The Trouble With Harry (1955)

The Trouble With Harry (1955) is an Alfred Hitchcock shaggy dog black comedy iconic and laconic absurdist Beckettian farcical narcissistically inclined fantasy romance melodramatic lampoon burlesque send-up Technicolor travesty with John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, Jerry Mathers, Edmund Gwenn, Shirley MacLaine in her film debut, and Royal Dano, and is one of Hitchcock’s few unequivocal forays into comedy, though it remains consistent with his habitual use of irony and dark, tongue-in-cheek humor while being also notable for its unusually frank dialogue, exemplified by John Forsythe’s unembarrassed declaration of his wish to paint Shirley MacLaine’s character wiff no clothes upon her!

Let me go on, The Trouble With Harry (1955) is not an film noir, nor has much noir adjacent styles themes nor tones, nor noir inflections as they are called, but as a Hitchcock film made in the era, noir abiding, and not a classic of anything much other than perhaps curiosity or absurdism, it is still be included in our global survey of the decade.

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) is a unique Orson Welles classic family drama movie, based on a novel that Welles had already successfully adapted for the radio, but which proved fraught as a film, causing studio issues, re-shooting and editing, with much footage destroyed in the day, and with all the marks of the stressful reaction of the genius Welles, to the cemented industry he sought to evolve.

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) is indeed in many ways a unique prospect, which while note folks this is not a film noir, it is still a major work from Orson Welles, and the Orsonian contribution to everything we adore was so profound, that inclusion beyond a mention is needed.