Another quality release of forgotten Film Noir by Flicker Alley. When
the Tzar of
Film Noir, Eddie Müller is involved you know what you get. Great
stuff.
Made by Monogram Pictures on a low budget these two
minimalistic Film Noir's
still managed to be stylishly made, darkly atmospheric and well acted.
Both films were made in 1947 and with the same actor in the both leading
roles
and with Bonita Granville playing the double part of twins in the first
film.
"The Guilty" is based on a story by Master Cornell
Woolrich (He Looked Like
Murder / Two Fellows in a Furnished Room).
The Guilty
1947 4:3 black & white Director: John Reinhardt
Michael Carr (Don Castle) enters a bar and is about
to meet a woman he hasn't
seen for 6 months. He tells the bartender and to Us what happened 6
months ago
in a .... yes, a Flashback.
An army friend, Johnny Dixon (Wally Cassell) stays in Mike's apartment
and both
Mike and Johnny are entangled with the twin sisters Linda and Estelle
Mitchell
(Bonita Granville) and when Linda is found dead Mike starts sleuthing.
Whodunit ?
High Tide
1947 4:3 black & white Director: John Reinhardt
The Guilty was good, but High
Tide was great with an unusual opening scene and
with the highly charismatic Lee Tracy in one of the main roles.
A car has crashed onto the beach with two men caught
in the wreck, Slade (Don
Castle) and the older Hugh Fresney (Lee Tracy) and the oncoming tide
will kill them.
But there's always time for the .... Flashback, and we will get the
explanation for
their precarious situation.
Hugh Fresney is a ruthless newspaper man, an editor
and writer at The Dispatch.
An unlikeable man who maybe caused the execution of a man due to his
hateful
writings and now he wants to tell the story of a dangerous gambling
hall owner.
Death is closing in on Hugh -"I can smell death when it's close"
and he calls on
Tim Slade, an ex-Police reporter at The Dispatch, for protection.
Extras:
Booklet
Introduction to both films by the great Eddie Müller
Audio commentary to The Guilty by author and scholar Jake Hinkson
Audio commentary to High Tide by Alan K. Rode
Jack Wrather: A legacy of film and friendship Documentary (23 minutes)
Nightmare: The Life and Films of Cornell Woolrich A Documentary by Steven
C.
Smith and Eddie Müller (38 minutes, 1922)
John Reinhardt: Direction without borders (19 minutes, 2022)
Lee Tracy: The fastest man in the West (20 minutes, 2022)
