Quote:
We’re twenty-four minutes into the film Sudden Fear when we realize that the main male character, actor Lester Blaine played by Jack Palance is rotten, and it’s this knowledge that acts as a suspense builder in this taut noir film—a tale of greed, adultery and murder. Up to this point, we’ve just suspected Lester’s intentions, but now our doubts are proved correct. Sudden Fear, a woman-in-jeopardy noir with Joan Crawford playing heiress, Myra Hudson—is the tale of a woman who may meet a foul end at the hands of her deceptive, less-than-loving husband, Lester. For a large chunk of the action, Myra is oblivious to her husband’s evil intentions, but since the plot lets the audience in on the threat, we are committed to the suspense from the start. As spectators, we know that Myra is in danger, and so we are riveted to Lester’s devious plan to rid himself of a wife he so obviously loathes.

Sudden Fear based on a novel by Edna Sherry, brought Crawford her third and final Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Directed by David Miller this 1952 film was the first picture Crawford made for RKO after asking to be released from her Warner Bros. contract. Crawford hated last her Warner Brothers film–This Woman is Dangerous. The film cast her in a rather spongy, implausible role as a female gangster who loses her eyesight and then turns soft and weepy when faced with a possible future as a happy little housewife. For noir fans, Sudden Fear showcases Crawford in one of her most powerful roles.

When Sudden Fear begins, wealthy playwright Myra Hudson is in New York casting for her new play. Lester Blaine lands the part of the leading man, but during rehearsals, Myra finds him lacking as a romantic hero. She abruptly, publicly, and rather callously fires him on the spot. Myra’s advisers think she’s making a mistake, but since Myra always gets her way, a disgruntled and bitter Lester exits the stage.

Myra’s play is a raging success, and she’s due to return home to San Francisco by train. Is it coincidence that Lester Blaine just happens to turn up as a passenger on the same train? Myra seems to think so, but in light of Lester’s humiliation, somehow, his statement that he has no hard feelings towards Myra just doesn’t feel right. On the train journey to San Francisco, Lester entertains and woos Myra, and by the time they reach their destination, Myra is in love. Lester seems to be the perfect lover, and he certainly has perfected the symptoms of an enamored man. He’s attentive, sensitive and gentle, and Myra, who’s smitten by the romance, seems oblivious to the differences in their ages and social status.

Myra may be swept along with Lester Blaine’s smooth style, but for audience members, that niggling doubt remains. At this point, however, Lester’s game may be mean-spirited revenge, or perhaps he’s a pathetic loser after her money. But one brilliantly constructed scene clarifies Lester’s manipulation and Myra’s vulnerability. Lester fails to show up for an evening at Myra’s splendid home, and Myra ditches her guests to seek out her missing beau. While she dashes to his hotel, we see Lester pacing back and forth, waiting only for Myra’s arrival to begin a performance that involves his pride, a suitcase and a one-way trip back to New York. It’s with this scene and its clever camera shots that Lester is revealed as the center of power in the relationship, less-than-sincere and dangerously manipulative in his professions of love.

After we become aware of Lester’s true intentions, the suspense moves away from the question of what Lester is capable of to when and how Myra will have an “accident.” The plot plays with scenes at Myra’s gorgeous coastal cliff top home. The steep stairway to the ocean, carved into rock offers the perfect location for a nasty accident. Since the audience knows that Lester has evil intentions towards his wealthy wife, we are riveted to Myra’s nimble walk (in high heels) down the rocky staircase. We can wince all we want at the spectacle of Myra’s potential danger, but we are powerless to warn her.

Another clever device used as a suspense builder by the film is the use of Myra’s recording machine. The plot reveals this nifty little piece of technology early in the film—along with a demonstration of its abilities. The machine is a crucial part of the plot, but as it turns out, machinery may be relied on for its usefulness, but it’s still subject to the vagaries of human emotion.

The plot thickens when tarty, brash Irene Neves (Gloria Grahame, one of my all-time favorite noir stars) arrives on the scene as Lester’s vicious love interest. Irene hasn’t been invited to San Francisco, but she wheedles her way into Myra’s exclusive set nonetheless. Greedy and amoral, she accelerates Lester’s desire for wealth, and together they make a lethal combination of lust, violence and murderous design. Clever camera shots of reflected images in mirrors reveal the main characters’ true emotions—Myra’s lawyer’s distrust of Lester, Irene planning murder, Lester’s mask of loving, doting husband suspended, and Myra horrified by just how far she’ll go.

The film’s plot is as well rounded as a Greek tragedy, with just desserts for those who concoct evil ends for others. But it’s the delivery of those just desserts that makes for riveting viewing. The city of San Francisco assumes a spectacular role in Sudden Fear. The film includes great shots of the city, and it’s played here as both an ambivalent setting for nefarious actions, and also as a rat’s maze in the frenzied, final action-packed scenes. The city’s inanimate beauty serves to highlight urban indifference to its inhabitants’ actions.

Sudden Fear gives Crawford a terrific role and gives her the chance to act her heart out. Here she’s the tough, cold businesswoman who melts with Lester’s continued interest. Weakened by emotion and threatened by violence, she spends one hysterical terror-filled night in the shifting shadows of her bedroom before going on the offensive in the no-one-fucks-with-Joan role fans love so much. The fact that Myra is a successful playwright is artfully weaved into the story when she imagines she can write her way out of a real-life problem just as she would write a script for one of her plays. Myra’s attempt to script her own life is seen in a series of imagined flashforward sequences. Unfortunately, since she is dealing with real people and not fictional characters, there’s an element of unpredictability that even Myra can’t anticipate. Just as the timing in a play must be precision perfect, Myra’s scheme also relies on split second sequencing. The film uses the ticking of a clock to emphasize the crucial timing involved in Myra’s plan. The clock ticks away like a metronome with the action and nerve-wracking suspense building to a frenzied, orgasmic, and deadly conclusion.

David Miller - (1952) Sudden Fear.mkv

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Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 51 min
Size: 	2.36 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	790x576 
Aspect ratio:  	1.372
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	2 642 kb/s
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#1:  	English 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s
#2:  	English 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s (Commentary)

https://nitro.download/view/48CDEBDC3F89176/David_Miller_-_(1952)_Sudden_Fear.mkv

https://rapidgator.net/file/5f95b2a3f54d63b4299a4972d3e59cf6/David_Miller_-_(1952)_Sudden_Fear.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English

The post David Miller – Sudden Fear (1952) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

In the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the twentieth century, two young cowboys vie with an evil ranch hand and a traveling peddler for the hearts of the women they love.

Oklahoma.1955.Todd-AO.576p.BDRip-AVC.ZONE.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	2 h 28 min
Size: 	3.54 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1024x466 
Aspect ratio:  	2.2:1
Frame rate: 	29.970 fps
Bit rate: 	3 000 kb/s
BPP: 	0.210
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#1:  	English 2.0ch AC-3 @ 224 kb/s
#2:  	English 1.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s (Commentary by Shirley Jones and Nick Redman.)

https://nitro.download/view/65338B0268B50C1/Oklahoma.1955.Todd-AO.576p.BDRip-AVC.ZONE.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English, French, Spanish, Russian

The post Fred Zinnemann – Oklahoma! (1955) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Odds Against Tomorrow, a crackling crime caper with an undercurrent of racial tension, combines the desperation of three men–two of whom hate each other–and the culmination of that desperation in the form of a robbery. The film, which includes a fantastic jazz score by pianist John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet, is a film noir gem. David Burke (Ed Begley), a former policeman who once served a prison sentence, has asked bigoted southerner Earl Slater (Robert Ryan) to rob an upstate bank with him, promising him $50,000 in small bills if the robbery is successful. Burke also recruits Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte, who also helped produce the film), a nightclub entertainer who doesn’t want the job but who is hopelessly addicted to gambling and is in debt. At first Slater, who is supported by his girlfriend, Lorry (Shelley Winters), finds out Ingram is black and refuses the job but, realizing he needs the money, decides after all to join Ingram and Burke in the venture. When they embark on the robbery, however, all hell breaks loose as danger–and the tension between Ingram and Slater mount.

1.62GB | 1h 35m | 768×576 | mkv

https://nitroflare.com/view/602EE953583E58B/Robert_Wise_-_(1959)_Odds_Against_Tomorrow.mkv
or
https://nitroflare.com/view/CE78548E05D3684/Robert_Wise_-_(1959)_Odds_Against_Tomorrow.part1.rar
https://nitroflare.com/view/B289251F90F82BC/Robert_Wise_-_(1959)_Odds_Against_Tomorrow.part2.rar

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English

The post Robert Wise – Odds against tomorrow (1959) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Three good men – a broken boxer, an American veteran trying to win back his mother-dominated wife, and an Air Force Sergeant married to a faithless actress – are corrupted by Miles “Rave” Ravenscourt (Laurence Harvey), an amoral “gentleman”. Because they need money, they let Miles lure them into his scheme to rob a postal van with a large cash cargo.

2.38GB | 1h 40m | 960×576 | mkv

https://nitroflare.com/view/31F3C2F7471382B/Lewis_Gilbert_-_(1954)_The_Good_Die_Young.mkv
or
https://nitroflare.com/view/57F3A81796E14F6/Lewis_Gilbert_-_(1954)_The_Good_Die_Young.part1.rar
https://nitroflare.com/view/DC84D36FB711253/Lewis_Gilbert_-_(1954)_The_Good_Die_Young.part2.rar
https://nitroflare.com/view/AD6D69767049902/Lewis_Gilbert_-_(1954)_The_Good_Die_Young.part3.rar

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English

The post Lewis Gilbert – The Good Die Young [Export cut] (1954) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Questioned as a murder suspect, solid (but drunk) citizen Al Willis attacks his police questioners, is beaten, and swears vengeance against them. Next night, Lieut. Parks is murdered; Willis is the only suspect in the eyes of tough Chief Conroy, who pursues him doggedly despite lack of evidence. The obsessed Conroy is dismissed from the force, but continues to harass Willis, who flees to a sleazy town on the Mexican border. Of course, Conroy follows. But which is crazy, Conroy or Willis? Written by Rod Crawford

2.26GB | 1 h 26 min | 1024×552 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/577011DC5CD57BA/Naked.Alibi.1954.BDRip.x264-FuFu.mkv

Language:English,some Spanish
Subtitles:English (muxed)

The post Jerry Hopper – Naked Alibi (1954) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis:
British Intelligence during World War II is trying to get the German High Command to shift its forces away from Italy prior to the invasion. To create the illusion that England is in fact planning to invade Greece, they plan to procure a dead body, plant secret papers on it, and arrange for the Spanish authorities to find it and send the papers on to the Germans. That’s the plan, anyway. First they have to find a body that will look drowned, then create an identity for it that will pass German scrutiny. Based on a true story.

2.75GB | 1h 43mn | 1024×400 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/68E9189C3C2E675/The.Man.Who.Never.Was.1956.576p.BluRay.x264-HANDJOB.mkv

Language:English
Subtitles:English, Portuguese (muxed)

The post Ronald Neame – The Man Who Never Was (1956) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
One of the later examples of American film noir, The Big Heat is also one of the genre’s most underrated films. Director Fritz Lang utilized many of the elements typical to his other films: unseen yet gruesome violence, relentless pacing, and a hardboiled view of justice and revenge. The sad, realist film has an oppressive feeling of malignity. Glenn Ford is a perfect everyman cop, out for revenge against criminals as well as other cops. In this way, The Big Heat marks a significant transition between the crime movies of two different eras. Prior to the early 1970s, police dramas tended to pit police in very clear opposition to the men in the black hats, with the notable exceptions of On Dangerous Ground or The Big Combo. After the culture shock of the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, films like Dirty Harry, The French Connection and Serpico began an obsession with the ambivalent emotions that make a policeman and his department tick. In many ways, The Big Heat was a precursor for these films, both in theme and tone. The film has drawn ire from some viewers who point out that the its female characters exist, in large part, to be brutally antagonized.

The.Big.Heat.1953.576p.BluRay.AAC.1.0.x264-BV.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 29 min
Size: 	2.69 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	790x576 
Aspect ratio:  	1.372
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	3 978 kb/s
BPP: 	0.365
Audio
#1:  	English 1.0ch AAC LC @ 132 kb/s
#2:  	English 1.0ch AAC LC @ 66.2 kb/s (Commentary by film historians Lem Dobbs, Julie Kirgo, and Nick Redman)
#3:  	English 1.0ch AAC LC @ 63.8 kb/s (Commentary by film-noir experts Alain Silver and James Ursini)
#4:  	zxx 1.0ch AAC LC @ 51.2 kb/s (Isolated Score)

https://nitro.download/view/CE245C9911D7DE9/The.Big.Heat.1953.576p.BluRay.AAC.1.0.x264-BV.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English, English (SDH), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish (Latin American), Swedish, Thai

The post Fritz Lang – The Big Heat (1953) first appeared on Cinema of the World.