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".
Sherlock Holmes: The Spider Woman / The Pearl of Death (1943)
7.6/10
Director: Roy William Neill
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Nigel Bruce, Rondo Hatton
'The Spider Woman' (1943) - Adrea Spedding (Gale Sondergaard) makes her social calls accompanied by an unnervingly unsmiling mute child. She is secret... Read more
Please Murder Me! (1956)
6.5/10
Director: Peter Godfrey
Starring: Angela Lansbury, Dick Foran, Raymond Burr, Denver Pyle
Attorney Craig Carlson (Raymond Burr, Perry Mason, Ironside) is a man in trouble with the law. A well practiced professional, he opens his doors to hi... Read more
Sherlock Holmes: Pursuit to Algiers / The Woman in Green (1945)
7.6/10
Director: Roy William Neill
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Henry Daniell, Hillary Brooke, Nigel Bruce, Leslie Vincent
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are widely celebrated as cinema's perfect Homes and Watson, filming more than a dozen adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan D... Read more
The Big Combo (1955)
7.4/10
Director: Joseph Lewis
Starring: Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Brian Donlevy
A violent film Noir about the struggle between a crime syndicate and forces of law and order, in the shape of a persistent cop who is out to nail a cu... Read more
Pickup on South Street (Blu-ray) (1953)
7.7/10
Director: Samuel Fuller
Starring: Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter
A tough, brutal and well-made film, starring Richard Widmark as a petty thief who inadvertently acquires a top secret microfilm and becomes a target f... Read more
Sherlock Holmes: Terror by Night / Dressed to Kill (1946)
7.6/10
Director: Roy William Neill
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Mary Forbes, Nigel Bruce
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are widely celebrated as cinema's perfect Homes and Watson, filming more than a dozen adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan D... Read more
Sherlock Holmes in Washington / Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1942)
Director: Roy William Neill
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Hillary Brooke, Milburn Stone, Nigel Bruce, Halliwell Hobbes, Ma...
'Sherlock Holmes in Washington' (1942) - When a British secret agent carrying vital documents is kidnapped on his way to Washington, the ministry call... Read more
The Damned Don't Cry (1950)
7.2/10
Director: Vincent Sherman
Starring: Joan Crawford, Kent Smith, Steve Cochran, Selena Royle, David Brian
Joan Crawford stars in this riveting character study about a woman who will stop at nothing to escape her impoverished lifestyle. Told in flashback, t... Read more
Lady in a Cage (1964)
6.9/10
Director: Walter Grauman
Starring: James Caan, Olivia de Havilland, Rafael Campos
Olivia de Havilland plays an aging, wealthy widow who is recuperating from a recent hip operation and is forced to use an elevator to get from one sto... Read more
Female Jungle (1956)
5.6/10
Director: Bruno Vesota
Starring: Jayne Mansfield, Lawrence Tierney, John Carradine
Aka 'The Hangover'. Taking place over the course of a night this fifties take on film-noir tells the story of the murder of a glamorous blonde actress... Read more