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".
The Skin Game (1931)
5.8/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Helen Haye, C V France, Edmund Gwenn, John Longden
Early Hitchcock drama, based on John Galsworthy's popular stage play, that was decidedly atypical of the Master's subsequent suspensers. The aristocra... Read more
Mr Moto's Last Warning (1939)
6.6/10
Director: Norman Foster
Starring: George Sanders, John Carradine, Peter Lorre
Japanese detective Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) finds himself hip-deep in international espionage in this adventure tale... It's a warning the folks running... Read more
Lauren Bacall: Key Largo / Blood Alley / Dark Passage / Designing Woman (1957)
9/10
Director: Delmer Daves, John Huston, Vincente Minnelli, William A Wellman
Starring: Edward G Robinson, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall Box Set. 'Dark Passage' (1947) - Humphrey Bogart is a prison escapee framed for murder who emerges from plastic surgery with a new face.... Read more
Blackmail / Murder! (1929)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Anny Ondra, Herbert Marshall, John Longden, Sara Allgood, Norah Baring
'Blackmail' (1929): Hitchcock's first sound picture is the story of a young girl who stabs an artist to death in defense of her honour. Her boyfriend,... Read more
The Skin Game / Rich and Strange / Number Seventeen (1931)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Betty Amann, Edmund Gwenn, Frank Lawton, Henry Kendall, Jill Esmond, Joan Barry,...
'The Skin Game' (1931), based on John Galsworthy's popular stage play, was decidedly atypical of the Master's subsequent suspensers. The aristocratic... Read more
The Silent Films of Alfred Hitchcock: The Manxman / The Ring (1927)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Anny Ondra, Lillian Hall-Davis, Carl Brisson, Malcolm Keen
"The Ring" (1927) One of Hitchcock's best silent films, about boxer "Round One" Stander, a circus attraction who fights all comers. When he marries th... 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
Quicksand (1950)
6.6/10
Director: Irving Pichel
Starring: Mickey Rooney, Jeanne Cagney, Peter Lorre, Barbara Bates
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 afford to take hi... Read more
The Manchurian Candidate (Blu-ray) (1962)
7.9/10
Director: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Angela Lansbury, Frank Sinatra, Henry Silva, Janet Leigh, Laurence Harvey
One of the finest political thrillers ever made. John Frankenheimer's blend of Cold War paranoia and sly satire stars Laurence Harvey as a former Kore... Read more
(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