I’m a big Humphrey Bogart fan but I’m not sure if I have ever seen 1951’s The Enforcer.

Aside from sharing its title with a much later Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry sequel, I know it is a police procedural cum film noir. The movie was released under the title Murder Inc. in the UK, which is somewhat confusing as there is also a later 60s gangster movie called Murder Inc. The movie was also apparently partly directed (uncredited) by the great Raoul Walsh, who had previously directed Bogart in gangster movies The Roaring Twenties and High Sierra. Interestingly, this time Bogie plays a crusading District Attorney, not a PI or a gangster. 

Featured here are the Belgian poster and a US lobby card. This is the only original lobby card I have in my collection. These measure around 20 x 26cm, landscape format, and were usually produced in sets of 4-8 to accompany a movie’s release. They were printed on light card for use in the lobby of cinemas, hence the name, and designs were usually a hybrid of posters and movie star photos. Lobby cards are no longer used today, and some can be very collectible.

I have been toying with getting the Belgian poster for The Enforcer framed. It would make a nice retro gangster pairing with a James Cagney poster I have for Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, but I would like to see both movies first! The lobby card I like but it is not something I would normally collect or display so it is up for sale here.