Film Noir

  • Jack Bernhard – Decoy (1946)

    1941-1950CrimeFilm NoirJack BernhardUSA
    Decoy (1946)
    Decoy (1946)

    A fatally shot female gangleader recounts her sordid life of crime to a police officer just before she dies.Read More »

  • Kô Nakahira – Chizu no nai machi AKA The Jungle Block (1960)

    Kô Nakahira1951-1960CrimeFilm NoirJapan
    Chizu no nai machi (1960)
    Chizu no nai machi (1960)

    A young doctor falls into a despair of developments. He plans to revenge the disgrace inflicted upon his sister, whose engagement was broken as a result.

    Quote:
    One of the darkest Nakahira films, a tale of gentrification and sexual violence.Read More »

  • Richard Fleischer – The Narrow Margin (1952)

    1951-1960250 Quintessential Film NoirsCrimeFilm NoirRichard FleischerUSA
    The Narrow Margin (1952)
    The Narrow Margin (1952)

    A Fortune If They Seal Her Lips!…A Bullet If They Fail!

    (Taken from IMDB) Plot-When a mobsters wife decides to testify against his evil deeds she goes undercover to avoid being killed. Now that he’s coming to trial she has to be escorted across country via train in order to testify. Cop Walter Brown and his partner are assigned the task, but the mob are on their trail.

    A great low budget film noir with one of the greats, Charles McGraw.Read More »

  • Charles Vidor – Blind Alley (1939)

    Charles Vidor1931-1940Film NoirUSA
    Blind Alley (1939)
    Blind Alley (1939)

    One of the very first Hollywood films that could be described as a noir, this brisk psychological thriller stars Chester Morris as an inmate who escapes from prison and hides out in the home of a famed psychiatrist (Ralph Bellamy). As the hostage doctor begins analyzing his captor and dredges up the secrets of his troubled past, the tables gradually turn. With its striking cinematography by Lucien Ballard and Freudian themes, BLIND ALLEY is an intriguing early expression of film noir.Read More »

  • Elia Kazan – Boomerang! (1947)

    1941-1950CrimeElia KazanFilm NoirUSA
    Boomerang! (1947)
    Boomerang! (1947)

    Quote:
    Boomerang, directed by Elia Kazan, is a chilling film noir, the true story about the murder of a priest, the subsequent arrest and trial of a jobless drifter, and the efforts of young state’s attorney Henry Harvey (Dana Andrews) to uncover the truth. Closely based on the actual 1924 murder of Fr. Hubert Dahme in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the film was directed by the young Elia Kazan in a highly effective, semi-documentary style. Kazan shot most of the film on location, using high-contrast cinematography and an extremely mobile camera to create a palpable sense of urgency. The screenplay, expertly crafted by Richard Murphy received an Academy Award nomination.Read More »

  • Lewis Allen – Suddenly (1954)

    1951-1960250 Quintessential Film NoirsFilm NoirLewis AllenUSA
    Suddenly (1954)
    Suddenly (1954)

    Quote:
    For a small film, Suddenly has a lot of baggage. Even after many years, it remains tainted by its eerie foreshadowing of President Kennedy’s assassination nine years following the film’s release—an association made all the more sinister by the oft-repeated (and now disputed) assertion that Lee Harvey Oswald watched the film shortly before the President was gunned down in Dallas. Then there’s the claim that star Frank Sinatra ordered the film withdrawn from circulation after Kennedy was killed, an order Sinatra had no power to give, although he did protest when a TV station aired the film shortly after the 35th President’s death. In the Nineties, the film was the victim of a botched colorization effort that turned Sinatra into Old Brown Eyes, and the failure to renew the film’s copyright caused it to become available through multiple public domain distributors in inferior versions that were painful to watch.Read More »

  • Ford Beebe – Enter Arsene Lupin (1944)

    Ford Beebe1941-1950CrimeFilm NoirUSA
    Enter Arsene Lupin (1944)
    Enter Arsene Lupin (1944)

    A rich but naive young woman is in possession of some priceless jewels. She doesn’t realize it, but a gang of jewel thieves does.Read More »

  • Jules Dassin – Brute Force (1947)

    Jules Dassin1941-1950250 Quintessential Film NoirsCrimeFilm NoirUSA
    Brute Force (1947)
    Brute Force (1947)

    PLOT: At overcrowded Westgate Penitentiary, where violence and fear are the norm and the warden has less power than guards and leading prisoners, the least contented prisoner is tough, single-minded Joe Collins. Most of all, Joe hates chief guard Captain Munsey, a petty dictator who glories in absolute power. After one infraction too many, Joe and his cell-mates are put on the dreaded drain pipe detail; prompting an escape scheme that has every chance of turning into a bloodbath.Read More »

  • Robert Benton – Twilight (1998)

    1991-2000CrimeFilm NoirRobert BentonUSA
    Twilight (1998)
    Twilight (1998)

    Quote:
    A retired ex-cop and private detective (Newman) who lives with a rich actor (Hackman) who is dying from cancer and his actress wife (Sarandon) gets mixed up in murder when he is asked to deliver blackmail money. He walks into a 20 year old case involving the mysterious disappearance of the actress’s former husband. James Garner appears as another ex-cop who also does occasional errands for the couple.Read More »

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