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".
Where Danger Lives / Tension (1950)
Director: John Farrow, John Berry
Starring: Richard Basehart, Faith Domergue, Robert Mitchum, Barry Sullivan, Audrey Trotter
This film noir double feature from the Warner Bros. classic collection includes 'Where Danger Lives' (1950), with Robert Mitchum playing a doctor who... Read more
Where The Sidewalk Ends (1950)
7.6/10
Director: Otto Preminger
Starring: Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill
'Laura' director Otto Preminger reunited with stars Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney for this moody crime drama in which Andrews is a violent cop who acc... 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
Night and the City (1950)
8/10
Director: Jules Dassin
Starring: Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh Marlowe, Francis L Sullivan
Two-bit hustler Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) longs for the easy life. Trailed by an inglorious history of go-nowhere schemes, he stumbles on a chanc... Read more
Stage Fright (1950)
7.1/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding, Richard Todd, Alastair Sim, Sybil...
In Alfred Hitchcock's world, theatres are where danger stalks the wings, characters are not what they seem and that "final curtain" can drop any secon... Read more
Gun Crazy (1950)
7.7/10
Director: Joseph Lewis
Starring: Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Anabel Shaw
When gun fancier Bart Tare sees Annie Laurie Starr's sideshow sharpshooting act, he's a dead-bang goner. He and she go together, as Bart ultimately sa... Read more
James Cagney: City for Conquest / G Men / Each Dawn I Die / White Heat (1949)
7.7/10
Director: Anatole Litvak, Raoul Walsh, William Keighley
Starring: Ann Dvorak, Ann Sheridan, Edmond O'Brien, George Raft, James Cagney, Margaret Li...
James Cagney Box Set. 'White Heat' (1949) - "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" James Cagney's Cody Jarrett - a psychotic thug devoted to his tough-as-na... Read more
The Third Man ( Blu-ray ) (1949)
8.2/10
Director: Carol Reed
Starring: Alida Valli, Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard
Joseph Cotten is pulp fiction writer Holly Matins, who arrives in Vienna to work for his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), only to be told that Lime h... Read more
Under Capricorn (1949)
6.2/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Michael Wilding
Alfred Hitchcock's chilling suspenser stars Joseph Cotten as a convicted killer banished to Australia with wife Ingrid Bergman, who is also his victim... Read more
Criss Cross (1949)
7.6/10
Director: Robert Siodmak
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Dan Duryea, Tony Curtis, Yvonne De Carlo, Stephen McNally
Perennial drifter Steve returns home and quickly gets involved with his old flame Anna - even though she is shacked up with seedy gangster Slim Dundee... Read more