Circle of Danger (1951)

The Ray Milland Season Unfolds Without Haste

Circle of Danger (1951) is an American in Britain post-WW2 investigative mystery Limey home nations road movie of mystery with locale-driven shooting in London, Wales and in the Highlands, making a virtue of Patricia Roc's infectious smile and Ray Milland's hatted and haunted pillar to post look as he uncovers a vaguely understandable plot that I am not sure now after two viewings — has ever been explained. 

The circle itself, the circle of danger, the rotunda of peril, is specifically not quite as convoluted as it might otherwise be in a film noir. 

The Leopard Man (1943)

The Leopard Man (1943) is a Val Lewton Jacques Tourneur pre-serial killer era serial killer horror thriller chiller film noir filler large cat-themed dark side proto just about everything golden era silver screen classic of what became the horror genre, although it might be for another day to require of the LLMs to ask what the exact genre trajectory comprises that runs from Val and Jacques productions such as The Leopard Man (1943) and Cat People (1942) to Saw (2004); Saw II (2005); Saw III (2006); Saw IV (2007); Saw V (2008); Saw VI (2009); Saw 3D (2010); Jigsaw (2017); Spiral (2021); and Saw X (2023). 

Jeez I asked the LLM what it thought about that and guess what it was happy to spit. We will return to that.

I Walked With a Zombie (1943)

I Walked With a Zombie (1943) is a supernatural exotic Vodou thriller, super-fun with the uber-Caribbean heat of the sound stage, creative in tone, vision, effects, acting, sound, use of magic, monstrosity, novel monstrosity, zombification, film noir and the very mother birthing of the zombie movement, the liekyl most critical of all film styles and genres the zombie film

Did film noir birth the zombie film, it is for you to decide. Watch all film noir and all zombie films, and then respond. No, I Walked with a Zombie (1943) is not the first zombie film, but it is often considered one of the most acclaimed pre-Romero zombie movies. The 1932 film White Zombie is generally considered the first zombie movie. 

Experiment Perilous (1944)

Experiment Perilous (1944) is a historical melodrama lousy husband suspicious couple insane jealousy film noir tale of  shattered glass, gushing water and floundering fish noir, yes aquarium film noir, and a crazy virtual prisoner drama of noirish proportions.

Tis indeed a film noir which is of those high-class nightmares wrapped in velvet, but make no mistake—it’s got a black heart beating under all that lush, shadow-soaked atmosphere. It’s a tale of gaslight and doom, where dames aren’t sure if they’re crazy or just trapped, and every smooth-talking gent’s got a trick up his sleeve.

The story kicks off when square-jawed psychiatrist Dr. Huntington Bailey (George Brent) stumbles into a real honey of a mess. A train ride and a chance meeting lead him straight into the twisted world of rich and refined Nick Bederaux (Paul Lukas), a husband with a mind like a steel trap and a grip on his wife, Allida (Hedy Lamarr), so tight it’s choking the life outta her. She’s a knockout with trouble in her eyes, and Bailey starts wondering if she’s really losing her marbles—or if her charming hubby is playing a slow, deadly game.

Night of the Demon (1957)

Night of the Demon (1957) is a Jacques Tourneur British horror demon special effects creepy supernatural sceptical disappearance and mystery magic murder movie, that is not a film noir, but which like all of the fifties horrorouevre does confine itself to noir, insofar as noir themes, effects and personnel will dominate. 

For who could be more noir than noir's Jacques Tourneur, director of the quintessential expression of the style, that is of course Out Of The Past from 1947, one ten year decade hence, noir incarnate no less.

Yet still who more noir than Dana Andrews, too, quite the figure of the film style, a man of noir, and one of the solids of the medium?

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.

Cat People (1942)

Cat People (1942) by Jacques Tourneur, was the product of writers and producers putting their heads together at a time when horror was in its infancy, and coming up with what they considered to be a new concept. 

This is because even then, they had seen that horror was already focused on a few supernatural and historic themes ― the ghost ― the vampire ― the Frankenstein monster  ― the Mummy ― there Werewolf ― and they'd already seen that there were not too many more in the blockbuster canon; maybe.

Hence the decision to see if the cat could be developed into a truly lasting horror theme. The vision of Cat People is not one of lycanthropy ― although it is similar. And it is not quite one of demonic possession, although again there is plenty in  common.

The Fearmakers (1958)

The Fearmakers (1958) tells a wonderfully revealing story of war, of advertising and the obfuscation of the line between corporate and government life.

Despite quality issues and any stand out cast performances, The Fearmakers also sounds an early alert concerning the war on the public that has become a ubiquitous feature of modern living.

Because of course, if it was unseen in the 1950s or 1940s, and if it was criminal, psychological and at odds with the public vision, it was going to be a subject of film noir.

There seems something peculiarly prescient about The Fearmakers, even if it is a part of the obsessive hunting of Communists that took over American public and cultural life in the 1950s. 

The real threat to freedom and civil society were already at work in the 1950s however, and The Fearmakers is a great introduction to the science of public relations, which had already been perfected over several decades and through World War Two, before it began to be used out in the open, in the form of political theatre.

Nightfall (1956)

A late film noir and criminal fable, Nightfall (1956) features Anne Bancroft, Aldo Ray, Brian Keith and is urban, violent and twisted ― while also taking a dip in the snow.

With an unravelling story that doesn’t in the end bear too much close inspection, Nightfall is a late period film noir which follows form fairly closely, with its pair of malignant hoods ― one smart (played by Brian Keith) ― and one plain dumb and brutal ― played by Rudolph Bond.

There’s a case full of money, the final word in thriller MacGuffins, and a man adrift in the urban jungle.

There are a pair of gangsters, armed and dangerous and unrelenting in their pursuit and their cruelty. There’s a model, innocently wrapped up in the fearful chase ― and to make a difference, there are snow-bound scenes aplenty, shot in the wilds of Wyoming.

You might already be forgiven for thinking that Tarantino had been here before you too, and you would be right on that count also. 

Out of the Past (1947)

Out Of The Past (1947) is a classic fate-filled doomed-romance revenge mystery film noir, directed by Jacques Tourneur, and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas.  

From the shadows of the past stumble the memories of your misdeeds. They lug themselves towards you in heavy coats and hats — packing heat and chewing on cocktail sticks.  

Whatever you do, wherever you go, fate can catch you — fate WILL catch you.  

And that’s the message of Out of the Past (1947)

Out of the Past is one of the most heavy duty, hard-wearing, cigarette-smoking film noirs in the whole damn canon — hoods, hats, hold ups and past actions dredging up the most awful barrelfuls of darkness.