day, his fiancée, Susan Lang (Joan Vohs), accidentally hits a policeman with her car. It was clearly his fault as he ran right out into her path, but she’s completely freaked. When a weird old man tells her she’d be better off fleeing the scene because cops are known for doing this sort of thing on purpose to blackmail unsuspecting citizens, she does just that.
She finds more trouble when she takes the car to a body shop that is run by a group of car thieves. When they realize who she is (the story of the hit-and-run has made the news), they try to blackmail her. Meanwhile, it is Rickard who has been assigned to catch her (though, of course, he doesn’t realize the hit-and-run assailant is his fiancée).
That’s a pretty good setup, but this is a strictly B-movie production. It is certainly watchable, but there isn’t anything particularly interesting going on with the filmmaking.
I’ve watched and reviewed enough of these sets to realize they generally have one dud. But there’s always a really good one too. In this case, we get a great one, a fun one, and, well, something you can still watch. And like I said in the intro, these films are all quite short. So you can put the entire set on during a lazy Saturday and get your fill of film noir. That sounds like perfect weekend plans to me.
