British Noir Double Feature Joan Collins Lois Maxwell

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Twilight Women (aka: Women of the Twilight) + The Slasher (aka: Cosh Boy)

(aka 'British Film Noir Double Feature')

Directed by Gordon Parry / Lewis Gilbert
UK 1952 + 1953

NOTE: The DVD of The Slasher (aka "Cosh Boy") is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

Twilight Women: Originating on the London stage, this hard-hitting tale is set at a boarding house-haven for unmarried mothers, owned by a woman (Freda Jackson) whose outward show of upstanding character hides her true personality: a fiend who abuses the women and farms out their babies! Madness, squalor, bedbugs and a dead baby add to the atmosphere of shock. Lois Maxwell (James Bond's Miss Moneypenny) and Laurence Harvey co-star.

The Slasher: A swift moving, no punches pulled exposé set in London's tenement district, with a ruthless teenager (James Kenney, reprising his stage role) blackjacking an old woman to get her purse, and "graduating" to gang leader whose young cutthroats spread terror over the entire city. At the start of her "bad girl" career, Joan Collins is the girl he loves and leaves, with tragic results. A controversial motion picture in its era and still potent today. Based on the play, "Master Crook."

Posters

Theatrical Release: November 30th, 1952 / February 1953

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DVD Review: VCI - Region 0 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	VCI Home Video - Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:25:09 + 1:15:06
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.91 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: VCI Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • trailers DVD Release Date: February 23rd, 2010 Keep Case Chapters: 12 + 12

Comments:

NOTE: The DVD of The Slasher (aka "Cosh Boy") is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

VCI continue to throw around the 'Noir' moniker with reckless abandon. Neither of these titles reside on our comprehensive Noir listing HERE, but they are crime dramas with lots or murky shadows. Twilight Women is a very pleasant surprise - quite a good film. The Slasher has the benefit of the comely young Joan Collins and it also has some 'atmosphere'.

The transfers are, Predictably from VCI (and Kit-Parker sources), interlaced - Twilight Women is greenish but has some decent CRT detail. The Slasher is a shade less sharp but contrast is superior. The first film has some unusual, momentary, pixilation (for a few seconds at 55 minutes), but it is possible that it is just my dual-layered disc. The screen captures below should tell the story of the visual quality. There are no offered subtitles and sound is audible but unremarkable. Extras consist only of trailers. For many the films may be worth the pragmatic rendering and reasonable list price (presently less than $11 at Amazon Canada). Twilight Women seems worthy of a recommendation nod. I suppose in some broader circles these could pass for Noir but basically lean us to call them 'B'-type crime-drama/thrillers from the UK.