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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (November 2026): Kino have released their 28th Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema triple-pack on Blu-ray with Citadel of Crime (1941), Cry Danger (1951) and Terror at Midnight (1956). Each film gets its own disc in 1080P with a max’ed out bitrate, and Cry Danger gets a dual-layered disc. That’s lavish treatment for features of 58 to 79 minutes. Citadel of Crime and Cry Danger are framed at 1.37:1, and Terror at Midnight at 1.66:1. Citadel of Crime is the surprise of the set and may be the best-looking film here. Fine weaves resolve without a hint of shimmer: a glen-check suit, the coarse cloth of a prison uniform, the herringbone of a jacket. The grayscale is rich, with deep blacks that never crush and whites kept under control, and the daylight hillside exteriors keep their cloud and pine-needle detail. Grain is fine and even, and in our sampling the image was remarkably free of scratches and speckles. The diffused Linda Hayes close-ups are period glamour photography, not softness in the transfer. Cry Danger was previously released by Olive in 2014 - reviewed HERE, and we’ve included comparison captures. The two discs are clearly not the same transfer. Kino’s image is darker and more contrasty, without the Olive’s lifted, slightly milky gray. Its framing is shifted to show a touch more on the right side of the frame, and it is housed on a dual-layered disc with a bitrate over 1.35X the Olive’s. The Kino also runs about 28 seconds shorter. Grain is film-like on both, and the two share the same occasional speckle, so they derive from the same elements, but the Kino looks more like 1951 black-and-white. It handles Joseph Biroc’s sunbaked Bunker Hill exteriors well, and its night and low-key interiors hold detail in the darkest areas without crush or banding. Terror at Midnight looks exactly like what it is, a 1956 Republic production shot by a crew heading for television. Bud Thackery’s lighting is brighter and more even. Detail is strong in tweed, patterned ties and Joan Vohs’ close-ups, and grain runs a bit coarser in some of Scott Brady’s close-ups against light backgrounds. It’s clean, consistent and true to how the film was made.

NOTE: We have added 116 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use DTS-HD Master dual-mono tracks (24-bit) in the original English language. All three films use DTS-HD Master dual-mono tracks (24-bit) in the original English. They sound clean, clear and faithful to their era, with the expected limits of optical sound of this age: a restricted high end, narrow dynamic range, and music sitting close against the dialogue. There’s no remixing or artificial expansion, which is the right call, and any hiss or crackle is minimal. Cry Danger benefits most, since William Bowers’ rapid, sardonic dialogue is the film’s engine and every line is crisp. Richard Erdman’s throwaway delivery in particular never gets lost under the Paul Dunlap and Emil Newman score. Citadel of Crime carries the brassy Republic house sound of 1941, assembled under music director Cy Feuer. R. Dale Butts gives Terror at Midnight the leaner, rhythm-driven crime idiom he also brought to The Man Is Armed in Volume XXVII. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A'-locked Blu-rays.

The Kino Blu-ray set's supplements are commentary-focused, with a valuable bonus on Cry Danger. Citadel of Crime carries Gary Gerani (Fantastic Television,) on cast, crew and a picture that sits halfway between Republic's gangster and backwoods-melodrama traditions; he was also on board for The Great Train Robbery in Volume XXVII. Cry Danger gets Alan K. Rode, author of the Michael Curtiz and Charles McGraw biographies, and the film is ideal material for him: Robert Parrish's directing debut after his Oscar-winning editing career, Dick Powell's tough-guy period, Bill Bowers' screenplay, and the Bunker Hill locations. Better still, the disc adds an archival interview with Richard Erdman, a post-screening Q&A recorded in Palm Springs on May 10th, 2012, running almost 1/2 hour. Erdman, a wonderful raconteur, talks about meeting Dick Powell and Bill Bowers, tells Cry Danger anecdotes (including some about the "dirty" Jay Adler), and covers breaking into Hollywood and his time at what he calls the Warner Bros "university." Terror at Midnight pairs Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition, Quarry, co-author of Spillane - King of Pulp Fiction,) with Heath Holland, host of the Cereal at Midnight podcast, the same team that covered The Man Is Armed in Volume XXVII Blu-ray, a fitting assignment since both films share director, cameraman and composer. Each disc also carries bonus trailers: The Accused, The Mystery of Marie Roget and Rope of Sand with Citadel of Crime; Cry Danger itself (just under two minutes in poor-quality SD), Man Afraid and The Tattered Dress with Cry Danger; and Appointment with a Shadow, The Night Runner and Step Down to Terror with Terror at Midnight.

Volume XXVIII is the strongest of the recent Dark Side of Cinema sets, because one of its three films is a genuine classic. Cry Danger is the reason to buy it: Robert Parrish's (Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, The Purple Plain, A Town Called Hell, The Wonderful Country, Assignment: Paris, The Destructors, The Mob,) directing debut, shot in a reported 22 days, made after he had won an Oscar editing Body and Soul. Dick Powell (Johnny O'Clock, Murder My Sweet, It Happened Tomorrow, Christmas in July, Station West, The Bad and the Beautiful, Pitfall, The Tall Target,) gives Rocky Mulloy the Marlowe persona hardened by five years inside. Rhonda Fleming (Inferno, Those Redheads from Seattle, Revolt of the Slaves, Slightly Scarlet, Jivaro 3D, The Killer is Loose, Home Before Dark, Alias Jesse James, Pony Express, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Spiral Staircase, The Nude Bomb, Abilene Town, While the City Sleeps, Out of the Past, Spellbound,) is the friend's wife he still carries a torch for, William Conrad (The Fugitive TV series narrator, -30-, Two on a Guillotine, The Killers, Brainstorm, 5 Against the House, Cry of the Hunted, The Ride Back, Body and Soul, One Way Street, Cannon, The Racket,) is the bookie at the center of it, and Jean Porter (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,) is the light-fingered blonde Delong meets at the trailer park. Porter had married Edward Dmytryk, who had directed Powell in Murder My Sweet, and when Cry Danger opened he was one of the Hollywood Ten. Richard Erdman steals the film as the one-legged ex-Marine whose perjured alibi springs Rocky, and his interview is a real bonus here. Citadel of Crime is a pleasant surprise: George Sherman (Frontier Horizon, Spy Hunt, War Arrow, Larceny, Big Jake, The Night Riders, The Sleeping City, Three Texas Steers, The Secret of the Whistler,) brings Three Mesquiteers efficiency to a gangster picture lost in moonshine country, and Robert Armstrong (from King Kong to The Most Dangerous Game to Johnny Cool,) gets a meaty role as the hometown boy who sells out his own people. Frank Albertson (Psycho, It's a Wonderful Life, Man Made Monster, The Enemy Below,) is the undercover revenue man; with Frank Faylen in Terror at Midnight and Joseph Biroc behind the camera on Cry Danger, the set has three alumni of It's a Wonderful Life. Terror at Midnight reunites Franklin Adreon (Cyborg 2087, Dimension 5, The Man Is Armed, No Man's Woman, Panther Girl of the Kongo, Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe,) with the Thackery and Butts team from Volume XXVII for a tidy little story in which one panicked decision becomes two murders. Scott Brady (TV Series; The Invisible Man, Mission: Impossible, The Night Strangler, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour plus films Marooned, Castle of Evil, They Were So Young, Johnny Guitar, Undercover Girl, I Was a Shoplifter, Undertow, He Walked by Night,) is the square-jawed cop, gorgeous Joan Vohs (Cry Vengeance, Sabrina, Vice Squad,) the fiancée caught in the trap, and Virginia Gregg (Two on a Guillotine,) here the jealous, alcoholic wife, also appears in the first of the two films Conrad directed, along with Brainstorm. Kino's presentations are the best these films have looked on home video. Citadel of Crime is pristine, Terror at Midnight is honest to its television-era photography, and Cry Danger, on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate, is a clear step up from the 2014 Olive, which had no subtitles and no extras. Here it gains an Alan K. Rode commentary and almost 1/2 hour of Richard Erdman. Three commentaries, a rare interview and one top-tier noir (Cry Danger) and a sneaking second (Terror at Midnight) at a reasonable price make this Kino Blu-ray set worthy of your consideration.

Gary Tooze