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 Case of the Shoeless Engineer (1954)
7.6/10
Director: Sheldon Reynolds
Starring: Ronald Howard, H. Marion Crawford
This series was filmed in France and produced by Sheldon Reynolds, who also directed most of the episodes. Some of the stories were based on Arthur Co... Read more
Sherlock Holmes: The Case Of The Imposter Mystery (1954)
7.6/10
Director: Sheldon Reynolds
Starring: Ronald Howard, H. Marion Crawford
This series was filmed in France and produced by Sheldon Reynolds, who also directed most of the episodes. Some of the stories were based on Arthur Co... Read more
Sabotage (Blu-ray) (1936)
7.1/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Sylvia Sidney, Oscar Homolka, John Loder
Based on Joseph Conrad's 'Secret Agent' in which Sylvia Sidney suspects her husband, a theatre manager, is keeping something from her - he is a sabote... Read more
In Cold Blood (1967)
8/10
Director: Richard Brooks
Starring: Robert Blake, John Forsythe, Scott Wilson, Jeff Corey
An engrossing true story, masterfully adapted from the Truman Capote novel, tracing two young killers, their motives and eventual arrest after the mur... Read more
The Naked City (Blu-ray) (1948)
7.6/10
Director: Jules Dassin
Starring: Barry Fitzgerald, Don Taylor, Frank Conroy, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart
When a beautiful young model is found dead in her apartment, the police initially suspect it was suicide. But after the coroner discovers it was murde... Read more
The Mystery of Mr Wong (1939)
6.4/10
Director: William Nigh
Starring: Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Dorothy Tree
In the second instalment of the Mr Wong series Boris Karloff stars as the inscrutable detective, enlisted to solve another mystery. The largest star s... Read more
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
7.5/10
Director: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Judith Anderson, Kirk Douglas, Lizabeth Scott, Van Heflin
Young Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) inadvertently causes the death of her cruel, authoritarian aunt. Martha lies to the cops, and Walter (Kirk Douglas), w... Read more
Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Thistle Killer (1954)
7.6/10
Director: Sheldon Reynolds
Starring: Ronald Howard, H. Marion Crawford
This series was filmed in France and produced by Sheldon Reynolds, who also directed most of the episodes. Some of the stories were based on Arthur Co... Read more
La Fuerza Del Destion/Force Of Evil (Blu-ray) (1948)
7.3/10
Director: Abraham Polonsky
Starring: Beatrice Pearson, John Garfield, Thomas Gomez
Film Noir featuring John Garfield as an attorney who works for a mobster and finds himself caught in a numbers racket scheme that could bankrupt New Y... Read more
Suddenly (Blu-ray) (1954)
6.8/10
Director: Lewis Allen
Starring: Frank Sinatra, James Gleason, Sterling Hayden
Grand entertainment with Frank Sinatra perfectly cast as a leader of a gang of assassins out to kill the President of the United States. With Sterling... Read more