NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (September 2021): Indicator have transferred six more Columbia Film Noirs - as part of their Volume 4 boxset with a more police procedural focus. The six films, on individual Blu-ray discs are; Gordon Douglas' Walk a Crooked Mile with Louis Hayward, Dennis O'Keefe and a skulking Raymond Burr, Alfred Werker's Walk East on Beacon! (with future director George Roy Hill in a bit part), Richard Quine's Pushover with Fred MacMurray and comely Kim Novak - John Farrow's A Bullet Is Waiting with Jean Simmons - Fred F Sears' Chicago Syndicate with Dennis O'Keefe and the Phil Karlson gem The Brothers Rico with Richard Conte.

All six films are seeing there world premiere on Blu-ray thanks to Indicator. The two most lauded film in this set; Pushover and The Brothers Rico were on DVD in the out-of-print Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics II, reviewed HERE where Walk a Crooked Mile and Walk East on Beacon! were on DVD as part of Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics IV, reviewed HERE - and also way out-of-print. We've matched some frame below. We don't have comparisons for A Bullet Is Waiting and Chicago Syndicate.

Pushover is a notable upgrade seeing the gorgeous Kim Novak and easily corruptible MacMurray in 1080P. A Bullet Is Waiting has some minor inconsistencies but pleasing grain textures and rich pastels. The Brothers Rico is very thick and film-like in HD. The 'Walk' films both have solid upgrades now showing depth and, generally, brighter more consistent visuals. Hopefully you can get a good idea from the screen captures below.    

NOTE: We have added 140 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-rays, Indicator use linear PCM mono tracks (24-bit) in the original English language. There are plenty of effects-mostly gunfire supported with minor depth but the film's audio transfers are authentically flat with scores on Walk a Crooked Mile by Paul Sawtell (The Last Man on Earth, 5 Steps to Danger, A Game of Death, Inferno, Silver City, The Fly, Denver and Rio Grande, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea etc.), on Walk East on Beacon! by Louis Applebaum (The Mask), on Pushover by Arthur Morton (Gun Fury, his extensive music department work includes western TV series like Wagon Train, Black Saddle, 1959's Laramie etc.), on A Bullet Is Waiting by Dimitri Tiomkin (Night Passage, High Noon, Angel Face, Strangers on a Train, The Men, Dial M For Murder, Spawn of the North, Jungle Queen, The Thing From Another World etc. etc.), on Chicago Syndicate there is no credited score but has music from the likes of George Duning (Two Rode Together, The Eddy Duchin Story, 3:10 to Yuma, Jeanne Eagels, The Shadow on the Window, My Sister Eileen, The Mob, Affair in Trinidad, Tight Spot, Johnny O'Clock, The Dark Past, Convicted, and Between Midnight and Dawn etc.,), Arthur Morton etc. Let's not forget Abbe Lane performing a couple of tunes and Xavier Cugat's Cuban Mambo. In The Brothers Rico it is George Duning again. Audio is authentically flat, clear and even. Indicator offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'B' Blu-ray.

As anticipated extras are plentiful. Walk East on Beacon! has a new (2021) commentary by Frank Krutnik, author of In a Lonely Street: Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity. He also co-edited 'Un-American' Hollywood: Politics and Film in the Blacklist Era. He discuses the cycle of post-war semi-documentary crime thrillers, the role played by the FBI in post-war American culture and Hollywood's anti-communist films - of which he gives examples - HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee ) and more.  For Pushover we get a new commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (author of Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study) and Joshua Nelson academic and film critic based in New York. They discuss how Godard cited Pushover as an influence on Breathless. They debunk that Pushover is simply a poor sister of Double Indemnity. They discuss James Naremore's More than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts and much more. A Bullet is Waiting has a commentary by Barry Forshaw (author or American Noir: The Pocket Essential Guide to American Crime Fiction, Film & TV) and Kim Newman (author of Something More Than Night). They reference The Tempest like-films; Yellow Sky and Forbidden Planet. They also discuss whether A Bullet is Waiting is a legitimate film Noir being in color and how it is not a western and it being a vehicle for Jean Simmons. They are enthusiastic and work very well together and it is excellent. Chicago Syndicate has a new commentary by Toby Roan (author of A Million Feet Of Film: The Making Of One-Eyed Jacks.). He discusses the producer Sam Katzman and the use of stock footage. Toby's great at identifying cast and crew and finding minutia of their careers. He's always informative and discuses the 50's fear of organized crime advancing in the United States. On The Brothers Rico we get a new commentary by film scholar Jason A Ney. He discusses where The Brother Rico fits into Richard Conte's career, the similarities and differences between this film and the source material - the novel of the same name by Georges Simenon - how The Brother Rico depicts the concept of family, the portrayal of organized crime and how it compares to the real life Mafia in the 1950's, what was happening at Columbia when this film was made, and the film's specific Noir characteristics. It's excellent.

There are plenty more supplements. On the Walk a Crooked Mile Blu-ray is a 22-minute 1946 short Routine Job: A Story of Scotland Yard following the day-to-day work of a Scotland Yard detective in the pursuit of a case. The March of Time: ‘Policeman’s Holiday’ runs 20-minute from 1949 and is a dramatized installment of the famed newsreel series, featuring an American detective who assists Scotland Yard while in the UK, echoing but reversing the plot of Walk a Crooked Mile. Like all 6 films there is a Three Stooges short. Here we get Dunked in the Deep; in this one the stooges inadvertently find themselves mixed-up with a foreign spy ring and smuggling top-secret material out of the country. Each disc also has an image gallery of publicity and promotional material. Walk East on Beacon has The March of Time: ‘G-Men Combat Saboteurs’ - a 20-minut e1941 documentary short from the famed newsreel series created by Walk East on Beacon! producer Louis de Rochemont and The March of Time: ‘G-Men at War’ a similar length 1942: documentary short from the newsreel series, focusing on the efforts of the FBI to apprehend spies and fifth columnists. The Three Stooges episode is entitled Commotion on the Ocean from 1956 where they once again find themselves mixed-up with a foreign spy ring and smuggling top secret materials in this ‘Fake Shemp’ reversion of Dunked in the Deep. Pushover has Partners in Crime and Comedy a new 20-minute video where critic Glenn Kenny (author of Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas) discusses the careers and collaborations of director Richard Quine and actor Kim Novak. Blunder Boys is the 1/4 hour Three Stooges short in which the trio play detectives assigned to the case of a justice-evading bank robber. There is a theatrical trailer and consistent image gallery. A Bullet is Waiting has a new video piece entitled From Cricklewood to Hollywood where archivist and historian Josephine Botting discusses the early career of actor Jean Simmons and her transition from British to American cinema for over 20-minutes. The Yoke’s on Me is the Three Stooges short, in which the trio protect their isolated farmhouse from unwanted guests. There is an original theatrical trailer and usual image gallery. Chicago Syndicate has From Nurse to Worse - a comedy short starring the Three Stooges, in which the trio attempt to make big money through an insurance scam. The Brothers Rico has the 2010 introduction by Martin Scorsese, A Bracing Brutality a new 1/2 hour piece by author and critic Nick Pinkerton who considers the tough, no-nonsense cinema of director Phil Karlson. I really enjoyed that. There is another Three Stooges short, original theatrical trailer and image gallery. The package itself has a limited edition exclusive 120-page book with new essays by Beth Ann Gallagher, Bob Herzberg, Sophie Monks Kaufman, Omar Ahmed, Jen Johans, Monica Castillo, and Jeff Billington, archival articles and interviews, and film credits. It is a limited edition box set of 6,000 numbered units.  

I was excited to dive into this Noir boxset. These are highly pleasing, world-premiere, Blu-ray editions - five of which with first-class commentaries and other valuable supplements. I was keen to see the upgrades for Pushover and The Brothers Rico. I enjoyed the color film A Bullet Is Waiting with Jean Simmons and both FBI-centric 'Walk' films. Chicago Syndicate has more of the stalwart FBI in the background and some tension if not fitting decisively in the 'dark cinema' cycle. This is another must-own keeper - new 1080P transfers of classics, a couple of films I had not seen before, commentaries, hours of extras and the extensive book included. Noir-istas shouldn't hesitate - as if you would. Strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze