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".
(Under Quicksand) Mickey Rooney Triple: Quicksand (1950) / My Outlaw Brother (1951) / Mickey The Great (1939)
Director: Irving Pichel
Starring: Robert Preston, Mickey Rooney, Robert Stack, Jeanne Cagney, Peter Lorre, Barbara...
'Quicksand' - Mickey Rooney is cast once again as the everyman, only this noir crime drama sees him in real jeopardy as Dan, a young man who can't aff... Read more
23 Paces To Baker Street (1956)
7/10
Director: Henry Hathaway
Starring: Cecil Parker, Van Johnson, Vera Miles
A blind American writer (Van Johnson) who is living in London, overhears a kidnapping plot, but neither his friends nor the authorities believe him, c... Read more
5 Fingers (1952)
7.8/10
Director: Joseph L Mankiewicz
Starring: James Mason, Michael Rennie, Danielle Darrieux
During World War II, the valet for the British ambassador in Turkey tires of his job and plans to photograph secret documents belonging to his employe... Read more
A Life at Stake (1955)
5.8/10
Starring: Angela Lansbury, Keith Andes, Claudia Barrett, Jane Darwell, Gavin Gordon
An out-of-work architect meets a married woman who has a business proposition for him. The architect begins to suspect the woman's interest in him is... Read more
Act of Violence / Mystery Street (1950)
Director: Fred Zinnemann, John Sturges
Starring: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, Elsa Lanchester
This film noir double feature includes Fred Zinnemann's dark drama about a crippled G.I. stalking the commander that betrayed him in 'Act of Violence'... Read more
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season 1 (1955)
8.6/10
Starring: Lorne Greene, Cloris Leachman, Vera Miles, Claude Rains, Joanne Woodward, Charle...
Join the legendary Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock for all 39 episodes of the first season of the Emmy Award-winning murder mystery series that in... Read more
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season 2 (1956)
8.6/10
The Master of Suspense is back with more tales of murder, mystery and the macabre in the complete second season of the groundbreaking television class... Read more
Anatomy Of A Murder (1959)
8.1/10
Director: Otto Preminger
Starring: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Eve Arden
A riveting courtroom drama pitting small town lawyer James Stewart against big city prosecutor George C Scott, in a trial of Ben Gazzara, accused of m... Read more
Angel Face (1952)
7.3/10
Director: Otto Preminger
Starring: Barbara O'Neil, Herbert Marshall, Jean Simmons, Leon Ames, Robert Mitchum
This noir gem stars Robert Mitchum as an ambulance driver who catches the eye of a wealthy femme fatale (Jean Simmons). Hired as a chauffeur for Simmo... Read more
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
8/10
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Ann Sheridan, George Bancroft
A classic Warner Bros 'urban crime drama' of two kids from the wrong side of the tracks - Hell's Kitchen in New York; one becomes a priest (Pat O'Brie... Read more