Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXI [Cloak and Dagger / Shack Out on 101 / Short Cut to Hell] (Blu-ray)

CLOAK AND DAGGER (1946) – The Moment He Fell in Love Was His Moment of Greatest Danger! From legendary director Fritz Lang (Scarlet Street, The Big Heat), one of the grand architects of film noir, comes an engrossing WWII spy thriller years ahead of its time. The great Gary Cooper (High Noon) is an American nuclear physicist, recruited by the Office of Strategic Services and parachuted into war-torn Europe to obtain military secrets. But the deeper he probes, the deadlier his mission becomes…especially when his involvement with a mysterious resistance fighter (Lilli Palmer, Body and Soul) catapults him into an intense maelstrom of danger, betrayal, romance and murder. The fourth and final of Lang’s classic anti-Nazi films, following Man Hunt, Hangmen Also Die! and Ministry of Fear, Cloak and Dagger is the quintessential wartime suspense picture, elevated by Sol Polito’s (Sergeant York) terrific black-and-white cinematography and Max Steiner’s (Gone with the Wind) rousing score. SHACK OUT ON 101 (1955) – On the Shady Side of the Highway! Check into a hotbed of lethal cloak and dagger with the great Lee Marvin (Prime Cut), Terry Moore (Come Back, Little Sheba) and Frank Lovejoy (The Hitch-Hiker) in Shack Out on 101. An attractive waitress (Moore) at a seaside café gets caught in a web of treacherous intrigue when she discovers that her workplace is a secret station for spies. It seems that the café is close to an experimental lab that harbors national defense secrets, and a ring of sinister spies has come to steal them. Now it’s up to the desperate waitress and a network of undercover FBI men to stop the diabolical scheme. But not before they all stop along the way for a sizzling round of passion and romance! Featuring Keenan Wynn (Point Blank) and Whit Bissell (He Walked by Night), this one-of-a-kind potboiler comes stylishly directed by cult filmmaker Edward Dein (Curse of the Undead) and beautifully shot in glorious black-and-white by Floyd Crosby (High Noon). SHORT CUT TO HELL (1957) – Professional Killer...with a Gun for Hire! The first and only directorial effort by legendary actor James Cagney (White Heat, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye), Short Cut to Hell is a steamy, gritty remake of the Alan Ladd starrer This Gun for Hire, based on a novel by the great Graham Greene (The Third Man). Hardboiled hitman Kyle Niles (Robert Ivers, The Delicate Delinquent) is hired to commit two murders, only to be double-crossed by his employer Bahrwell (Jacques Aubuchon, Thunder Road). On the lam and seeking revenge, Kyle kidnaps singer Glory Hamilton (Georgann Johnson, Midnight Cowboy), the girlfriend of the police detective in charge of his pursuit (William Bishop, The Boss). Glory tries to convince him to surrender before it’s too late, but Kyle’s humanity is buried deep, and his thirst for vengeance is unquenchable. Destiny joined them…The Devil took over from there! As Cagney himself states in the film’s opening, Ivers and Johnson are two “fresh, exciting young talents” who anchor this fiery film noir.