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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".

He Ran All the Way (1951)

7.1/10
Director: John Berry
Starring: John Garfield, Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford, Selena Royle

John Garfield plays Nick, a down-on-his-luck small-timer, desperate for a fresh start. A botched robbery forces Nick into hiding, where he meets the c... Read more

House on Telegraph Hill (1951)

7/10
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: Richard Basehart, William Lundigan, Valentina Cortese

To escape war-torn Poland, a former concentration camp inmate (Valentina Cortese) adopts the identity of a deceased fellow prisoner who has a young so... Read more

Strangers on a Train (1951)

8/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman

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The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

7.9/10
Director: John Huston
Starring: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Marilyn Monroe

One of director Huston's most memorable efforts, this taut drama is a brilliantly stylized crime story about a group of hoods plotting a major heist.... 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

Sunset Boulevard ( Blu-ray ) (1950)

8.5/10
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Buster Keaton, Erich Von Stroheim, Fred Clark, Gloria Swanson, Jack Webb, Nancy...

Billy Wilder's classic drama stars Gloria Swanson as reclusive silent movie queen Norma Desmond. Sharing a mansion with her live-in butler/former husb... Read more

Madeleine (1950)

7/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: Ann Todd, Ivan Desny, Leslie Banks

"Madeleine" was inspired by a true story that rocked the English legal system to its foundations in the mid-19th century. Told in flashback, the film... Read more

Woman on the Run (1950)

7.4/10
Director: Norman Foster
Starring: Ann Sheridan, Dennis O'Keefe, Robert Keith, Ross Elliot

Top-notch crime story about an artist who goes into hiding after witnessing a mob murder. His seemingly uncaring wife decides to help police and an ad... Read more

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

8.5/10
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Buster Keaton, Erich Von Stroheim, Fred Clark, Gloria Swanson, Jack Webb, Nancy...

Billy Wilder's classic drama stars Gloria Swanson as reclusive silent movie queen Norma Desmond. Sharing a mansion with her live-in butler/former husb... Read more

Act of Violence / Mystery Street (1950)

Director: Fred Zinnemann, John Sturges
Starring: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, Elsa Lanchester

This film noir double feature includes Fred Zinnemann's dark drama about a crippled G.I. stalking the commander that betrayed him in 'Act of Violence'... Read more