All Day has outdone itself with this release, an almost totally unknown film of excellent quality and considerable significance. The 1949 Christ in Concrete was hounded from American screens after one or two bookings. Its director, writer, and several cast members had filmed it in England after being driven from Hollywood by the blacklists. This absorbing emotional experience is a socially-conscious scream by artists not yet ready to surrender. The disc cover calls it a 'supressed master work', which for once is no exaggeration.

Director Edward Dmytryk eventually recanted and named names, thus reclaiming a Hollywood career for himself, while earning the scorn of those he betrayed. The result was that Christ in Concrete was never re-discovered. Except for two brief weeks in a tiny New York theater in 1949, and one museum showing in...Read the entire review

Short Takes

Calling someone a "legend" has been overused to the point of becoming dern near meaningless. Except in respect to the late, great Vincent Price who regally DEFINES the term. Journalist and lifelong-fan David Del Valle's interview with Mr. Price for "The Sinister Image" has been pulled from obscurity, thankfully, after nearly 15 years of never finding its intended home on cable TV. They begin with Vincent's life on the stage, his radio days with Orsen Welles and then on to Hollywood where he'd make those "fantasy" pictures CineSchlockers idolize. House of Wax. The Fly. William Castle's gimmick flicks Hous...Read the entire review

All Day has come through with a film so rare, I've never heard any mention of it before whatsoever. Billed as a lost Film Noir, it predates so many trends, it might be called the first Euro Noir. La Traqué was the title of the French version made simultaneously; director Borys Lewin was an editor who apparently directed only this once. This English language version is the work of Frank Tuttle, a well-known name in Hollywood who started directing in 1922. The excellent low-budg Noir Suspense is his, as well as his major claim to fame, This Gun for Hire.

Gunman in the Streets is a minor crime film. The real attraction here is a very young Simone Signoret, whose beauty and talent carry the film, even when it comes up wanting in other departments.