Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XI

A Woman's Vengeance (1948)

Henry Maurier (Charles Boyer) was always solicitous of his invalid wife Emily (Rachel Kempson). Soon after he met the alluring young Doris (Ann Blyth), though, Emily suffered a fatal heart attack...and he pursued a very public courtship. When an autopsy revealed poisoning, the state’s case against Henry seemed ironclad...unless his doctor and friend Libbard (Cedric Hardwicke) could show otherwise. Aldous Huxley adapted his short story "The Gioconda Smile" for the screen; Jessica Tandy, Mildred Natwick co-star under Zoltan Korda’s direction. 96 min. BW/Rtg: NR

I Was A Shoplifter (1950)

Caught pilfering in a department store, kleptomaniac judge's daughter Faye Burton (Mona Freeman) was let off with a warning. The kind souls who approached promising to get her record expunged were in fact racketeers looking to recruit her as another pair of hands, and exploit her connections...can undercover cop Jeff Andrews (Scott Brady) break the ring and get her from their clutches? Gritty crime opus co-stars Andrea King, Charles Drake; look for early career appearances by Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson. 74 min. BW/Rtg: NR

Behind The High Wall (1956)

After prison warden Frank Carmichael (Tom Tully) and trustee inmate Johnny Hutchins (John Gavin) were taken hostage in a fatal breakout, the escapees made a stop to retrieve $100,000 in stashed loot. Thereafter, though, the hostages were the only ones to walk away from a getaway car wreck...leaving the conniving Carmichael the opportunity to pocket the cash and make Hutchins the fall guy for all of it. Intense re-do of the 1939 Victor McLaglen-Jackie Cooper opus "The Big Guy" co-stars Sylvia Sidney, Betty Lynn. 85 min. BW/Rtg: NR

Standard; Soundtrack: English; Subtitles: English; audio commentary; theatrical trailers.