"Actor: Joan Chandler"

• Universal Noir #1 (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (14/11/2022) from £49.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Included Films: The Web (Michael Gordon, 1947) Larceny (George Sherman, 1948) Kiss The Blood Off My Hands (Norman Foster, 1948) Abandoned (Joseph M Newman, 1949) Deported (Robert Siodmak, 1950) Naked Alibi (Jerry Hopper, 1954) A new series of box sets following Indicator's acclaimed Columbia Noir series focusing on the film noir output of another of the major Hollywood studios, Universal Pictures. Starring such high-profile talents as Burt Lancaster, Joan Fontaine, Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, Vincent Price, Edmund O'Brien, Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame and Jeff Chandler, the six films in this volume feature embezzlement and murder (The Web), confidence tricksters (Larceny), lovers on the lam (Kiss the Blood Off My Hands), an adoption racket (Abandoned), transatlantic criminals (Deported), and police brutality (Naked Alibi). This stunning collection marks the UK Blu-ray premiere of all six films, and also features an array of fascinating contextualising extras, including newly recorded commentaries for each film, critical appreciations, archival short films, and a 120-page book. Strictly limited to 6,000 numbered units. Extras: Indicator Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set Special Features High Definition presentations of The Web, Larceny, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, Abandoned, Deported and Naked Alibi Original mono audio Audio commentary with film historian David Del Valle on The Web (2022) Audio commentary with academic and curator Eloise Ross on Larceny (2022) Audio commentary with film historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson on Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (2022) Audio commentary with writers and film experts Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman on Abandoned (2022) Audio commentary with filmmaker and film scholar Daniel Kremer on Deported (2022) Audio commentary with film historian Nathaniel Thompson on Naked Alibi (2022) The John Player Lecture with Joan Fontaine (1978): archival audio recording of the star of Kiss the Blood Off My Hands in conversation with film critic Martin Shawcross at London's National Film Theatre Archival Interview with Victoria Price (2018): the daughter of Vincent Price in conversation with the Film Noir Foundation's Alan K Rode following a screening of The Web at the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival Lucy Bolton on Gloria Grahame (2022): the academic discusses one of the great femme fatales of film noir Christina Newland on Robert Siodmak (2022): the critic and writer looks at the Deported director's extensive work in film noir Nick Pinkerton on Dan Duryea (2022): the author and critic assesses the life and career of the big-screen tough guy Lux Radio Theatre: ˜The Web' (1947): radio adaptation featuring Ella Raines, Edmond O'Brien and Vincent Price reprising their roles from the film United Action Means Victory (1939): documentary short about the 1938-39 General Motors strike, with narration written by Kiss the Blood Off My Hands screenwriter Ben Maddow Men of the Lightship (1941): British World War II documentary short, co-written by Kiss the Blood Off My Hands screenwriter Hugh Gray and narrated by Kiss the Blood Off My Hands actor Robert Newton Skirmish on the Home Front (1944): WWII propaganda short starring film noir mainstays Alan Ladd and William Bendix Easy to Get (1947): documentary short directed by Abandoned filmmaker Joseph M Newman as part of the US Army's ˜Easy to Get' campaign on venereal disease Theatrical trailer for Kiss the Blood Off My Hands Image galleries: publicity and promotional materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Limited edition exclusive 120-page book with new essays by Iris Veysey, Jill Blake, Karen Hannsberry, Sabina Stent, Sergio Angelini and Walter Chaw, extensive archival articles and interviews, new writing on the various short films, and film credits UK premieres on Blu-ray Limited edition box set of 6,000 numbered units All extras subject to change

• Rope | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £16.99   |  Saving you £-12.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  An experimental film masquerading as a standard Hollywood thriller. The plot of Rope is simple and based on a successful stage play: two young men (John Dall and Farley Granger) commit murder, more or less as an intellectual exercise. They hide the body in their large apartment, then throw a dinner party. Will the body be discovered? Director Alfred Hitchcock, fascinated by the possibilities of the long-take style, decided to shoot this story as though it were happening in one long, uninterrupted shot. Since the camera can only hold one 10-minute reel at a time, Hitchcock had to be creative when it came time to change reels, disguising the switches as the camera passed behind someone's back or moved behind a lamp. In later years Hitchcock wrote off the approach as misguided, and Rope may not be one of Hitchcock's top movies, but it's still a nail-biter. They don't call him the Master of Suspense for nothing. James Stewart, as a suspicious professor, marks his first starring role for Hitchcock, a collaboration that would lead to the masterpieces Rear Window and Vertigo. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com

• Charlie Chan | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.24

  Though the Charlie Chan film franchise has earned brickbats for its casting of Caucasian actors as the Asian sleuth, the movies have retained popularity among aficionados of '40s-era B-crime pictures, and the six-disc Charlie Chan Chanthology, all featuring Sidney Toler as Chan, should please that crowd. The Missouri-born Toler starred in 11 Chan pictures for Fox before purchasing the rights to the character from creator Earl Derr Biggers's widow and bringing it to budget studio Monogram, where he starred in 11 more Chans before his death in 1947 (Roland Winters replaced him in six more features until 1949). At Monogram, Chan became a Secret Service Agent (a move calculated to cut down on exotic locations and sets), and comedy was integrated into the plots via Mantan Moreland's chauffeur Birmingham Brown; Benson Fong also joined the cast as Number Three Son Tommy, with occasional appearances by daughter Frances (Frances Chan) and son Eddie (Edwin Luke, brother of Keye Luke, who played Number One Son Lee in the Fox Chans). Other than that, the six films collected here (the first six Chans for Monogram, and all but five directed by Phil Rosen) are largely indistinguishable from one another save for the murder victims and their demises. In The Secret Service, Chan investigates the death of a wartime inventor; a San Francisco socialite expires in The Chinese Cat; daughter Frances is involved in the murder of a psychic in Meeting at Midnight (a.k.a. Black Magic); another government scientist is killed in The Jade Mask, and death by remote control is the focus of The Scarlet Clue. Director Phil Karlson (Kansas City Confidential) adds some noirish atmosphere to The Shanghai Cobra, which has bank employees dying from apparent snakebites. Dated and controversial as they may be, the Chan films are engaging diversions for vintage mystery fans. No extras are featured in the set. --Paul Gaita

• The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (New to Blu-Ray) | Blu Ray | (23/04/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Don Knotts stars in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken as a timid typesetter who hasn't a ghost of a chance of becoming a reporter until he decides to solve a murder mystery and ends up spending a fright-filled night in a haunted house! Figuring the answers to the mystery lie in the old Simmons mansion, Luther Heggs (Knotts) visits the estate at the witching hour of midnight. Certain he's seen a ghost, Luther writes a story which makes front page news and brings on a libel suit from the mansion's owner. When the trial judge orders an investigation and no apparition appears, Luther is branded a fraud. That is, until he and his devoted girlfriend team up to uncover the mystery of the hauntings and the true murderer in this timeless comedy classic.

• Female on the Beach | DVD | (04/08/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Lynn Markham (Joan Crawford) a recent widow moves into a beach house where the former owner fell to her death. What seemed like an accident turns to suspicion of murder as Lynn finds herself drawn into a torrid affair with a handsome beachcomber (Jeff Chandler). A stylish noir showcase for Crawford's intense performance.