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By Darren Allison

I really didn’t know too much about Paul Guilfoyle’s 1955 film, A Life at Stake, although I have always had a fondness for stark film noir. Spoiled young Doris Hillman (played by the delightful Angela Lansbury) invites struggling architect Edward Shaw (Keith Andes) to come in as her husband's partner in a lucrative real estate deal. However, when Edward becomes romantically involved with Doris, he learns that something deadly is going on. There's a life at stake, and it could be his own.

As we progress deeper into the story immediate parallels begin to emerge such as Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity (1944). However, it’s evident that A Life at Stake wasn’t afforded the same budgetary benefits as Wilder’s classic movie. That said, A Life at Stake is a brilliant slice of entertainment which is more than capable of standing on its own two feet.

A Life at Stake Blu-ray Contest — FilmBook is running a A Life at Stake Blu-ray contest for one copy of the movie. A Life at Stake was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 7, 2020. Cast and crew Paul Guilfoyle‘s A Life at Stake stars Angela Lansbury, Keith Andes, Douglass [...]

Continue reading: Contest: A Life At Stake (1955) Blu-ray: Paul Guilfoyle’s Film Noir Movie starring Angela Lansbury & Keith Andes...

It’s low-rent Noir A Go-Go: Angela Lansbury is a double-crossing femme fatale in this independent cheapie with modest charms. You can’t trust anyone these days, especially real estate developers with plans to collect Your life insurance. Lansbury is the seductive ‘motivator’ with a preference for late-night rendezvous in the high mountains, where everything is a long drop, nudge nudge wink wink. She makes with the hotcha come-ons but rugged Keith Andes is the one who goes around topless for an entire reel. One of the most obscure ’50s films noir, this one gives us a peek at an evocative Hollywood location or two.

A Life at Stake

Blu-ray

The Film Detective

1955 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 76 min. / Street Date September 7, 2021 / 24.95

Starring: Angela Lansbury, Keith Andes, Douglass Dumbrille, Claudia Barrett, Jane Darwell, Gavin Gordon, Charles Maxwell, William Henry.

Cinematography: Ted Allan

Set Designer: Robert Haver

Film Editor: Frank Sullivan

Original...

Angela Lansbury in the Forgotten Film Noir A Life At Stake will be available as a Special-Edition Blu-ray & DVD, September 7th With Striking 4K Restoration & Brand New, Exclusive Special Features

Cinedigm, the leading independent streaming entertainment company super-serving enthusiast fan bases, announced today that The Film Detective (Tfd), the classic media streaming network and film archive that restores and distributes classic films, is releasing a special- edition version of the forgotten film noir, A Life at Stake(1955), on Blu-ray and DVD, Sept. 7.

From director Paul Guilfoyle comes this highly charged mystery starring Angela Lansbury and Keith Andes. At the time, Lansbury—starring in an unlikely role as charming femme fatale—was already a double Oscar nominee for Gaslight (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).

In this independent production from the waning golden years of film noir, spoiled, young Doris Hillman (Lansbury) invites struggling architect Edward Shaw (Andes) to be her...

A solid mainstream hit for 1947, Loretta Young and Joseph Cotten’s political fairy tale maintains its charm despite the usual populist dodges — a spirited young woman finds both romance and The American Dream when she runs for Congress. But will the political system accept her?

The Farmer’s Daughter

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1947 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 97 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Loretta Young, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Charles Bickford, Rhys Williams, Harry Davenport, Tom Powers, William Harrigan, Keith Andes, Harry Shannon, Lex Barker, Thurston Hall, Art Baker, Don Beddoe, James Arness, Anna Q. Nilsson, Charles McGraw, John Gallaudet, William B. Davidson, Cy Kendall, Frank Ferguson, William Bakewell, Charles Lane Forrest J. Ackerman, Robert Clarke.

Film Editor: Harry Marker

Original Music: Leigh Harline

Written by Allen Rivkin, Laura Kerr, from a play by Juhani Tervapää

Produced by Dore Schary

Directed by H.C. Potter

This year...

Another summer movie season and another Pirates of the Caribbean movie. What? You didn’t know there was yet another in the franchise that wore out its welcome a long time ago? Yes, Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales came and went awfully fast this summer, never a good sign. It played in St. Petersburg for about a week and then vanished. Did anybody see it? I didn’t and I’ve seen a lot of movies this summer. In a summer of Wonder Woman and Dunkirk, as well as Baby Driver, Logan Lucky and Detroit it would be very easy for another Pirates of the Caribbean movie to get lost in the shuffle.

So let’s talk about a real pirate movie, from 1952 Blackbeard the Pirate, directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Robert Newton, Linda Darnell, William Bendix, and Keith Andes. Newton is to pirate movies...

Rko's final in-house production is a good end-of-an-era film, a spirited and well-made musical comedy. Bright-eyed Jane Powell can't stop accepting marriage proposals, from nerdy Tommy Noonan, dreamboat kisser Cliff Robertson and zillionare Keith Andes. She imagines her future with each man in musical terms, through production numbers staged by Gower Champion. The Girl Most Likely DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1956 / Color / 1:78 enhanced widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date November 17, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Jane Powell, Cliff Robertson, Keith Andes, Kaye Ballard, Tommy Noonan, Una Merkel, Kelly Brown, Judy Nugent, Frank Cady, Joseph Kearns, Marjorie Stapp, Robert Banas. Cinematography Robert H. Planck Film Editor Doane Harrison Original Music Nelson Riddle Choreographer Gower Champion Written by Devery Freeman, Paul Jarrico (uncredited) Produced by Stanley Rubin Directed by Mitchell Leisen

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

From roughly 1925 to 1957, the powerful men in charge of the big studios controlled most aspects of production. That...

A Life at Stake

Written by Russ Bender, Hank McCune

Directed Paul Guilfoyle

U.S.A., 1954

Edward Shaw (Keith Andes) spends most of his days lumped on his chair, staring out the window from his cramped little apartment room. A scorned man, he was once a star on the rise in the real estate business, that is, until a former partner swindled him. An embittered and stubbornly honest man, Edward’s hope at redemption and to improve his name in the business arrives one morning when a lawyer presents him the opportunity to pay back his debts and make new headways in his line of profession. His first order of duty involves meeting Doris Hillman (Angela Lansbury), the business-savvy wife of a successful entrepreneur, Gus Hillman (Douglas Dumbrille). Doris knows her way around in the realm of real estate, not to mention how to allure men, both young and old.

Marilyn Monroe Movies Turner Classic Movies, Saturday, August 5 6:00 Am The Asphalt Jungle (1950) A gang of small time crooks plots an elaborate jewel heist. Dir: John Huston. Cast: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe, Marilyn Monroe. Black and White-112 minutes. 8:00 Am Clash By Night (1952) An embittered woman seeks escape in marriage, only to fall for her husband’s best friend. Dir: Fritz Lang. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan, Keith Andes, Marilyn Monroe. Black and White-105 minutes. 10:00 Am Niagara (1952) Honeymooners get mixed up with an obsessive husband and his cheating wife. Dir: Henry Hathaway. Cast: Marilyn [...]...

Born in Minneapolis with the original surname of “Aurness, ” James Arness and his brother Peter Graves (TV’s Mission: Impossible) had the square-jawed good looks and authoritative presence of the leading men of an earlier time.

James Arness, 1923-2011

Arness started in career in films, making his debut in 1947’s The Farmer’s Daughter where he, Lex Barker and Keith Andes played Loretta Young’s brothers in her Oscar-winning triumph. With brothers like that, you almost felt bad for the dastardly villains who tried to thwart Loretta’s ambition. A few years later, he appeared in the low-budget horror classic The Thing From Another World (1951), better known as The Thing, wherein he brought to startling life the role of the titular alien.

Then came Gunsmoke.

The role of Marshall Matt Dillon in the classic western was first offered to John Wayne, who declined but recommended Arness. With the noblesse of a true star,...

Tora! Tora! Tora! star Keith Andes was found dead in his Santa Clarita, California home earlier this month. He was 85. The Los Angeles County coroner's office has ruled the actor's death was suicide by asphyxiation. His longtime friend Marshall LaPlante confirmed the New Jersey-born actor had been suffering from cancer of the bladder. The New Jersey-born actor launched his film career after Hollywood studio head Darryl F. Zanuck saw him performing in the Broadway, New York production of Winged Victory and offered him a role in the film version of the play in 1944. Andes spent four decades on the big screen, with roles as Marilyn Monroe's leading man in 1952's Clash By Night, The Farmer's Daughter in 1947 and Tora! Tora! Tora! in 1970. On the small screen, he starred opposite Glynis Johns in the 1963 Sitcom Glynis and police drama The Man Dawson. Andes is survived by his two sons Mark and Matt and his grandson Ryan.