On hand to provide an intro is Imogen Smith, whose article in the Ryan series (on 1947's THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH) will not be cross-referenced to a screening of that oddly compelling Jean Renoir melo-noir; Criterion's programming decisions play it straight down the line, providing prospective viewers with no rarities:
CROSSFIRE (!947)
CAUGHT (1949)
THE SET-UP (1949)
ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1951)
CLASH BY NIGHT (1952)*
BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955)
MEN IN WAR (1957)*
ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (1959)
THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
Titles with asterisks (*) are not going to available until June, which makes one wonder why Criterion didn't just decide to make the entire series start on June 1, but--whatever...
It's a solid collection of films gathered under the title DANGEROUS MEN, but it does tend to typecast Ryan, who had more even more range than what is demonstrated in the series, which focuses mostly on presenting him through the lens of film noir. Since Criterion doesn't have to worry about inducing folk to commit to buying tickets and sitting in an actual movie theatre, this example of "playing it safe" is disappointing given that there's no risk involved in expanding the range of coverage.
Criterion's overall May lineup has many fine choices, including a Mitchell Leisen retrospective, plus a full range of genres and timeframes. You can view the entire May schedule (though, oddly, not in chronological order this time) here:
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7368-the-criterion-channel-s-may-2021-lineup?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=monthly-lineup-announcement&utm_content=may-2021
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