Wife Wanted - Kay Francis

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Shadow of Blackmail" )

directed by Phil Karlson
USA 1946

For her final film appearance, Kay Francis goes out with a bang – and how! – in this femme noir sensation. Fading film queen Carole Raymond (Francis) thinks she's going to feather her nest egg with a real-estate exit plan, only to find herself behind the eight ball in a classified lonely hearts crime ring. Set up as the fall gal for a snuffed-out romeo, Carole is up to her white furs in illegitimate matrimony until a muckraker (Robert Shayne) gets a sniff of the seductive shenanigans. But the question remains – will the reporter be Carole's salvation or her damnation? Kay Francis produced with no-nonsense noir helmer Phil Karlson directing and costarring Paul Cavanagh, Veda Ann Borg, Teala Loring and Jonathan Hale.

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Theatrical Release: 2 November 1946 (USA)

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DVD Review: Warner Home Video - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Warner Home Video Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:10:06
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.49 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	Dolby Digital Mono (English)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • None DVD Release Date: August 6th, 2013 Keep Case Chapters 8

Comments

Wife Wanted is a B crime programmer from Monogram featuring the last film performance of Kay Francis and directed by future film noir master Phil Karlson (99 River Street, The Phenix City Story). Wife Wanted has its charms, especially watching pre-code icon Kay Francis at the end of her career - she made total of three films at poverty row studio Monogram - two other films, Divorce and Allotment Wives are currently owned by MGM. Other actors are bland and not very memorable, including Paul Cavanagh, Robert Shayne, Veda Ann Borg, Teala Loring and other unfamiliar faces.

Ownership of Monogram library is divided between MGM and Warner, and most of the original materials are long gone, so they have to utilize second and later generation prints for the transfers. The print used for this title is generally in good shape. There are some scratches and marks on the print, but the image is stable and generally, contrast is good. The single-layered made-on-demand disc is progressive and the film is divided into 8 chapters, a chapter every 10 minutes. The trailers for Monogram library are very rare and we do not see any trailers included here, but we still can recommend this release from Warner Archive to any fans of crime dramas from poverty row studios as this is the best this film would ever look on home video.

- Gregory Meshman

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