3 Blondes In His Life (DVD)

Crooked, womanizing insurance investigator Bill Collins disappears in Los Angeles while allegedly on a business trip. The missing man, who may have double-crossed his New York based company, is finally found dead. Urbane, hard-living private eye, Duke Wallace, is hired to get to the bottom of the mystery. Duke discovers that Collins had a mini-harem of voluptuous blondes, and he questions each of them, with an interrogation technique that is one part detective work and two parts bourbon-soaked seduction. As Duke approaches the truth, he's forced to turn his flesh-fondling palms into face-smashing fists. Violent thugs try to keep him from uncovering a criminal conspiracy involving jewel heists and murder, but Duke, no stranger to violence himself, won't be easy to stop.

With atmospheric location shooting and dialogue rife with hep-cat lingo, Three Blondes in His Life is a hard-hitting and surprisingly potent slice of pulp fiction. Famed Hollywood production manager Leon Chooluck (Apocalypse Now, El Cid, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers), takes a rare turn behind the camera as director of this jazzy, jet-age film noir. Rugged Jock Mahoney (The Range Rider (1951-1953), Tarzan Goes To India (1962)), handles the role of tough guy Duke Wallace with grit and grace. Stunning beauty Greta Thysen (Miss Denmark of 1952) had a relatively short movie career and is best remembered for her appearances in Terror is a Man (1959) and Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962).

• drama