For its seventh mammoth Blu-ray boxed set excursion into the world of Columbia's film noir, or at least the noir-adjacent, Indicator shifts gears and focuses entirely on the studio's British releases from the 1950s with Columbia Noir #7: Made in Britain. As you'd expect the tone is different here from '50s American noir but no less worthwhile, including a handful of U.S. stars brought over for maximum export value and quite a few familiar faces scattered throughout the casts. As usual the limited edition (6,000 units) is packed with extras and comes with a 120-page book featuring essays by Jonathan Bygraves, Andrew Spicer, Pamela Hutchinson, Robert Murphy, Chloe Walker, and Bethan Roberts, archival articles and interviews, and new notes on the multiple short films.

First up is the only one in color and the toughest one to categorize as noir, Mark Robson's A Prize of Gold, a Cold War thriller featuring more artificial-looking process shots than Hitchcock's entire filmography combined. Here the imported Yank is Richard Widmark playing Master Sergeant Joe Lawrence who's stationed in West Berlin (partially shot in location). Thanks to some hijinks involving his Jeep, he crosses paths with some orphans and their guardian, Maria (Zetterling), who wants to relocate them to Brazil. One of his colleagues, Roger (Cole), drops a suggestion about lifting some transported German gold, instigating a hijacking scheme that also ropes in a former RAF pilot, Brian (Patrick). Of course, nothing goes quite as planned as Joe's well-intentioned plans to help the kids turns deadly.

A mixture of heist film, sentimental drama, Cold War thriller, and a bit of noir, A Prize of Gold is an entertaining diversion largely carried by its strong cast with Patrick a particular standout. In this case the director was a North American import as well, with Robson hot off of the spectacular The Bridges at Toko-Ri; this is still very much a British film though since it was the creation of U.K.-based Warwick Film Productions, whose long relationship with Columbia also resulted in films as diverse as Oliver!, The Cockleshell Heroes, and a couple of other films in this set. That said, if you're in the mood for a straight-ahead moody noir thriller, you might want to ignore the order of the films in the set and save this one for somewhere in the middle when you need a colorful change of pace. The Indicator release marks the first Blu-ray release anywhere in the world, and the Sony-supplied master looks quite nice given the limitations of the original technical choices (namely all that rear projection and some iffy film processing during the long dark scenes in the final stretch). As with the other films in the set, the LPCM 1.0 English mono audio is in excellent condition and comes with new and improved English SDH subtitles. A new commentary by Thirza Wakefield and Melanie Williams does a very skillful job of covering the film's production and cast including the history behind some of the location choices, the theme song, the state of West Berlin at the time, and much more. Longer than the film itself is the archival video recording "The BEHP Interview with Bill Lewthwaite" (103m13s) with the film's editor chatting in his home with Glyn Jones in 2008 about his entire life and career for a slew of notable directors and studios after making his big breakthrough with the war film Odette. In "Golden Opportunity" (13m30s), a 2020 interview with clapper loader and future second unit camera assistant Geoff Glover covers his first gig here on a film set, providing a unique perspective on coming up in the industry after his time in the RAF. In the new "Stealing Hearts" (14m41s): academic and film historian Lies Lanckman provides an in-depth exploration of the film as an early Robson work, an adaptation, and an integration of noir tropes into an urban, full-color setting compared to the usual Los Angeles or New York City. Also included are the theatrical trailer and a 60-image gallery of stills, production photos, and marketing material.

Next up we get to one of England's finest practitioners of film noir, Terence Fisher, whose contributions have largely been overshadowed by his legendary horror films for Hammer. The Last Man to Hang mixes courtroom thriller, social drama, and dark murder mystery as Elizabeth (Sellars), wife of prominent music critic Sir Roderick Strood (Val Lewton staple Conway), is found unresponsive in bed by their housekeeper, Mrs. Tucker (The Brides of Dracula's Jackson). The medical and police investigations uncover a number of contradictory facts involving multiple sedatives she may have taken, a previous suicide attempt, and Roderick's affair with another aristocrat, Daphne (early 007 recurring actress Gayson). The events escalate into a full-on murder trial where multiple surprises await. Don't expect the title to be a spoiler as this one twists around in some interesting ways when it isn't busy catching you off guard with an array of familiar faces, including a bit part by future director John Schlesinger (as Dr. Goldfinger, before that book was even written!), a very young pre-stardom Anthony Newley, and future Miss Marple Joan Hickson as a jury member.

Riding the very public debates at the time about capital punishment as well as dramas about jury deliberations like the popular 1954 play 12 Angry Men, Fisher's film tosses in a lot of elements that don't all work but do make for entertaining viewing, The crazy twist ending will probably be a make or break for many viewers (as will the presence of Conway who seems pretty lethargic here), but you'll definitely have fun with that cast and the swerving plot which bounces back and forth between past and present. This one is also making its worldwide Blu-ray debut here after languishing in oblivion for ages apart from the occasional sparse TV airing, and the Sony master is also in fine shape retaining the inherently grainy, textured aesthetic of the film. A lively audio commentary by Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman is up to their usual high standards as they dive into the belated critical appraisal of Fisher among English-speaking critics, his early days in films like this, the backgrounds of Conway and the other players, the reasons this may have gotten by with the BBFC compared to what the Production Code inflicted on films like Rebecca, some major variations from the source novel The Jury by Gerald Bullett, and even a Lady Gaga reference that's actually justified. The film can also be played with "The Guardian Lecture with Ivor Montagu," a 1977 archival audio recording of a lecture by the screenwriter at London's National Film Theatre covering 20th-century Russian history and film, Lenin, and quite a bit about Sergei Eisenstein and the perception of reality via depictions in cinema. Film Fanfare No. 5 (4m48s) is an amusingly staged 1956 silent (with music) British Pathé newsreel featuring a contest winner visiting the set of this film and meeting the cast and crew, including hanging out on the courtroom set, getting smooched by Conway for some reason, and glamming up in the make-up chair. A 38-image gallery is also included.

It shouldn't be much surprise that disc three's Wicked As They Come is one of the most purely noir films in the set and more than lives up to its title. A studio "it girl" in the '50s who went into numerous other commercial enterprises over the years (and gave birth to Lorenzo Lamas), American star Arlene Dahl appears here for the first of two titles as a very bad, manipulative young woman who rises from poverty and uses a "Miss Stylewear" contest prize to travel to Europe to climb the social ladder. Taking on the name Kathy Allen, she sets her sights on multiple men including prominent photographer Larry (Goodliffe) whom she promptly fleeces. She also goes after married ad agency head Stephen (Marshall) and one of its employees, Tim (Carey), warding off competitors including territorial spouses along the way. Naturally, a killing occurs that throws all over her plans into disarray.

Though she sued at the time over the salacious ad campaign, Dahl is the main attraction here and clearly enjoys getting to let loose with a zesty performance that brings out a fascinating variety of male co-star performances grappling with her independence and utter disregard for accepted moral standards. As with the previous film, this pulls a last-minute narrative gambit that feels very '50s and wasn't really needed; otherwise though it's a fine evening's entertainment and possibly a good starting point in this set if you want a rip-roaring femme fatale story. Once again this Blu-ray is a first time out for this one in HD, looking much better than the ancient broadcast master that's been floating around and turning up occasionally on TCM.

A selected scenes commentary with José Arroyo (9m38s) is really more of a visual essay about the funding of the film via an American star and the backgrounds of the pertinent players as well as some readings into the visual framing choices. The film can also be played with "The BEHP Interview with Maxwell Setton," a 1991 archival audio recording with the producer in conversation with John Legard and Dave Robson covering his early life in Egypt until British control, his practice as a barrister in English and French, a surprising gig for Charles Laughton, and lots of anecdotes about his productions including The Long Haul as well with Mature being a bit of a handful. The striking 1943 short film Soho (12m) by this film's director Ken Hughes captures the hard-partying life in London during World War II, playable either silent or with a new score by Peninsula (plus a recommendation to listen to it with its most likely original music choice, Ralph Vaughan Williams' A London Symphony). The original trailer and a 49-image gallery are also included.

Disc four features a film with a more substantial home video history, Spin a Dark Web, which turned up on American Blu-ray in 2019 on a disc with Footsteps in the Fog and Rumble on the Docks as part of Mill Creek and Kit Parker's Noir Archive Volume 2: 1954-1956. Here we get another diabolical temptress in Bella Francesi (Domergue), who serves as a lure to get expat Canadian boxer Jim Bankley (Patterson) to work for her Sicilian mob family run by her brother, Rico (Benson). Soon he gets pulled into a plot to rip off a London racetrack, which leads to murder and a frame-up. Originally shot and released in some territories under the much blander title Soho Incident, this is a very typical '50s crime film with the usual noir frosting largely thanks to the scene-stealing Domergue's character. Also look fast for a very young Bernard Fox here, way before he went on to TV immortality with Bewitched, Hogan's Heroes, etc., not to mention a bunch of '70s Disney movies. It's worth noting the art direction here was an early project for the legendary Ken Adam of James Bond and Dr. Strangelove fame, but you won't find much of his signature touch here.

With its copious location footage of '50s Soho, this one benefits greatly from the nice Sony mastering job here and also gets more authoring breathing room compared to the prior Blu-ray not being jammed in with two other films. The always welcome Eloise Ross provides an informative audio commentary here covering Domergue (including the pronunciation of her name which will now always be mangled thanks to Quentin Tarantino), the boxing milieu, notable bit and major players, and much more. Then another audio option, 1994's "The BEHP Interview with Vernon Sewell," is an archival audio recording with the director (who went on to much more famous and lurid fare like Curse of the Crimson Altar, The Blood Beast Terror, and Burke & Hare) conversing with Roy Fowler covering multiple production crises, working for British National, independent producing, and more. Speaking of Sewell, you also get a nice restoration of his crazy 1937 short film A Test for Love (28m44s), an early scare film about venereal disease showing how working as a single, lonely shop girl at a tobacconist in the big city can make you the victim of one careless slip in the sack. The U.S. theatrical trailer and a 49-image gallery are also included.

Then we go truckin' on disc five with The Long Haul, another one previously on U.S. Blu-ray -- in this case on a disc with The Shadow on the Window and Pick-up Alley as part of the Kit Parker and Mill Creek Noir Archive Volume 3: 1957-1960 set in 2019. Here the American headliner is Victor Mature in what feels like a film noir Brit answer to The Wages of Fear as he plays Harry Miller, an American truck driver stuck in Liverpool where his wife Connie (Anderson) wants to stay. Desperate for work, he gets roped into an unscrupulous trucking ring run by mobster Joe Easy (Allen) whose voluptuous girlfriend, Lynn (Dors), seals the deal by seducing Harry. As anyone who watches '50s British crime films or comedies knows, Dors at full throttle is a wonder to behold-- and that's definitely the case here as she outshines everyone else by a mile. As part of a two-picture deal with Warwick, Mature is functional enough here in a fairly undemanding role except during the film's highlight suspense sequence involving trucking over some very long, rough terrain.

Visually speaking this is definitely the darkest film in the set with an intentionally grainy, sometimes distressed look that gives it a documentary feeling at times. That's reflected in the accurate transfer here which certainly can't be called pretty but does deliver the atmosphere. An insightful new audio commentary with Will Fowler and Vic Pratt covers the frequently rain-choked Liverpool setting, the logistics of the main job, the Frankie Goes to Hollywood connection (yes, really), a surprising detour into borderline Gothic horror territory, and backgrounds on pretty much every actor you see. The 2010 featurette "In for the Long Haul" (9m40s) features interviews with third assistant director Ted Wallis and focus puller Alec Burridge about Dors' often underrated abilities, the process of getting promoted and moved around behind the scenes in the British production system, some noteworthy tricky shots, and the challenges of working with large vehicles in front of multiple cameras. The 1956 short The Long Night Haul (19m40s) is an in-depth look at the British Road Service’s general haulage truck division, including some fantastic footage of how the vehicles are assembled by hand in warehouses. The theatrical trailer and a 37-image gallery are also included.

Finally the set closes out on disc six with Fortune Is a Woman, also released in the U.S. as She Played with Fire (with an option to view it with either main title sequence). It's the latter title that was used for the film's prior release on American Blu-ray, presented on a disc with The Tijuana Story and The Case Against Brooklyn as part of that Mill Creek and Kit Parker Noir Archive Volume 3 set. Directed by the venerable Sidney Gilliat, it's one of the best films in the set and a great way to wrap things up on a high note. When a fire breaks out at a country estate, insurance investigator Oliver Branwell (Hawkins) discovers that the lady of the house, Sarah (Dahl again), is a former girlfriend who's now married to the wealthy Tracey Moreton (Price). That's just the beginning though as he learns that the art collection claimed in the fire probably consisted of forgeries, triggering a string of revelations and quite a bit of mortal danger.

Again much of the fun here is spotting notable cast members beyond the stars (who all do excellent work here), and in this case you get quite a few including Christopher Lee (sporting a black eye) in a small but memorable role, future 007 regular Geoffrey Keen and early Hitchcock star Malcolm Keen, busy character actor Bernard Miles, and a particularly strong role for Greta Gynt, a fixture in British thrillers since the '30s. It's more than deserving of the special edition treatment, and that's what you get here with a fine transfer and a small but substantial batch of extras starting with an excellent Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby audio commentary. They cover everything pertinent about the cast, the Launder and Gilliat legacy, the source novel by Winston Graham (Marnie and Poldark), and much more. A third audio option, "The BEHP Interview with Anthony Mendleson," is a 1993 discussion between the film's costume designer (who passed away three years later) and Linda Wood and Dave Robson, extensively going through his entire career including numerous Ealing classics, Thunderball, Dragonslayer, and The Keep among many others. Hawkins also appears, verbally at least, as the narrator of the 1953 documentary short This Little Ship (12m) looking at the process leading to England's first nuclear weapons test via the presence of one pivotal sea-craft. A 37-image gallery is also included.

Reviewed on January 15, 2026