The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)

The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) is a creepy euromad historical whodunnit mad pianist and body horror gothic wandering hand vintage special effect horror suspenser with the most unique and unusual music, and directed by Robert Florey and written by Curt Siodmak, and starring Andrea KIng, Robert Alda, Peter Lorre, J. Carrol Naish and Victor Francen, and though we may say whodunnit, when we know that it's the the hand that dunnit, the structure of the whodunnit does override the horror, with the Poirot-like detective making a bumbling but brave and coherent stab at solving the crazed mystery. 

Invisible Agent (1942)

Invisible Agent (1942) is a Universal Monsters classic media franchise fake news erotic propaganda wartime horror comedy heroism anti-Axis adventure movie, charged with spookery, xenophobia, and not just a crazed fantasy of an invisible man behind enemy lines, but enemy lines behind which the Nazis and Japanese co-operate and compete as violent evil-doers.

The usual invisible man style of comedy is present and so of course he smokes a cigarette, as well as trying out some great new trick effects, such as changing out of his clothes mid air to land in 1942 Germany naked and invisible, as well as a cold cream application in order to reveal himself.

The Wolfman (1941)

The Wolfman (1941) is a Universal horror cycle classic lycanthrope thriller adventure amalgamation of Gothic ambience and psychological film making which juxtaposes the primal and the civilized within a tragically cursed protagonist who goes on to play in a variety of non-threatening carnival of monsters-style of movies, while cycling into the larger culture notions of monsterism coded with what in film noir terms could be a kind of gothic Überwald mis en scene.

Exploring the fragility of human identity through lycanthropic metamorphosis, The Wolfman (1941) has become one of the more indelible stopping points in the narratives of horror lore, not so much creating horror as such, but forming a solid concrete base upon which to build the identity of this genre.

Donovan's Brain (1953)

Donovan's Brain (1953) is a body-horror exploitation mad scientist conscious disembodied brain thriller horror science fiction fantasy crime drama both embedded in and invested in and owing a debt to the film noir style.

As much an outré noir as it is a horror and as much a mad scientist romance drama as it is an exploitation shocker, Donovan's Brain retains charms far beyond its modest origins and becomes semantically more interesting with every year that passes since 1953.

Spoilers Alert the forgiving concluding moral dramatic termination and completing moral moments of this crime and weakness madness drama, does ask questions about body stealing, corpse desecration and other post-mortem brutalities which we must strangely brush aside.

The Invisible Woman (1940)

The Invisible Woman (1940) is an US science fiction comedy film with little to commend it to the regular noir nor horror marketeer noireau, and yet comedy included it still grabs the headlines with its genre mixup and inevitable 1940s-style gender statements. It features Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, John Howard, Charles Ruggles, and Oskar Homolka.

The Invisible Woman is an US science fiction comedy film. In this fil, well, to say the least an attractive model with an ulterior motive volunteers as guinea pig for an invisibility machine. Danger and hilarity and gender immorality ensues.

Black Friday (1940)

Black Friday (1940) is a brain transplant crime movie from the nascent moments of horror cinema as an as of yet undefined genre, and it is a film that shared some thematic and technical elements with the emerging film noir style.

With no monster as such to boast of and little in the way of a full mad scientist trope Black Friday does imply the crime genre full on in its fantastic progress to a sane conclusion.

Excuses for maddened acting and raw death row fun combine realities which could only in essence be explored in 1940, with no fully developed tropes fully recovered and broadcast in the cinemas, trope combination produced no end of experimental forays into what could have been.

The brain transplant movie genre emerged during a period no doubt of fascination with medical advancements and the exploration of the human psyche in cinema. 

Son of Dracula (1943)

Son of Dracula (1943) is not a film noir but does belong to the cycle of Universal horror films of the 1930s and 1940s much loved by audiences, aficionados and other knowledgeable persons who enjoy the film productions of the era.

In terms of presentation, acting and character, the horror films of the 1940s were not as sophisticated as the classic noir productions of those years.

In the domain of thematic substance, the elegant tapestries of Gothic horror that graced the silver screen during the nascent 1930s may indeed exude a semblance of gentility when juxtaposed against the prevailing benchmarks of our contemporary standards. 

The noir taste is evident, but the nascent horror film has little in common with film noir. There is not even a great commerce between actors and the genre, versus the film noir style.

Berlin Express (1948)

Berlin Express (1948) is a train-bound post-war espionage cloak and dagger military mission movie with plenty film noir tones, themes and touches.

Drenched in the unappealing and captivating intricacies of the post-war milieu, rife with a tapestry of tropes, landscapes, and clichés that echo the discordant symphony of a world grappling with the aftermath of conflict, Berlin Express (1948) is an unusual and compelling espionage noir.

In the brutal theater of World War II's ferocity, where mushroom clouds etched indelible scars on history, few glimpses pierce the collective consciousness like the haunting images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki's atomic abyss. 

Yet, within the silent reels of this revelation, a different, less heralded tale unfolds — a cinematic odyssey unearthing the aftermath of conventional bombardment upon the ancient lands of Germany.