Login

Classic Film Noir

Here be those darkly vexing offerings one should include in their diet periodically. Film Noir (literally 'black film or cinema') was coined by French film critics (first by Frank Nino in 1946) who noticed the trend of how 'dark' and black the looks and themes were of many American crime and detective films released in France following the war. It was a style of black and white American films that first evolved in the 1940s, became prominent in the post-war era, and lasted in a classic "Golden Age" period until about 1965. With the list below Alice has included many "Contempory Noirs", making browsing that much more "coloured"..... Right: Orson Wells stars and directs "A Touch Of Evil".

Nightmare Alley (1947)

7.8/10
Director: Edmund Goulding
Starring: Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray

This noir classic tracks the rise and fall of con man/carnival worker Tyrone Power. Seducing side-show performer Joan Blondell to learn the secret of... Read more

North by Northwest (1959)

8.3/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Cary Grant, James Mason, Eva Marie Saint, Leo G Carroll, Jessie Royce Landis, Ma...

One of Hitchcock's greatest films. Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill, the suave ad man mistaken for a Federal Agent, trapped in a web of intrigue that... Read more

North by Northwest ( Blu-ray ) (1959)

8.3/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis, Leo G Carroll, Ma...

One of Hitchcock's greatest films. Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill, the suave ad man mistaken for a Federal Agent, trapped in a web of intrigue that... Read more

Notorious (1946)

8/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Cary Grant

In this brilliant allegory of love and betrayal, Hitchcock fuses two of his favourite elements: suspense and romance. A beautiful woman with a tainted... Read more

Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)

7.4/10
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: Ed Begley, Gloria Grahame, Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters

Tense and gritty, this heist thriller from master Robert Wise sees racism and crime boiling over! Ed Begley is putting together a crew for one big tak... Read more

Orson Welles Collection: The Stranger / King Lear / David and Goliath / The Trial / The Herb Shriner Show (1956)

Director: Orson Welles
Starring: Edward G Robinson, Loretta Young, Orson Welles, Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau,...

A collection of 4 classic films from acclaimed director/actor Orson Welles including: 'The Stranger' (1946) - A suspenseful cat-and-mouse thriller wit... Read more

Out of the Past (1947)

8.1/10
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas

This masterful brooding film noir has Robert Mitchum playing a man with a past embroiled with murder and deceit at the hands of a reckless woman and a... Read more

Out of the Past (Blu-ray) (1947)

8/10
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas

This masterful brooding film noir has Robert Mitchum playing a man with a past embroiled with murder and deceit at the hands of a reckless woman and a... Read more

Peeping Tom (1960)

7.7/10
Director: Michael Powell
Starring: Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Brenda Bruce

Director Michael Powell's disturbing and fascinating cinema experiment in fear was denounced when first released but has gone on to become a cult clas... Read more

Peeping Tom (Blu-ray) (1960)

7.7/10
Director: Michael Powell
Starring: Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Brenda Bruce

Director Michael Powell's disturbing and fascinating cinema experiment in fear was denounced when first released but has gone on to become a cult clas... Read more