From the Earth to the Moon (1958)

The Cotten Sequence, or Joseph Cotten Season, proceeds with understated poise, its pleasures evenly shared, although obliging us to view this non-noir folly of fifties fantasia and filmation, we are not always best delighted.

From the Earth to the Moon (1958) is a Byron Haskin Jules Verne Civil War space rocket science fiction revenge and rivalry sane scientist drama featuring a cold war mutually assured destruction power that can destroy the earth action special effects adventure movie with Joseph Cotten, Debra Paget, George Sanders, Byron Haskin, Henry Daniell, Carl Esmond and Morris Ankrum. Oh cielo, questo non è un film noir!

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Witness for the Prosecution (1957) is a Billy Wilder classic court room drama classic film noir murder suspenser did he or didn't he? Hitchcockian love-that-Laughton Agatha Christie mystery plot twister puzzle game millinery-provoking murder character and melodrama film noir production based on a play and starring Marlene Dietrich, Elsa Lanchester, Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton, Ian Wolfe and Henry Daniell.

Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)

Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) is a Sherlock Holmes wartime propaganda espionage crime and mystery thriller and adventure film noir-style which sees the nineteenth century and indeed, very early twentieth century private detective co-opted into the advocacy work of the Allies in the Second World War, as antiques-led mystery and match-book intrigue see Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Henry Daniell and George Zucco hamming up a storm in an effort to embarrass the Nazis into a ham-strung ham-based and confusing defeat.

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) is a propaganda spy crime mystery Nazi wartime suspense serial movie thriller partially composed in the film noir style and the first of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films to be updated to the mid 20th Century and made a crucial cinematic aspect of the war effort of the 1940s.

The Body Snatcher (1945)

The Body Snatcher (1945) is a dark and gloomy atmospheric chiller classic old school creepy horror gothic dramatisation of the body snatching habits of early 19th century Scotland.

Presumably one could tune in as many have done in order to see Lugosi and Karloff playing a scene together, which certainly happens within and is worth the wait.

Elsewhere Scotland provides some proper atmosphere and the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle are re-created well given the restraints of a typical studio.

There are a few other Scottish travesties to enjoy, and one of the rarest within The Body Snatcher (1945) is the murdering of the dog Greyfriar's Bobby, much beloved of every soul in both Hollywood, and in Scotland. To see wee Bobbie smashed and disposed of with a shovel is an awesome and horrific sight.