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Powerhouse Indicator moves forward to their fourth fancy box of noirs from the studio of Harry Cohn, six pictures stretching from the postwar boom to the end of the original classic noir era. This time around we have some notable directors, and a nice selection of stars — Dennis O’Keefe, George Murphy, Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak, Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun and Richard Conte. Kim Novak makes her starring debut as a femme fatale; noir icon Richard Conte shines in a movie that marks a turn into a new kind of existential, paranoid thriller. And speaking of paranoid, we again get to lighten up with another selection of theme-appropriate Three Stooges shorts.

Columbia Noir #4

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1948-1957 / B&w + Color / 1:85 widescreen, 1:37 Academy / Street Date September 27, 2021 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / 49.99

Starring: Louis Hayward, Dennis O’Keefe; George Murphy; Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak; Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun; Dennis O’Keefe,...

More or less ignored for 75 years, this curious ‘B’ program picture now finds its way directly to a Warner Archive Blu-ray release. Cult actor Lawrence Tierney has an atypical ‘swell guy’ role as a Marine veteran thrust into a murder mystery and made the fall guy for nefarious foreign spies. Anne Jeffreys becomes his co-fugitive when the villains frame him for murder. It’s like a fancy 1960s romantic thriller, except on a micro scale. Just the same, Phil Rosen’s movie crams a lot of incident into its brisk 62 minutes. Consider it a gift to Lawrence Tierney fans — they might like him in a role that Cary Grant could play.

Step by Step

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1946 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 62 min. / Street Date July 20, 2021 / 21.99

Starring: Lawrence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys, Lowell Gilmore, Myrna Dell, Harry Harvey, Addison Richards, Ray Walker, Jason Robards Sr., George Cleveland, Lee Bonnell, Robert Clarke,...

“A Senator, Nazi Spies, And A Dog”

By Raymond Benson

Want a fast-paced action thriller, starring attractive leads and a precocious dog, that deals with Nazi spies in the political climate immediately following the war, and be done with it in only 62 minutes? This 1946 potboiler directed by Phil Rosen and starring notorious Lawrence Tierney is for you!

Step by Step is not a film noir, which was what most crime pictures ended up stylistically becoming in the period after World War II. Instead, it’s a rollicking good action drama that packs what today might be two hours’ worth of plot into a don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-something single hour. The picture is not only well-written and well-shot, it has a superb cast that functions quite well in this tight little ride.

Perhaps most interesting for today’s audience is the leading man presence of Lawrence Tierney, who had burst onto the...

By John M. Whalen

It’s night and a ship moves in the water through a dark curtain of fog. We see George Raft as Captain Johnny Angel on the bridge peering out into the pea soup as another vessel looms ahead suddenly in the darkness, abandoned and drifting in the water. Raft sounds the foghorn but there’s no response. He boards the derelict with several of his crew to search for clues as to what happened. They go below to the captain’s quarters and finds it wrecked. A picture lies on a desk in a shattered frame. Raft picks it up and we see it is a picture of him as a younger man standing next to an older one. A crew member enters the cabin and says there is blood below, and water in the hold, but no signs of life.

“Maybe your father’s okay,...

Director: Albert Lewin Writer(s): Oscar Wilde (novel), Albert Lewin (screenplay) Starring: Hurd Hatfield, George Sanders, Lowell Gilmore, Angela Lansbury Hurd Hatfield plays Dorian Gray, the weirdly handsome and incredibly disturbed man about town. Taking a shine to Dorian, Basil Hallward (Lowell Gilmore) offers to paint his portrait. During their last sitting, in pops Lord Henry (George Sanders) who begins to pester Dorian concerning the merits of youth and the tragedy of growing old, giving rise to some serious paranoia on Dorian's part. Dorian goes into a trance-like state, exclaiming, "If only it was the picture who was to grow old, and I remain young. There's nothing in the world I wouldn't give for that. Yes, I would give even my soul for it." And Dorian Gray's wish is granted. Dorian begins to frequent a rather seedy vaudevillian joint where he becomes enthralled with a young singer named Sibyl Vane,...