Killer's Kiss (1955)

Killer's Kiss (1955) is a moody voiceover and flashback classic boxing and voyeuristic intrigue-driven Stanley Kubrick low budget auteuristic film noir which distils elements of the style into a commercial feature film, almost in fact a moulding of the medium by the master-to-be into a noir-by-numbers example of the form as it was then being recognised by the more observant and critical critics and students of the cinema, as it began to cleave itself away from the staid almost televisually-based look and feel of the mid-decade.

That can be said because 1950s noir, and noir of 1955 and beyond, did tend toward production with a television set in mind, and Kubrick's take, while featuring television as a minor but key plot component, does lean with an artistic eye into the shadowy roots of the style, opting into darkness and closed up lighting as a final look.

Bewitched (1945)

Bewitched (1945) is a paranoid woman psychological voice-in-her-head voiceover flashback assumed identity psychological terror supernatural schizophrenic medical insane woman fleeing marriage hypnotism flashback and voice over film noir from the dark height of the golden age of the silver screen's era.

The term classic film noir does doubtless evoke as it is intended to do, a series of high powered and famous high stakes noir dramas from the period, usually of eminent structure and production, and preserved by film registries and their buffs, citing such names as Double Indemnity and the rest of the well-trod shuffle of the mighty, while 1945 alone boasts the classics of Detour (1845), Scarlet Street (1945), Mildred Pierce (1945), and The Lost Weekend (1945), yes it's the year that film noir won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards.

Døden er et kjærtegn (Death is a caress) (1949)

Døden er et kjærtegn (Death is a caress) (1949) is a heart-breaking cold-hearted Norwegian lousy husband and motor car infidelity and murder shocker romance film noir, often cited as Norway's first film noir, and celebrated also for the fact that one of Norway's leading female directors shot it.

A wordy, pensive and petulant slow burner of sadness and emotional decline in the frank face of sex, Døden er et kjærtegn (Death is a caress) (1949) runs many a risk of falling a foul of the lack of Americana and the singular lack of a national cinematic voice, in order to achieve its grim ends.

As a noir worthy of any nation, Døden er et kjærtegn (Death is a caress) (1949) is a story freed from World War 2 and shot in a recently occupied country, which might make cause for thought.

The Bribe (1949)

The Bribe (1949) is a classic exotic lousy husband post-war Central American murder mystery cop film noir with Ava Gardner, Robert Taylor, Vincent Price and Charles Laughton, in a kind of noir-by-numbers take on many staples of the style, combing noirish elementata in a perfect combination late forties thriller.

There is a lot to see, not the least of it is Robert Taylor and Vincent price, sitting together and looking so kinda similar that it is not just eerie, but a sign that things are going to be a lot of fun. 

Der Verlorene (1951)

Der Verlorene (1951) is a post-World War II Peter Lorre directed West German rubble vengeance and regret existential experimental-Nazi vivisection lab film noir, directed and starring the recovering morphine-addicted super-scion of film noir, Peter Lorre.

Peter Lorre does manage within the scope of this late period rubble film, to create a most memorable character, although he does so much Lorre drift, peer, stare and smoke, and like all Peter Lorre films, and like all of Peter Lorre's life, the mis en scene is heavy on the cigarette-based action.

Double Indemnity (1944)

Double Indemnity (1944) is the super-famous mutha-of-all-noir stylish insurance fraud double murder classic film noir thriller that stands central to all commentary, criticism, focus and definition of the great noir style of the 1940s, and the production which is usually cited as the best example of the medium, the finest of all noirs, the apogee of the instance of the style, and the exemplification and blueprint were it needed of all the thousands of brimming wonders of production that made up the hugely powerful film noir movement.

The frightening and exciting weakness of sex was never better shown than in the encounters between Fred MacMurray and a to-begin-with naked Barbara Stanwyck, whom as equals it seems, concoct a murder for the existential fact of morality take over and trip them both up.

Terror in a Texas Town (1958)

Terror in a Texas Town (1958) is an extended flashback wild west whaler revenge tale of corruption and gun slinging oil grabbing landlordism and violence, created in the wake of the HUAC hearings which terrorised and attempted to sterilise and de-communise the media of the 1950s.

A low budget western with a deep moral message, Joseph H. Lewis’s Terror in a Texas Town (1958) is an underappreciated Western that defies many of the conventions typically associated with the genre. At first glance, it may seem to be yet another run-of-the-mill B-western, but beneath its low-budget exterior, the film raises deeply disturbing questions about justice, morality, and societal complicity.

Champion (1949)

Champion (1949) is a sports-noir drifter narrative boxing film noir rags to riches drama of hubris and corruption, starring Kirk Douglas as a one time bum who finds he is a great boxer, and makes an all-American stab at gaining the all-American system of fight-rigging, mobsterism, and big sport gambling and media.

A remarkable and entertaining vehicle for the young Kirk Douglas, for whom this was a certain break-through role, Champion (1949) is not lauded much as a great noir, although it is, with first rate performances and high drama and emotion, sweeping through much of American social systems and presenting as well as any other high-period film noir does, the story of the individual against himself, against the country, against the insurmountable cruelty and manipulations of the system that elevates sport to the wild, corrupted and abusive focal point of life it will become.

The Lady Gambles (1949)

The Lady Gambles (1949) is a gambling addiction, social and moral descent romance women's film noir starring Barbara Stanwyck, turning in a stunning and brutal performance as a woman who is overcome with addiction, so as to the point of ruination.

As the film opens prepare to see Barbara Stanwyck punched 11 or 12 times in the face by three mooks in an alley, each bruising face-breaking blow leaving a great ouch across the style. It has to be one of the more terrifying noir beatings.

This leads to a hospital managed by a cynical hard smoking medical stoic played by John Hoyt, and the whole flashback, fading screen, voiceover here-is-how-it happened commences, and Double Indemnity style, the story unravels, although it ain't such a hot story.

Vicki (1953)

Vicki (1953) is a modelling-business murder mystery flashback violent cop remake of the earlier classic film noir I Wake Up Screaming (1941).

Richard Boone is terrific as the violent cop with a terrific hunch, found peeping, creeping, never sleeping, punching and shouting and best of all, and in the most aggravating urban New York big city cop style of noir, just deciding that a person is guilty - in this case merely from a photograph - and then simply beating them and shouting at them and others too if that's what ti takes, beating and shouting repeatedly until the case is closed.

Vicki is the ambitious young model making her way, and somehow not forgiven for her pushiness and willingness to mould the truth to her amorality, from time to time. She pays for this upfront, and is murdered, a murdered glamour girl in an uncaring city. 

A Woman's Face (1941)

A Woman's Face (1941) is a fantastical hard-luck-lady flashback courtroom film noir blackmail tale of gender expectation, bitterness and plastic surgery.

One of several plastic surgery miracle movies made in the era, it seemed like the trope and myth of the plastic surgeon and face exchange being ideal narrative material on the big screen.

Most meaningfully and in the terms of the noir universe these are Dark Passage (1947), Black Dragons (1942), Nora Prentiss (1947), Stolen Face (1952), G-Men Never Forget (1948), Dead End (1937), The Second Face (1950), It Happened in Hollywood (1935), and then She Demons (1958) a strangely far out genre find, Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), and with The Raven (1935), that might be enough for now, although others will materialise, that is certain.

The Naked Street (1955)

The Naked Street (1955) is a death penalty pregnancy and child loss crime corruption and extortion frame up film noir by Maxwell Shane starring Anne Bancroft, Anthony Quinn and Farley Granger.

If film noir naming conventions are to be adhered to, then The Naked Street (1955) trumps top in many delightful ways, composed as it is of that favourite noir naming trope — the street.

Lassie slapping noir is a stryle of street noir dirty with villainy and snarls, here delivered by back-handin' Anthony Quinn, some super indented toothy noir by numbers, a film of straight lines.

Studio noir with cool and low down fast action location shooting blended everyday realism with a sense of poetic melancholy. Films of noir often depicted characters living on the margins of society, facing disappointment, disillusionment, and fatalistic views of life.

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. 

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) is a bitch-and-towel slappin violent anti-social criminal psychopath flashback murder courtroom film noir with the king of the noir loons himself James Cagney as a no nonsense violent career criminal en route to hell.

Ralph Cotter, a hardened criminal with a penchant for violence, embarks on a harrowing journey of deceit and betrayal after a daring prison escape turns deadly. 

The death of his escape partner, Carleton, at his own hands sets the stage for a twisted game of manipulation and obsession. Is the love between brother and sister greater than that between gangster and long-suffering moll?

As Cotter insinuates himself into the life of Carleton's unsuspecting sister, Holiday, a dark and disturbing dynamic emerges — a typical web of desire and domination, where passion and pain collide in a volatile mix of emotion. 

Their sadomasochistic bond is laid bare in a chilling scene where Cotter's brutality is met with Holiday's fervent embrace — a stark portrayal of the depths of their depravity. They are American. They are you.

The Monster and the Girl (1941)

The Monster and the Girl (1941) is an outré monster death row revenge movie from the golden age of monster death row revenge movies. 

Unorthodox and strange, this crime science fiction courtroom horror thriller revenge monkey noir is a message to film lovers for all time, and stands as an immortal portal to more than just entertainment.

Film noir is one the least issues with The Monster and the Girl (1941) as there is such a delightful heap of unpacking to be made of this short epic, which tells of a mad experiment with monkeydom, and a mad experiment in film making too, as Hollywood feels its way towards the horror genre out of the monster department, while still indulging in its deep passion for monkeys.

more mystery than monster for the main of its short running time, The Monster and the Girl is a courtroom framed thriller mystery told in flashback as the shocked participants of a murder trial piece together the most awful facts that had ever been imagined on screen.

Hoodlum Empire (1952)

Hoodlum Empire (1952) is a semi-documentary corporate noir managerial Kefevaur hearing inspired film noir starring Luther Adler as a managerial darklord of gambling facing up to a Senate hearing.

Solid film noir technique and actors including a star turn from Claire Trevor and the normative mustachoed noirisms of Brian Donlevy.

For a film that fix to flips flashbacks like flying filmic tales there is epic wobbly fades and wipes to indicate the passage of time, back to World War 2, offering a creditable treasure trove of tropes for all to look and learn.

Edge Of Doom (1950)

Edge Of Doom (1950) is a desperate priest killer noir starring Farley Granger as a man driven to edgy paranoiac and driven madness by poverty and in his view the Catholic church.

A paranoid city streets noir of the first drainage, Edge Of Doom is a slum story set in increasingly crummier settings, pitting priests against poverty and poverty against sanity, as one man turns to blame the church for the ills of his life, and now has issues with them around the deaths of both his parents.

A brilliant noir with all the fun of the style which includes Dana Andrews as the priestly narrative glue, offering a framed Farley fable, a story of desperation from the poor side. 

On the capitalist mean streets of 1950 there is a shinola-show of trouble for the poor, and all of this is focused on Farley Granger's increasingly desperate and tragic desire to see a large funeral for his penurious maw.

Crack-Up (1946)

Crack-Up (1946) is an amnesia fraudulent artwork persecution noir with psychological elements delving into the amazing practise of narcosynthesis, and featuring some great train-bound action as a paranoid art critic played by Pat O'Brien searches frantically for his unknown tormentors.

Directed by Irving Reis, this fast moving art-crime drama also starred Claire Trevor, Herbert Marshall, Erskine Sanford and Wallace Stevens —  a strong film noir showing by any standards.

Dark and mysterious and tugging at undercurrents in the highest echelons of society, as represented by the artworld, Crack-Up has an uncanny feel, largely brought about by its quite distinctive paranoid train sequences.

Singapore (1947)

Singapore (1947) is a romantic smuggler exotic amnesia noir with Fred MacMurray and Ava Gardner.

Directed by John Brahm Singapore is an enjoyable mix of movie exotica — the style which clichéd the best of the rest of the globe and brought it to Hollywood, minced it, encoded various messages concerning foreign policy and international relations — and presented it on the screen

Despite being a post-World War II drama set in Singapore, there isn't much that one can learn about the Fall of Singapore and the rebuilding of the island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia, which took place after 1945.

Le jour se lève (1939)

Le jour se lève (1939) is a classic French Proto-Noir romantic murder drama that is considered to be one of the finest examples of the style known as poetic realism.

This French all-time classique tells the story of foundry worker François (Jean Gabin) who shoots and kills a man called Valentin (played by Jules Berry). 

François then locks himself in his apartment and is soon besieged by the police, who fail in an attempt to shoot their way into the room. As the police regroup to decide how to apprehend him, and as a crowd forms outside, François begins to reminisce on how he came to be in this predicament.

Although not made in the United States and pre-dating the film noir movement it is incredible how well Le jour se lève (1939) fits within the film noir canon. For a start, its flashback style is more than suggestive of noir — in fact the flashback itself is done with more consideration and emotion that is normally found in typical American noir.