Allene Roberts

A 1951 film noir directed by Max Nosseck, starring Lawrence Tierney — later famous as Joe in Reservoir Dogs — in one of his signature roles. Tierney plays Vincent Lubeck, an incorrigible ex-con whose own mother begs the parole board to keep him locked up. Released anyway, Vincent works sullenly at his brother Johnny's gas station while casing the armored car that makes regular stops at the bank across the street, and seducing his brother's girl along the way. Tierney's real-life brother Edward plays Johnny. A lean, brutal heist noir, the film is in the public domain.

Crime · Thriller

Pete Morgan is a farmer with a bad leg and a dark secret. He has raised his niece Meg as his own and forbids her from going near an abandoned house deep in the woods on his land, warning her that the woods are haunted. When a hired hand starts asking questions and Meg grows more curious, the family's buried past begins to surface. Edward G. Robinson plays against type as the gentle, haunted farmer, and the film leans on atmosphere and dread rather than violence. Miklos Rozsa's score and Bert Glennon's camerawork make the forest feel like a place that does not want its secrets found. The film was the first production of Thalia, the company Robinson formed with producer Sol Lesser. It entered the public domain due to non-renewal of its copyright.

Crime · Mystery · Thriller