For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) is a Sam Wood directed and produced adapted from the classic Ernest Hemigway novel epic Spanish Civil War tale of resistance, camarederie, and bridge blasting and romance amid guerilla warfare about an American International Brigades volunteer who is fighting against the fascists and who falls in love with a young woman guerrilla fighter during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge to protect Republican forces, starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Arturo de Córdova, Vladimir Sokoloff, Mikhail Rasumny, Fortunio Bonanova, Eric Feldary, Victor Varconi as Primitivo, the lookout and Joseph Calleia.

Touch of Evil (1958)

Touch of Evil (1958) is an Orson Welles late noir period border-hopping cinema-literate classic film noir marvel of visual architecture and one of the high cathedrals of twentieth-century film, an orgy of chiaroscuro light and shadow, carefully calculated mise-en-scène, and baroque camera movements so aggressive they seem on the verge of toppling the frame. 

If it lacks the gravitas of Welles' debut, it compensates by revealing a director entirely freed from the burden of prestige, indulging instead in excess, sleaze, formal genius, and creative destruction. It is a masterclass in cinematic rule-breaking that turns every aesthetic choice into a moral judgment.

Deadline At Dawn (1946)

Deadline At Dawn (1946) is a classic era classic female seeker hero hardboiled amnesia film noir, and a classic film noir which is also a great example of several other film noir sub-styles including cabbie noir, and outre noir.

Full of fun, mystery and menace and with an almost unique script, quipped with an unequaled touch by Clifford Odets, not known for his cinematic writing, and directed by 

The history and definition of film noir remain complex, filled with contradictions and shifting interpretations. Though often described as an American invention emerging from a synthesis of hard-boiled fiction and German expressionism, noir's roots and reach are far broader.

Lured (1947)

Lured (1947) is a moody mystery female seeker hero investigatory London-set serial killer thriller outré film noir, made by Douglas Sirk and perhaps as far as the Sirk toes get into the fascinating dark and complicated world of noir drama.

In its way, Douglas Sirk’s lurid Lured (1947), an example of the lurid noir, reimagines hard enough upon Robert Siodmak’s 1939 film Pièges, that it must surely be classed as a remake, capturing the essence of a film noir thriller with an impressive cast and smoke machine moddiness and soundstage London-effect cinematography. 

The plot follows and does trail the female seeker hero type Sandra Carpenter (Lucille Ball), a sassy American dancer in London who is roped into a police investigation as a decoy for a serial killer targeting women through newspaper ads. 

The Glass Key (1942)

The Glass Key (1942) is a classic Ladd-Lake Dashiell Hammett violent political intrigue and romance film noir thriller remake directed by Stuart Heisler and starring a case-file of noir talent including Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, Bonita Granville, Richard Denning and Joseph Calleia.

It's a complex fast moving typewriter-written stylistic and at times super violent political romp, with a dog attack.

Whatever your take on and tolerance for film noir the 1942 second production of The Glass Key is almost a law unto itself at times, not so outré as some of its peers, but far harder for it.