Bad Girls of Film Noir, Volume 1

The leading ladies featured on this two-disc, four-film collection—Evelyn Keyes, Lizabeth Scott, and Gloria Grahame—are unquestionably some of the great bad girls of film noir, but the movies are unfortunately lesser examples of the genre. Keyes is a jewel smuggler with a two-timing husband in The Killer That Stalked New York (1953)—the “killer” being the smallpox she unknowingly carries with her from Cuba—in a story that is as much about authorities facing an epidemic as it is about crime. Scott is a conniving beauty who drafts small-time grifter Edmond O'Brien into an inheritance scam in Two of a Kind (1951), a soft-boiled offering that gives O'Brien a compassionate heart under his tough-guy attitude. Scott is back as a spoiled society heiress pursuing army doctor Charlton Heston in Bad for Each Other (1953), a tepid social drama in which she is less femme fatale than simply bad influence. The highlight of the set is The Glass Wall (1953), a tense story about an immigrant stowaway (Vittorio Gassman) aboard a transport ship of “displaced persons” from Europe who winds up on a desperate search for the one person in New York City who can help him to stay in America. Grahame's character here isn't “bad,” per se, just down on her luck; but she ultimately helps the refugee evade the cops and find his man, while the urban energy of Times Square at night, the desperation of the odyssey, and the references to World War II camps give the drama the stakes and style of a real film noir. Otherwise, the set is more curiosity than classic. DVD extras include “The Payoff,” a bonus private eye episode with Howard Duff from the classic TV show All Star Theatre; and an interview with good-girl actress Terry Moore (who costars in Two of a Kind). Optional. [Note: Bad Girls of Film Noir, Volume 2 is also available.] (S. Axmaker)