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Witness the ‘fifties transformation of the femme fatale, from scheming murderess to self-deluding social climber. Barbara Stanwyck redefines herself once again in Gerd Oswald’s best-directed picture, a searing portrayal of needs and anxieties in the nervous decade. With fine support from Raymond Burr, Virginia Grey and Royal Dano.

Crime of Passion

Blu-ray

ClassicFlix

1957 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 84 min. / Street Date September 5, 2017 /

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr, Fay Wray, Virginia Grey, Royal Dano.

Cinematography: Joseph Lashelle

Art Direction: Leslie Thomas

Original Music: Paul Dunlap

Original Story and Screenplay by Jo Eisinger

Produced by Herman Cohen, Robert Goldstein

Directed by Gerd Oswald

A key title in the development of the Film Noir, 1957’s Crime of Passion shows how much the style had departed from the dark romanticism and expressive visuals of the previous decade. The best mid-’50s noirs strike a marvelously cynical and existentially bleak attitude regarding crime and society.

Submit your vote for Reviewer of the Year!

Every year, the Classic Horror Film Board recognizes the best in the horror/sci-fi/fantasy realm with the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards. Fans of the genre can vote for their favorites in over thirty categories, and this year, Cinelinx would like to ask you to vote for one of our own, staff writer Victor Medina, as Reviewer of the Year (Category 29)! We've even included the ballot below so you can vote!

Votes must be submitted by copying and pasting the ballot into your personal email, making your choices, including your name, and sending it in. Votes for Reviewer of the Year are write-in only, so you must be sure to include Vic's name yourself under Category 29 when you vote. Pre-filled ballots are not allowed, so we can't do it for you! Remember, you must write in "Victor Medina, Cinelinx.com" yourself.

The Warner Archive Collection is a manufacture-on-demand (Mod) DVD series that specializes in putting previously unreleased films on DVD for the first time. Recently they dug deep into their vast history of classic horror and selected some winners to resurrect.

The Warner Archive Collection can make a wide array of films available because they don't actually create the DVD until it is ordered by a customer. This way, they are not taking a chance of getting stuck with a large amount of inventory if a selected title doesn't sell. You'll certainly recognize some of the horror films the Warner Archive Collection has added to its library, but there are a couple of really obscure ones in there as well. Take a look at the list of what's been made available and plan your shopping list now.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)

Although the recent remake featuring the suddenly single...

We have an exclusive clip from the home video release Black Zoo, which can be ordered through Warner Archive. Click on the video player below for a scene where Michael Gough lets one of his deadly animals loose from this 1963 horror movie.

Click to watch Exclusive: Gorilla!

clickHere for information on how to order Black Zoo from Warner Archive.

The most savage animal in a garden of beasts, animal-worship cultist and private zoo owner Michael Conrad (Michael Gough) has trained his lions well, siccing the big cats on any fool who dares get in his way. First it was a snoopy secretary, then a scheming realtor (Jerome Cowan). But only when his unhappy wife (Jeanne Cooper) runs off with his beloved chimps does Conrad unleash his inner beast, and the fur really flies. Shot by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby on a soundstage stocked by famed animal behaviorist and Marine World creator Ralph Helfer,...

Here at Dread Central we love the good folks over at the Warner Archive. If they all amounted to the parts of a single human being, we'd worship at their feet! Why, you ask? Because they continue to dole out quality copies of Hollywood's forgotten horrors. Case in point: Black Zoo! Dig on our exclusive and fuzzy clip!

For those unfamiliar with this little gem, Black Zoo is a 1963 horror flick produced and co-written by Herman Cohen and directed by Robert Gordon. For its time it's widely considered to be a violent, gore-filled tale.

Got your interest yet? Look for more on Black Zoo soon!

Synopsis

Michael Conrad (Michael Gough) is a private zookeeper who owns Conrad's Animal Kingdom. He leads a cult group who literally worship the animals he tends, especially the big cats -- a lion, a lioness, a pair of cheetahs, a tiger, and a black panther...

The fine fiends over at the Warner Archive are at it again, opening up their vaults and pulling out yet another fine obscure title for horror fans. Get ready to take a trip to the long lost lunacy of the Black Zoo.

For those unfamiliar with this little gem, Black Zoo is a 1963 horror flick produced and co-written by Herman Cohen and directed by Robert Gordon. For its time it's widely considered to be a violent, gore-filled tale.

Got your interest yet? Look for more on Black Zoo soon including official artwork and more!

Synopsis

Michael Conrad (Michael Gough) is a private zookeeper who owns Conrad's Animal Kingdom. He leads a cult group who literally worship the animals he tends, especially the big cats -- a lion, a lioness, a pair of cheetahs, a tiger, and a black panther -- as well as a gorilla. Conrad plays organ music to...

British cult horror actor Michael Gough has died at the age of 94 after a stellar career playing character roles in over 100 films. Horror fans know him well from his role in the seminal Hammer Horror film Horror Of Dracula (1958) as well as cult goodies such as Horror Hospital, Horrors Of The Black Museum, Legend Of Hell House, and Konga. A younger generation of film fans discovered him when he starred as Alfred the butler in the 90′s Batman franchise and he continued working up to his death, providing voice work for Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride and last year’s Alice In Wonderland.

From The Daily Telegraph:

Michael Gough, the actor who died on Thursday aged 94, achieved cult status for his roles in the Hammer horror films of the 1960s, but became better known as Alfred the Butler in Tim Burton’s Batman films; he was also an accomplished stage actor,...

Paul Dunlap was a prolific film composer in the 1950s and 1960s, scoring over 200 features. He was best known for providing themes and scores for numerous science fiction and horror thrillers of the decades. His music highlighted attacks by prehistoric beasts in 1951’s Lost Continent starring Cesar Romero, and an alien robot invasion in 1954’s Target Earth with Richard Denning and Kathleen Crowley. He scored Michael Landon’s transformation from man to monster in I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), and provided music for such other Aip and United/Allied Artist cult classics as I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), Blood of Dracula (1957), How to Make a Monster (1958), Frankenstein – 1970 (1958), Invisible Invaders (1959), The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959), Angry Red Planet (1959), Shock Corridor (1963), and Black Zoo (1963).

Dunlap was born in Springfield, Ohio, on July 19, 1919. He began working in films in the early 1950s, scoring westerns, war and action films including The Baron of Arizona...