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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".

Fallen Angel (1945)

7.2/10
Director: Otto Preminger
Starring: Alice Faye, Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Charles Bickford, Bruce Cabot, John Car...

Otto Preminger and Dana Andrews followed their successful partnership in the making of 'Laura' with this lesser-known noir. Andrews plays a down-on-hi... Read more

Female Jungle (1956)

5.6/10
Director: Bruno Vesota
Starring: Jayne Mansfield, Lawrence Tierney, John Carradine

Aka 'The Hangover'. Taking place over the course of a night this fifties take on film-noir tells the story of the murder of a glamorous blonde actress... Read more

Film Noir Vol. 2: Detour / Scarlet Street (1945)

Director: Edgar G Ulmer, Fritz Lang
Starring: Tom Neal, Edmund MacDonald, Ann Savage, Edward G Robinson, Joan Bennett

Detour (1945) - This noir masterwork follows a New York pianist who thumbs his way cross-country, joined by a femme fatale intent on blackmailing him.... Read more

Five Miles to Midnight (1963)

6.4/10
Director: Anatole Litvak
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Gig Young, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Sophia Loren

Lisa (Sophia Loren) marries Robert (Anthony Perkins), a domineering, jealous American and becomes trapped in a violent marriage. Much to her relief, R... Read more

Five Minutes to Live / The Pride of Jesse Hallam (1962)

Director: Gary Nelson, Bill Karn
Starring: Johnny Cash, Cay Forester, Ronnie Howard, Donald Woods, Brenda Vaccaro

'Five Minutes to Live' (1962) - The Man in Black shines in this classic crime drama, country music as Johnny Cabot, a violent, guitar playing ex-con w... Read more

Force Of Evil (1948)

7.4/10
Director: Abraham Polonsky
Starring: John Garfield, Beatrice Pearson, 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

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

7.6/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall

In 1939, the editor of the New York Daily Globe sends Haverstock, a crime reporter, into Europe in the hope of getting a fresh angle. Naive and wholly... Read more

Gaslight (1944)

7.8/10
Director: George Cukor
Starring: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten

Ingrid Bergman won her first Oscar for her stunning portrayal of a susceptible young woman who marries the suave, romantic Charles Boyer, never suspec... Read more

Gilda (1946)

7.7/10
Director: Charles Vidor
Starring: George Macready, Glenn Ford, Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth stars in this classic drama as part of a problematical love triangle involving husband, George Macready and his partner Glenn Ford and s... Read more

Gilda ( Blu-ray ) (1946)

7.7/10
Director: Charles Vidor
Starring: George Macready, Glenn Ford, Joseph Calleia, Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth stars in this classic drama as part of a problematical love triangle involving husband, George Macready and his partner Glenn Ford and s... Read more