711 Ocean Drive [Blu-ray]

Edmund O’Brien (The Web) gets involved in the mob’s bookmaking racket in 711 Ocean Drive, also starring Joanne Dru (Red River), and Otto Kruger (Escape in the Fog). Telephone operator Mal Granger uses his technical knowledge to run an illegal bookmaking operation, but when Granger falls for a mobster’s wife, and with both the police and the syndicate on his tail, it’s only a matter of time before his luck runs out. With a ‘ripped from the headlines’ approach which required the crew to have police protection on location, 711 Ocean Drive is a riveting film noir, one made with such realism by director Joseph M Newman (Abandoned) that it was shown to a Senate investigation into organised crime.