Ladies in Retirement (1941)

Ladies in Retirement (1941) is a historical woman's picture psychological social thriller Cockney talkin gothic Victoriana shadows in the marshes foggy soggy film noir thieven and murder drama of sisterly crazed dead bird collecting feminist examination of the pressures social, psychological and detrimental to the capable woman in the society of yore, as dramatists of 1939, a curious and exciting drama from the times when plays made films.

In the murky domain between madness and decorum, Charles Vidor's 1941 film Ladies in Retirement emerges as an exquisitely wrought chamber piece of deceit, loyalty, and murder. 

Iron Man (1951)

Iron Man (1951) is a violent rivalry blue collar remake boxing film noir sport action movie, making it to the film noir canon for its portrayal of a man's inability to control his fists.

Of all the miserable movie mugs, hats off to Jeff Chandler who pulls the stiffest and hangedest doggest looks, spitting noir at times and flat out desperate to have his cheeks raised in a smile that will never come.

Better still is the coal mining back ground form which these tough mugs emerged, solid mining milieu not so much Zola as Zoloft as a man goes mad with coal dusts and mania.

Not just coaly but a gritty, hard-hitting noir that'll knock you flat on your back albeit in a beautifully photographed ring, and for fans of boxing noir and boxing movies, this must simply be an underrated and overlooked gem, or lump of coal, whichever way you want to look at it. 

The Killer That Stalked New York (1950)

The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) is a race-against-time paranoia thriller film noir made in the semi-documentary style in which doctors politicians and police struggle to find small-pox infected female smuggler.

Also known as Frightened City, The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) stands as a cinematic testament hailing from the noir-tinged annals of 1950, a creation helmed by the cinematic maestro Earl McEvoy and featuring the luminous talents of Evelyn Keyes, Charles Korvin, and William Bishop. 

This celluloid venture, captured on location and steeped in a semi-documentary aesthetic, unfurls a gripping narrative centred around diamond smugglers who, unbeknownst to them, become inadvertent instigators of a smallpox outbreak amidst the gritty expanse of 1947 New York City. 

Hell's Half Acre (1954)

Hell's Half Acre (1954) is a female seeker film noir about a woman who travels to Hawaii to investigate her missing or dead racketeer husband.

As a rather unique slice of Hawaii noir, Hell's Half Acre stars Evelyn Keyes as the seeker hero on the trail and Wendell Corey as the lousy husband, who is actually still alive but changed his identity due to his own criminal activities. 

Hell's Half Acre was written screen by Steve Fisher, who also wrote I Wake Up Screaming which is a sure-fire classic film noir 

It's set in a rundown section of Honolulu, incredibly well photographed it has to be said, and down there on Honolulu's skid row there are all kinds.

Johnny O'Clock (1947)

Johnny O'Clock (1947) is a sinister snappy-dialogue murder and finally it has to be said classic film noir which is a lot of fun and is surely one of the hidden gems of the who noir effort of the 1940s.

Complex in approach and yet diverting in its charm and snazz, Johnny O'Clock is a waltz through the film noir style, able to copy with mystery, murder, deception and some vile violence, before it wraps up and paces stylishly through its conclusion.

New York gambling house operator Johnny O'Clock played by Dick Powell, is junior partner in a smart  casino with Guido Marchettis (Thomas Gomez) and Chuck Blayden (Jim Bannon), the latter being a crooked cop. 

The Prowler (1951)

The Prowler (1951) is a modest and excitingly unpredictable doomed-love-affair obsessional-voyeur and adulterer crooked-cop film noir starring Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes as two lovers who find themselves in an evil mess of murderous ill happenings after starting an affair that is set from the off to go badly wrong, premised as it is on prowling, envy, lust and a crooked copper's cravings.

Although The Prowler promises voyeurism and terror, it is not exactly this type of film, and spends its time following cop Van Heflin as he pushes his way into this victim's life.

Van Heflin is excellent at this character, Webb Garwood, who is unhappy in his job and just simply can't get why some people have got rich houses and classy women, when all he has is his crummy boarding house room and for company, his sharp shooting targets.

99 River Street (1953)

Down at 99 River Street (1953) meet furious and and pent-up ex-boxer Ernie Driscoll; his devious but gorgeous wife Pauline; Ernie's wife's lover, a sleazy diamond thief whose got a new line in murder; and Ernie's old pal Linda James, an aspiring actress who, almost in the style of Team America ― uses her acting powers to solve the crime.

There, down at 99 River Street is where these all converge, with of course the cops and the diamond fencing gang, who are an especially brutal coterie of evil, with big spade hands for chopping necks and revolvers for the killing slug.

In for the worst weekend of his life, angry former boxer and now full time cabbie Ernie Driscoll lives life on  ropes, when he's not reliving the fatal moment in the ring where he was defeated, felled and retired, all in one series of sucker punches to the eye and gut.

It's likely one of the most definitive film noir set-ups going —  the ex-boxer, living in the shadows of society, struggling with women, struggling with the past, and struggling with crime which seems to be all around him.

We are all in to witness the fantastic escapades that ensue, when Ernie Driscoll takes yet another sucker punch to the guts.

It is supreme film noir fayre.