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Within The Blackboard Jungle (1955) are both significant lies and truths, as well as discussion of racism underpinned by the thin air of misogyny, and an uncomfortable sexism which is constant enough to form an almost separate movie. Unlike in noir in toto, and this is not noir, there are no interesting roles for women in this man's, man's, man's, man's movie.
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It is not as bad as it sounds, and although not a classic noir nor even a noir much discussed, nor a classic of any kind of noir not even non-noir or faux-Caribbean noir, for anyone in the swing of the full film noir journey much of the usual enjoyment is found here, in both the slightly angrier than usual performance from mug in the tropics, Glenn Ford, and the constant soft-focus camera lingering on the multiply costume changed gorgeousness of Rita Hayworth.
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Within this atmospheric noir landscape Glenn Ford assumes the role of the intrepid trucker miner and engineer heel and sap for the rap drifter Mike Lambert, a man thrust into an alcoholic ordeal when he unwittingly becomes embroiled in a web of deceit and danger.
Behind the wheel of a truck sans brakes, his journey careens into the shadowy confines of La Paloma, a nondescript bar and restaurant where fatal sleaze and hot love intertwines his path with that of the enigmatic waitress, Paula Craig, portrayed with mesmerising female fatalistic allure by Janis Carter.
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Gilda is less of a love story than many a similar film noir from the era, and in fact its characters often talks of hate.
The star of the film is the gloriously cinematic Rita Hayworth in the title role, perhaps one of her best ever roles, and certainly one in which she seems to powerfully upstage and out-perform everyone around her.
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Usually, if a Mr and Mrs are sitting down to a home cooked steak, and the baby girl is playing nearby, something may be afoot. The family is the unseen locus of much of film noir.
Here, Mr and Mrs Cop are seen at home perhaps a little too much; and its a signal that bad things are a-coming.
Although there are spoilers all across this website, a special SPOILER ALERT need be issued for Fritz Lang's 1953 noir, The Big Heat.
It isn't so much around the ending or the way things work out, its just that the likely most significant thing which takes this almost lackadaisical Langian noir out of the realms of the mere crime film en passant, is what happens at home, and the tragedy that befalls that home.
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Set in and around train yards, and in the trains themselves, Human Desire is an adaptation of a novel by Emile Zola, although the story and the characters are perfect for film noir.
There's the returning war veteran, often a theme in the style — except this time it is the Korean War, and it's Glenn Ford, playing the uncomplicated rail-man Jeff Warren.
There is a psychopathic drunk, who has his own problems, although the main problem is his inability to control his temper, especially when it comes to Gloria Grahame, playing his missus.
And there's the femme fatale, too — here in the finely spiteful form of Gloria Grahame, who is doing her best for Number One, which in this case means escaping from a violent marriage.