Cyd Charisse in Nicholas Ray’s PARTY GIRL Available on Blu-ray November 30th From Warner Archive

“Stick close to me puss. You’re bringing me good luck.”

Cyd Charisse in Nicholas Ray’s PARTY GIRL (1958) will be available on Blu-ray November 30th from Warner Archive

When maverick director Nicholas Ray (Johnny Guitar, Rebel Without a Cause) turns his talents to a gangster movie, a familiar genre becomes startling and new. Under the auspices of long-time M-G-M musical producer Joe Pasternak, and with the added gloss of the CinemaScope widescreen and Metrocolor, the auteur created a cult classic. Set in 1930s Chicago, Party Girl follows a bum-legged mouthpiece for the mob (Robert Taylor) and a gorgeous, wised-up vamp (Cyd Charisse) who fall in love, try to go straight… and head straight for trouble. Ray deepens the drama and heightens the violence with filmmaking artistry that has given Party Girl cult status: a screen painted in sinister ebony and blood red, an urban landscape of shattered glass and shattered bodies, and a scene where a Jean Harlow-besotted mobster learns his idol has married – and shreds her photo with a rat-a-tat of lead. If the title tune under the credits sounds like it’s coming from a familiar voice, the studio kept thing ‘in the family’ with the vocal warbled by Charisse’s husband and frequent Metro musical leading man Tony Martin.

PARTY GIRL stars Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse, Lee J. Cobb, and John Ireland

Includes Theatrical Trailer (HD)