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".
Dark Passage (1947)
7.6/10
Director: Delmer Daves
Starring: Agnes Moorehead, Bruce Bennett, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall
In Vichy France, fishing boat captain Harry (Humphrey Bogart) avoids getting involved in politics, refusing to smuggle French Resistance fighters into... Read more
He Walked by Night (1948)
7.2/10
Director: Alfred L Werker
Starring: Jack Webb, Richard Basehart, Roy Roberts, Scott Brady, Whit Bissell
Based on a true case, this fine film noir details the Los Angeles Police Department's search for a technically adept but mentally unbalanced thief who... Read more
Killer's Kiss (1955)
6.7/10
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Frank Silvera, Jamie Smith, Irene Kane
Killer's Kiss is a 1955 movie produced, directed and written by a 27 year old Stanley Kubrick. Coming off the heels of a poorly received first effort,... Read more
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
8.1/10
Director: John Huston
Starring: Peter Lorre, Mary Astor, Humphrey Bogart
Even if you've seen this film so often that you know all the dialogue, it never ceases to amaze. Great actors Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet a... Read more
The Stranger (1946)
7.4/10
Director: Orson Welles
Starring: Orson Welles, Loretta Young, Edward G Robinson
Orson Welles followed his productions of 'Citizen Kane' and 'The Magnificent Ambersons" with this thriller, in which he stars as an escaped Nazi war c... Read more
Desert Fury (1947)
6.7/10
Director: Lewis Allen
Starring: Lizabeth Scott, John Hodiak, Burt Lancaster, Mary Astor, Wendell Corey
In the sweltering heat of the Nevada desert lies the small gambling oasis Purple Sage, run by the tough talking Fritzi Haller who stubbornly controls... 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
The Postman Always Rings Twice ( Blu-ray ) (1946)
7.5/10
Director: Tay Garnett
Starring: Audrey Totter, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn, John Garfield, Lana Turner, Leon Ame...
Lana Turner and John Garfield are the illicit lovers in this James M Cain thriller, who plot to murder the husband who is standing in the way of a rea... Read more
Shock (1946)
6.3/10
Director: Alfred L Werker
Starring: Vincent Price, Lynn Bari, Frank Latimore, Anabel Shaw
In this thriller, psychiatrist Dr. Cross (Vincent Price) kills his wife and expects to get away with murder, until he discovers that the slaying was o... Read more
Sherlock Holmes: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1939)
7.6/10
Director: Alfred L Werker, Roy William Neill
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Ida Lupino, Nigel Bruce, Dennis Hoey, George Zucco
'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' (1939) - Evil mastermind Professor Moriarty (George Zucco) escapes a murder conviction when Holmes (Basil Rathbone... Read more