British Film Noir does not get as much attention as American - only 3 British films were mentioned in classic film noir literature and all of them with Hollywood connections - Jules Dassin's Night and the City, Edward Dmytryk's Obession aka The Hidden Room, Carol Reed's The Third Man. The term "British Film Noir" was first mentioned in 1987 in Films in Review article by William K. Everson with more articles and books to follow, including a chapter on the subject by Tony Williams in Film Noir Reader 2 and excellent British Film Noir Guide by Michael F. Keaney that I often reference to seek these often forgotten crime dramas. There were several other film guides released afterwards, adding more titles to find, especially since many UK DVD companies have been releasing them on DVD - Network, Renown Pictures, StudioCanal, Odeon Entertainment, Simply Media, Spirit Entertainment/Strawberry Media to name just a few most prominent. Statesides, besides the most popular titles released by Criterion, there was VCI that licensed a number of Lippert, Rank/ITV and Renown noirs and Warner Archive released a number of titles that had US theatrical release, sometimes in American version as happened with The Accursed (aka The Traitor). Very few of them get high-definition re-master, but we are glad these films get any quality releases.

Kino Classics licensed five British Noirs from ITV and released them in a 5-disc set. First film is a 1943 wartime spy drama They Met in the Dark starring James Mason (Odd Man Out)and Joyce Howard. The film was released previously in UK by Odeon Entertainment, but like most films in this set, this is US video debut. The next picture is the best one in the set - The October Man starring John Mills (Great Expectations) and Joan Greenwood (Kind Hearts and Coronets) and directed by Roy Ward Baker (A Night to Remember, Inferno). The film was previously available in UK only as part of 8-film John Mills Centenary Collection from ITV and stateside release was on a bootleg DVD-R. It is followed by a rare 1948 drama Snowbound starring Dennis Price (Kind Hearts and Coronets) and Mila Parély (The Rules of the Game). The film starts off with a warning about deteriorated source materials and presents this film as a bonus to this set. Perhaps it explains why this film was never released on DVD previously, in UK or elsewhere. Then comes Golden Salamander starring Trevor Howard (They Made Me a Fugitive) and 18-year old Anouk Aimée (Lola) in her first English-language role. The film, directed by Ronald Neame (Tunes of Glory, The Odessa File), was previously released by Odeon Entertainment in UK. The last film in the set, The Assassin aka Venetian Bird stars Richard Todd (Never Let Go) and Eva Bartok (Blood and Black Lace). Directed by Ralph Thomas (The Clouded Yellow) and beautifully filmed in Venice, it was based on Victor Canning novel (who also wrote previous film, Golden Salamander) and previously released in UK by Strawberry Media. All five films have their own charms and merits and are recommended for any film noir fan - if it takes place in a British small town, snowy Alps, exotic Tunisia or on canals of Venice.

Each film gets its own single-layered interlaced disc. There are some marks and damage on the prints - they did not go through extensive restoration and it can be seen from the sources used in the set. All films are in original full screen aspect ratio - no film is past 1954. The contrast and grain are fine - we don't own British discs to compare the presentation. Even the film that was derived from deteriorated print, Snowbound, most of the running time looks fine with only a few scenes where the damage is visible. The mono audio is decent, with no damage or distortions, but unfortunately, there are no English subtitles or captions available. There are 8 chapters for each film and no other extras, but we still recommend this set for rarity of these films in region 1 and hopefully more sets will follow.

  - Gregory Meshman