Three more crime dramas from Hollywood of the 1940s and 1950s are collected under the loose (and not completely accurate) film noir heading. Calcutta (1946) is the one true noir of the set, though it belongs to a subgenre set in exotic foreign locales. Alan Ladd stars as a pilot running passengers and cargo between India and China. When a fellow pilot is killed just after getting engaged, Ladd turns detective and discovers a smuggling scheme involving his own airline. This is Ladd playing the driven, terse, two-fisted tough guy with frequent costar William Bendix as his loyal buddy and starlet Gail Russell as the fiancée who Ladd starts to fall for during his mission. Director John Farrow recreates the Far East locations on Hollywood backlots and keeps the film moving at a brisk pace as Ladd fights his way to the truth. It's entertaining, fun, and filled with killers, schemers, and plenty of shady suspects. An Act of Murder (1948) is less crime thriller than social commentary drama starring Fredric March as a tough, inflexible small-town judge who discovers that his wife (March's real-life wife Florence Eldridge) has a fatal degenerative disease. Edmond O'Brien costars as the idealistic, modern young attorney who clashes with March over the role of compassion and understanding injustice and defends him when his wife is killed in a car wreck meant as an act of mercy killing. The issues at stake are timely if simplistic in their presentation, but what has dated badly is the sheer arrogance of the husband and the doctor keeping a medical diagnosis from a grown woman "for her own good." That kind of paternalistic chauvinism isn't even questioned in the film. Six Bridges to Cross (1955) is loosely based on the real-life 1950 Brinks robbery in Boston, but the script is built on the fictional story of a friendship between a cop (George Nader, unconvincing as a rookie in early scenes) and a juvenile delinquent (Sal Mineo) who grows up to become a career criminal and robbery mastermind (Tony Curtis). There are some odd twists and plenty of melodrama throughout the 20-year span of the story. Curtis gives it a little life as the charming, charismatic crook whose greed collides with his loyalty to the cop but the script doesn't seem to know what it really wants to be about and the unexciting direction doesn't help. Calcutta, easily the best film noir in the set, is also available individually on Blu-ray; Blu-ray editions of An Act of Murder and Six Bridges to Cross are available solely in this box set. Calcutta features commentary by film critic Nick Pinkerton; An Act of Murder features commentary by film historian Samm Deighan; Six Bridges to Cross features commentary by Deighan and a 1955 archival TV promo with Tony Curtis. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)