French Noir Collection

Three-disc set includes: Speaking Of Murder (Le Rouge Est Mis) (1957)For Louis Bertain (Jean Gabin), the Paris garage he operated by day acted as a front for a robbery gang at night. The smooth operation looks to hit some bumps when the cops bring in Louis' uninvolved kid brother Pierre (Marcel Bozzuffi) for a sweating-and the elder Bertain's paranoid cronies grow certain that he'll give them up. Crackling crime opus from an Auguste Le Breton novel also stars Lino Ventura, Annie Girardot, Paul Frankeur. 95 min. In French with English subtitles. BW/Rtg NR Back To The Wall (Le Dos Au Mur) (1958)When industrialist Jacques Decrey (Gérard Oury) learns that his spouse Gloria (Jeanne Moreau) has been cheating on him with actor ex Yves (Philippe Nicaud), he opts for an odd revenge-by setting up a false identity for himself, continously blackmailing the illicit lovers, and pocketing his own cash once she pays. The scheme, though, will hit some fateful and fatal snags, in Édouard Molinaro's take on a Frédéric Dard novel. Claire Maurier, Gérard Buhr co-star. 93 min. In French with English subtitles. BW/Rtg NR Witness In The City (Un Témoin Dans La Ville) (1959)Trucker Ancelin (Lino Ventura) became a widower under seamy circumstances-after his wife's paramour, wealthy Pierre Verdier (Jacques Berthier), threw her from a train. After Verdier gained acquittal on a technicality, Ancelin connived to kill his cuckolder and stage it to look like suicide, but found himself having to stalk the cabbie witness (Franco Fabrizi) who could finger him. Édouard Molinaro's read on the Pierre Boileau/Thomas Narcejac thriller co-stars Sandra Milo. 86 min. In French with English subtitles. BW/Rtg NR Standard and Widescreen; Soundtrack: French; Subtitles: English; theatrical trailers.