The Kirk Douglas Collection

Triple bill of films starring Kirk Douglas. In 'The Big Trees' (1952), a religious settlement is under threat from unscrupulous businessmen who want to get rid of the settlers, strip the land of sequoias, and thereby destroy the environment.

Jim Fallon (Douglas) is one of these men but his plans involve leaving the settlers in peace.

With a violent confrontation between the two sides on the cards, Fallon starts to reassess his own behaviour and begins to wonder whether he is on the right side.

In 'My Dear Secretary' (1948), budding young writer Stephanie Gaylord (Laraine Day) is chuffed to get a job working as the secretary for celebrated author Owen Waterbury (Douglas).

But while she expects to breathe the rarefied air of a great literary talent, what she actually gets is a madcap playboy who is constantly chasing the ladies and indulging in all kind of unhinged slapstickery with his lunatic flatmate (Keenan Wynn).

Of course, it's not long before the pair fall for each other, but with such wildly different characters does their fledgling love affair really stand any chance of working out?

In 'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers' (1946), Sam Masterson's (Van Heflin) car stalls outside the small town where he grew up, and he soon finds himself caught up in intrigues he thought he had left far behind.

His childhood friends Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) and Walter (Douglas) are now married, wealthy, and making preparations for Walter to run for mayor.

Sam's arrival in town disturbs them; he is the only person who knows their dark, murderous secret, and they are convinced that he has returned to blackmail them.

An Oscar-nominated screenplay, and solid direction from Lewis Milestone ('All Quiet on the Western Front'), make for a classic, noir-tinged melodrama.