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".
Sorry, Wrong Number (Blu-ray) (1948)
7.6/10
Director: Anatole Litvak
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Wendell Corey, Ann Richards
Based on the acclaimed radio program this stylized thriller features Barbara Stanwyck in her Oscar nominated performance as the young, rich, bedridden... Read more
The Face Behind The Mask (Blu-ray) (1941)
7.2/10
Director: Robert Florey
Starring: Peter Lorre, Evelyn Keyes
Janos Szabo is a kind, innocent immigrant to America. Just after he arrives though, he is caught in a fire and his face is horribly burned and disfigu... Read more
House Of Bamboo (Blu-ray) (1955)
6.8/10
Director: Samuel Fuller
Starring: Cameron Mitchell, Robert Ryan, Robert Stack
Samuel Fuller directs this noir classic set in post-World War II Tokyo. After organising a robbery that results in the murder of an American GI, gang... Read more
The Crimson Kimono (Blu-ray) (1959)
6.9/10
Director: Samuel Fuller
Starring: Victoria Shaw, James Shigeta, Glenn Corbett, Anna Lee
Classic, hard-to-find Sam Fuller pic is intriguing noir about two detective partners, one caucasian and one Japanese, who try to solve a complicated m... Read more
The Unguarded Moment (1956)
6.3/10
Director: Harry Keller
Starring: Esther Williams, George Nader, John Saxon, Edward Andrews, Les Tremayne, Jack Al...
A beautiful teacher is protective of a high school boy who sexually harassed her, and later he becomes a murder suspect. A woman has recently been... Read more
Guest In The House (1944)
6.2/10
Director: John Brahm
Starring: Anne Baxter, Ralph Bellamy, Ruth Warrick, Marie McDonald
A young manipulative woman moves in with her fiancé's family and turns a happy household against itself. 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
Cape Fear (1961)
7.3/10
Director: J Lee Thompson
Starring: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen
Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum star in Hollywood's classic tale of revenge and murder. Robert Mitchum is unforgettable as Max Cady, an ex-con determi... Read more
The Set-Up (1948)
7.8/10
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias
One of the best film noirs of the '40s, this atmospheric tale centres around an ageing prize-fighter who refuses to be corrupted by the mob. A great p... 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