Flicker Alley has announced the release of director Richard Fleischer’s excellent film-noir, Trapped (1949), on Blu-ray.

Before making Hollywood epics such as Tora! Tora! Tora! and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, director Richard Fleischer started his career with a series of low-budget B-features, often taking ripped-from-the-headlines crime stories and spinning them into noir gold… of which an exquisite example is 1949’s endlessly entertaining Trapped.

A young Lloyd Bridges stars as hardboiled hood Tris Stewart, a convicted counterfeiter doing time in the Atlanta pen. When a fresh batch of fake bills starts circulating, Treasury agents bail Stewart out to help lead them to the maker of the fake plates. But Tris double-crosses the Feds, hooking up with his gun-moll sweetie (22-year-old Barbara Payton in her breakout role).

They plan to heist the plates and hightail it across the border. With the Feds closing in and the double-crosses piling up, Stewart finds himself between a rock and a hard place… and this time, he may be trapped for good!

Although long sought by the Film Noir Foundation, Trapped was believed to have suffered the unfortunate fate of many B-films of the era—oblivion. But when a private collector deposited a 35mm acetate print at the Harvard Film Archive, the Film Noir Foundation and UCLA Film & Television Archive (with support from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Charitable Trust [The HFPA Trust]) sprang into action, restoring the film. The result, presented in a Blu-ray/DVD dual-format edition by Flicker Alley, honors the pitch-perfect performances, assured direction, and gorgeous cinematography of this edge-of-your-seat, noir classic.

Release date: December 31, 2019

Genre: Film Noir / Thriller

Director: Richard Fleischer

Cast: Lloyd Bridges, Barbara Payton, John Hoyt

Country: USA

Production Year: 1949

Discs: 1 Blu-ray Disc

Region: Free

Run Time: 78 minutes

Formats: Black and White; 1.37:1

Audio: English

Subtitle: English

Studio: Flicker Alley

SPECS

SPECIAL FEATURES

NEW RESTORATION OF THE FILM

“Freeing Trapped” — a mini-documentary on the film’s creation and history, featuring interviews with Eddie Muller, Donna Lethal, and others.

“A Sedulous Cinderella: Richard Fleischer Remembered” — a remembrance of the man, the director, and the father, by his son, Mark Fleischer.

Audio Commentary Track — Featuring author Alan K. Rode and film historian Julie Kirgo.

24-Page Souvenir Booklet — Featuring rare photographs, poster art, and commentary by “Czar of Noir” Eddie Muller.

REGION-FREE

Trapped (1949) trailer

Notice: The picture quality of these photos and videos do not reflect the picture quality of the blu-ray or DVD in this package.