New Releases for July 2 2024

ACT OF VIOLENCE (1948)

When two World War II veterans meet again--one a decorated war hero and successful, married businessman; the other permanently crippled and mentally deranged--the encounter will lead to a shocking Act of Violence. Frank Enly (Academy Award winner Van Heflin) survived a German concentration camp to return home a hero and build a good life for himself. But when Joe Parkson (Robert Ryan) comes to town, Enly flees. Now, as his life and sanity rapidly unravel, is Enly really a lying traitor who sold the lives of fellow concentration camp inmates for his own survival as the mentally unstable Parkson claims, or is he a victim of survivor's guilt that has suddenly resurfaced with Parkson's return? And will the enmity between the two lead to murder in this film noir thriller, from masterful director Fred Zinnemann. (BLU-RAY)

BEWARE, MY LOVELY (1952)

Screen heavyweights Ida Lupino (Woman in Hiding) and Robert Ryan (Odds Against Tomorrow) square off in this stylish and atmospheric thriller. Wealthy widow Helen Gordon (Lupino) hires drifter Howard Wilton (Ryan) as a handyman to do chores around her rambling mansion. What she doesn’t know: Howard Wilton is insane. Insecure and paranoid, Wilton thinks everyone, including Helen, is against him. He suffers from memory lapses and extreme mood swings. She’s soon a prisoner in her own home after Wilton locks the doors and tears out the telephone. His mood swings from violence to complacency but after Helen gets a message to the police via a telephone repairman, she finds he is still in the house. Beware, My Lovely is a spine-chilling suspense story shot by cinematographer George E. Diskant (On Dangerous Ground), written by noir specialist Mel Dinelli (The Spiral Staircase, House by the River) and helmed by noted art director Harry Horner (The Heiress, The Hustler). (BLU-RAY)

NO MAN OF HER OWN (1950)

The incandescent Barbara Stanwyck (Double Indemnity, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers) shines as a woman torn between a comfortable lie and the painful truth in this heart-wrenching noir classic. Helen Ferguson (Stanwyck), penniless, pregnant and dumped by her slimy boyfriend Steve (Lyle Bettger, Union Station), assumes the identity of a pregnant woman who was killed in a train crash. Eventually Helen’s sordid past catches up to her when Steve arrives demanding money to keep her true identity a secret from the man who loves her (John Lund, Night Has a Thousand Eyes). Gorgeously shot by cinematographer Daniel L. Fapp (The Big Clock, The Great Escape) and directed by Hollywood ace Mitchell Leisen (Death Takes a Holiday, Murder at the Vanities), this pitch-black masterpiece of harrowing melodrama was adapted from the book I Married a Dead Man by crime-writing king Cornell Woolrich (The Chase, Rear Window). (BLU-RAY)

THE MAN I LOVE (1946)

Torch singer Petey Brown is beautiful and smart. The beautiful gets her in trouble. She'll need all of the smarts to get out of it in this bluesy, boozy noir salute to tough dames in tough times. On a holiday visit to her family in the waning days of World War II, Petey expects a merry Christmas. Instead she gets a tangled web of mobsters, cheating wives, war-traumatized vets and the kind of love that grabs hold fast and goes wrong faster. Ida Lupino portrays Petey, scoring a triumph under the direction of Raoul Walsh, who helped put her on the road to stardom in the Bogart classic High Sierra. The Man I Love is also notable for its songbook of sophisticated standards and as one of the inspirations for Martin Scorsese's New York, New York. This new Blu-ray presentation restores 6 minutes cut from the film and unseen for nearly seven decades. Newly remastered, the film can finally be experienced as first shown in its original theatrical release. (BLU-RAY)