Description

Written by Sydney Boehm (The Big Heat) and directed by Hugo Fregonese (Man in the Attic), Black Tuesday is an explosive crime drama starring one of Hollywood’s most beloved tough guys: Edward G. Robinson, the star of Little Caesar, The Last Gangster, I Am the Law and Key Largo.

Vincent Canelli (Robinson) is a violent mobster serving time on Death Row – but he has no intention of going to the electric chair. Following a plan put together by his moll, Hatti (Jean Parker, Dead Man’s Eyes), Canelli orchestrates a jailbreak on the night before his execution and takes several hostages in the process. Canelli is joined by fellow Death Row inmate Peter Manning (Peter Graves, Stalag 17), and hopes to discover the location of a stash of stolen loot Manning hid away before his conviction. But is Manning willing to pay the price for freedom and look the other way as the psychopathic Canelli revels in murder and mayhem?

While the Hollywood gangster movie was at the height of its success in the early 1930s, it resurged in the 1940s and into the next decade as crime pictures found a new popularity in the post-war period. Standing tall alongside Key Largo, White Heat and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Black Tuesday is one of the finest gangster films to emerge from this later cycle – as old-fashioned wiseguys met with film noir sensibilities. The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present this key crime picture of the 1950s on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK from an astonishing new restoration.

FEATURES:
Limited Edition (2000 copies)
Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Scott Saslow
1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a 2K scan of the 35mm fine grains
Optional English subtitles
A brand new audio commentary with film noir expert Sergio Angelini, host of the Tipping My Fedora podcast
From Argentina to Hollywood – a brand new interview with film historian Sheldon Hall on director Hugo Fregonese
No Escape – A brand new video essay by Imogen Sara Smith, author of In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City
Theatrical trailer
A collector’s booklet featuring new writing on Black Tuesday by critic Barry Forshaw and film writer Craig Ian Mann