Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XX [Captain Carey USA / Appointment with Danger / Make Haste to Live] (Blu-ray)

Three-disc set includes: Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)Former intelligence officer Captain Webster Carey (Alan Ladd) returns to post-WWII Italy to find the traitor who divulged a secret OSS mission to the Nazis, resulting in the deaths of his men and the Italian resistance fighter (Wanda Hendrix) he loved. Shocked to learn she is alive and married to a local nobleman, Carey undertakes a deadly quest to learn the truth. Exotic suspenser, which also marked the Oscar-winning debut of the song "Mona Lisa," co-stars Francis Lederer, Joseph Calleia. 83 min. BW/Rtg: NR Appointment With Danger (1951)Alan Ladd's last film noir casts him as Al Goddard, a postal inspector looking into the murder of a colleague. The trail leads him to the killing's sole witness, a nun (Phyllis Calvert) able to identify the assassin. All that remains is for Goddard to bust up the evildoer's gang before they can pull off an elaborate mail heist. Future "Dragnet" co-stars Jack Webb and Harry Morgan play two of the thugs. 89 min. BW/Rtg: NR Make Haste To Live (1954)Crystal Benson (Dorothy McGuire) was trying to live as normal an existence as a single mother could have in a small New Mexico town. That would end with the reappearance of her abusive gangster ex-husband Steve Blackford (Stephen McNally), who just finished an 18-year bit for murder after she refused to exonerate him... and who'd start insinuating himself into her new life as her "brother" until he gained his vengeance. Disquieting Republic noir co-stars John Howard, Edgar Buchanan, Carolyn Jones. 90 min. BW/Rtg: NR Standard; Soundtrack: English; Subtitles: English; audio commentary; theatrical trailers.

Starring: Alan Ladd, Dorothy McGuire, Stephen McNally, Jan Sterling