Walter Wanger Productions

A wartime drama based on the real-life Makin Island raid by the U.S. Marine Corps' 2nd Raider Battalion, led by Colonel Evans Carlson. Randolph Scott plays the officer who assembles a volunteer unit of "Carlson's Raiders" from civilians and soldiers, trains them in jungle warfare, and leads them on a mission to attack a Japanese-held Pacific island. The film was made with the cooperation of the Marine Corps and was released less than a year after the raid it dramatizes. A young Robert Mitchum appears in one of his earliest credited roles. The film entered the public domain due to non-renewal of its copyright.

War · Drama

During the bloodiest days of the French Revolution, a mysterious operative known as Charles D'Aubigny infiltrates Paris to recover Robespierre's "black book" — a list of intended victims whose executions would cement his dictatorship — before it can be used. Robert Cummings plays the double agent, with Richard Basehart a chilling Robespierre and Arlene Dahl as the woman caught between them. Anthony Mann shot it like a noir despite the period setting, all shadows and paranoia, on a shoestring budget for Walter Wanger. Reissued as The Black Book. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

History · Thriller · Noir

Singer Angie Evans gives up her own rising career to marry struggling crooner Ken Conway, and when his star finally ascends she finds herself alone with a baby, a bottle, and a husband who's never home. Susan Hayward earned her first Academy Award nomination as the wife sliding into alcoholism, with Lee Bowman, Eddie Albert, and Marsha Hunt in support. Walter Wanger produced and Stuart Heisler directed this stark melodrama, released by Universal-International. It is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Drama · Noir