Huston, Virginia

Out of the Past

"Build my gallows high, baby"--just one of the quintessentially noir sentiments expressed by Robert Mitchum in this classic of the genre. Mitchum, in absolute prime, sleepy-eyed form, relates a complicated flashback about getting hired by gangster Kirk Douglas to find femme fatale Jane Greer. The chain of film noir elements--love, money, lies--drags Mitchum into the lower depths. Director Jacques Tourneur gets the edgy negotiations between men and women as exactly right as he gets the inky shadows of the noir landscape (even the sunlit exteriors are fraught with doubt). This is Mitchum in excelsis, with his usual laid-back cool laced with great dialogue and tragic foreshadowing. As for his co-star, James Agee immortally opined that Jane Greer "can best be described, in an ancient idiom, as a hot number." Remade in 1984, unhappily, as Against All Odds (with Greer in a supporting role). --Robert Horton

Former private detective Jeff Bailey is trying to live a quiet life but his past comes back to haunt him. He was once hired by a gambler to find his runaway girlfriend Kathy. Jeff traced her to Mexico and fell in love. She lured him into double-crossing the gambler but it was really Jeff who got double-crossed. Years later Jeff's quiet life is once again shattered as his old criminal associates descend on him. Now he's in deep trouble - someone is trying to frame him for murder.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 053939675924

Flight to Mars

In the far-off year 2000, newspaperman Cameron Mitchell packs up with a group of scientists and heads to Mars in a rocket that resembles a hood ornament from a '56 Oldsmobile. After the rather wobbly miniature takes off, our heroes (clad in khaki uniforms and WWII leather bomber jackets) encounter a storm of asteroids, but soon enough land on Mars. No one seems too surprised to encounter a race of humans on the planet, so the astronauts make themselves at home. The Martians are technically far more advanced than puny Earthlings (you can tell by the abundance of Herman Miller furniture and sexy Mars-girl outfits), but their hospitality masks a hidden agenda: conquest of Earth in order to establish additional lebensraum for their own dying race. Interestingly, this was director Lesley Selander's sole foray into sci-fi, having spent most of his career working on low-budget Westerns. Though the plot is thin, the bankroll skimpy, and the characterizations narrow, Flight to Mars prefigures the '50s sci-fi boom and is interesting for its set design, costumes, and rather washed-out Technicolor. Its 71-minute running time keeps things rolling quickly enough to stave off boredom. For '50s space-opera aficionados, this is better than an hour and 11 minutes spent mowing the lawn. --Jerry Renshaw

Four men and a girl crash-land on the red planet Mars after suffering severe damage in a meteor storm enroute. Finding an advanced and seemingly benevolent civilization living in underground cities, help is given in the repair of the rocketship--however, a sinister plot is discovered that could mean the annihilation of Earth by an invading Martian army. Tense, terrifying action on a planet of forbidden dangers. Produced by Academy Award-winning producer Walter Mirisch in other-worldly hues of two-color Cinecolor, "Flight to Mars" is '50s nostalgia at its imaginative best and is a must for science fiction and adventure lovers.

Sudden Fear

Sudden Fear is one of those noir gems about a love-hate relationship between a husband and wife that's doomed from the very beginning. Jack Palance plays an ambitious actor rebuffed by playwright and heiress Joan Crawford. He later romances and marries her before falling under the dark spell of ex-girlfriend Gloria Grahame. When Palance and Grahame plot to get her fortune, the evil scheme backfires with ironically twisted results. Palance has no idea how much his wife truly loves him, and she has no idea how sinister he truly is. It's a fascinating if contrived film, with wonderful nuances and sensitive performances by the three leads. --Bill Desowitz

Joan Crawford turns in one of the most emotionally charged performances of her career as a playwright who must use her plotting skills to save her own life, in this beautifully crafted film noir thriller. Nominated for four Academy Awards, "Sudden Fear" is an unbeatable combination of lush melodrama and drop-dead suspense.

Out of the Past [Region 2]

"Build my gallows high, baby"--just one of the quintessentially noir sentiments expressed by Robert Mitchum in this classic of the genre. Mitchum, in absolute prime, sleepy-eyed form, relates a complicated flashback about getting hired by gangster Kirk Douglas to find femme fatale Jane Greer. The chain of film noir elements--love, money, lies--drags Mitchum into the lower depths. Director Jacques Tourneur gets the edgy negotiations between men and women as exactly right as he gets the inky shadows of the noir landscape (even the sunlit exteriors are fraught with doubt). This is Mitchum in excelsis, with his usual laid-back cool laced with great dialogue and tragic foreshadowing. As for his co-star, James Agee immortally opined that Jane Greer "can best be described, in an ancient idiom, as a hot number." Remade in 1984, unhappily, as Against All Odds (with Greer in a supporting role). --Robert Horton