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With: Bonita Granville, Don Castle, Regis Toomey, John Litel, Wally Cassell, Thomas E. Jackson, Netta Packer, Oliver Blake, Carol Andrews
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Written by: Robert Presnell Sr., based on a story by Cornell Woolrich
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Directed by: John Reinhardt
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MPAA Rating: NR
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Running Time: 71
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Date: 03/22/1947
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Dark Larks
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Flicker Alley has restored these two minor, but snappy, entertaining "B" noirs from Austrian-born director John Reinhardt, and they're very much worth a look. The Guilty comes from a story by Cornell Woolrich, using the dubious device of twins, one good and one bad. The good twin (Bonita Granville) is murdered, and Johnny (Wally Cassell) is blamed. So Johnny's roommate Mike Carr (Don Castle) tries to solve the mystery. High Tide is a fairly complex newspaper story about a cutthroat editor, Hugh Fresney (Lee Tracy), who hires reporter-turned-private-eye Tim Slade (Castle) during a murderous shake-up of the competition. It's told in flashback as both men are trapped in a wrecked car near the ocean, time running out as the tide rises. Reinhardt captures a great, big-city feel in both films; the former may or may not be New York, and the latter is definitely Los Angeles, and tells both stories succinctly and economically. Flicker Alley's two-disc set (with both movies on a Blu-ray and on a DVD) comes with a slick liner notes booklet, commentary tracks on both films (by Jake Hinkson and Alan K. Rode), an introduction by noir expert Eddie Muller, and several featurettes, including one on Reinhardt and one on Woolrich. Recommended.
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