Elliot Lavine screened Sears' CELL 2455, DEATH ROW shortly after we featured Sears in the NC e-zine (about ten years ago). William Campbell has his patented sneer cooking with gas, and delivers a solid voice-over in addition to his turn as the fictionalized version of Caryl Chessman.
Also noteworthy is ESCAPE FROM SAN QUENTIN (1957), which takes a plot point from CELL 2455 and expands it into its own intricate little thriller, which also has an interesting score from Laurindo Almeida that just might have given Irving Lerner the idea for Perry Botkin's unorthodox music for MURDER BY CONTRACT (1958).
These are probably the most distinctive of Sears' forays into noir/crime territory, though a number of his other such films are serviceable, if somewhat derivative. He actually had more natural affinity for westerns and science fiction films, where he seemed to have more latitude to shape actors' performances.
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