The Ghost Ship (1943)

The Ghost Ship (1943) is a low key Val Lewton maritime murder psychological thriller suspense film noir melodrama of high seas horror mania and psychopathy and serial killer highly focused mania, with homicidal homoerotics on the deadly foggy misty waters of the evil portions of the silver screen's fantasies of what it might mean to be on the ocean, in a kind of Conradian high modern mixup of steamer mythos at its zenith worst, its best and most deadly. The insane Captain Stone.

It isn't what you think. There are no ghosts.

Step by Step (1946)

Step by Step (1946) is a returning veteran post-war Nazis-in-California espionage and action thriller chase murder fugitive romance on the run film with noir qualities, and the amazing bodily properties of Lawrence Tierney, a truer man of film noir there rarely was, with this little coastal corker as one of his finest cracker crazed noiresque outings.

It Happened One Night (1934) properly introduced the couple-thrown-together trope, and it is true that this semi-noir Step By Step proves what a confused year 1946 may have been as it does indeed feature screwball elements, in light dashes, such as Anne Jeffreys in military uniform, and some carrying-across-the-threshold romance style of jinx.

Dillinger (1945)

Dillinger (1945) is a cheapo-epic biopic crime heist, robbery, murder, prison and prison-break film noir which was the breakthrough role for tough guy villainous noir actor Lawrence Tierney, directed by Max Nosseck and co-starring Anne Jeffreys, Edmund Lowe, Marc Lawrence, Elisha Cooke Jnr and Eduardo Cianelli. 

Packed with fun, action and menace, and oddly replete with cinematic meta-mechanics, Dillinger (1945) cannot be flawed for anything other than historical accuracy. 

Historical accuracy might have gone against the grain, too. The minute makers of 1945, fresh off the tracks of the great crime film experiments of the 1930s, which incidentally probably amount to the greatest body of work of 1930s cinema, were imminently to collide with state forces and the Production Code was in fullest sway, and so accuracy might have been well sacrificed.

The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947)

The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947) is a psycho bad guy ill-fated pick-up robbery and murder fraud and cop crunching road and beach house thriller from the high era of stranger danger handsome sociopathic lone killer pictures.

Lawrence Tierney shines as he rides down a cop in this wonder-a-minute fast moving loose livin and wild ride of a sizeable slab of American underbelly, thrilling with multiple characters on a road ride to the beach house bar of doom.

Cigarette flickin mean as can be mutha of the night Lawrence Tierney serves up almost at times a solo show of evil forties noir, although more the ably supported by Nan Leslie and Betty Lawford with superstar contrastin actin roles, way into this long night of very noir film noir.

Youth Runs Wild (1944)

Youth Runs Wild (1944) is an inattentive parents and juvenile delinquency returning veteran social drama which takes an early look at the idea of juvenile delinquency, several years before the teen-boom began across America and emerged within the Hollywood movies of the post-war years.

The returning veteran aspect is unusual and not entirely noir in its outlook, as Kent Smith plays Danny Coates who returns wounded to his old working class neighbourhood and takes up a mission to keep the toddlers safe. 

As a kind of side-mission to this, he is obliged by the local oldie judge to take care of some teenage tearaways, but he doesn't seem to succeed at this, and the teenagers tear right off and into Juvenile Hall.

Shakedown (1950)

Shakedown (1950) is a slick and high speed journalism and media film noir crime and blackmail film about one young photographer's ambition to be the richest, best and most romantically involved snapper in the entirety of the great noir city.

Directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Howard Duff, Brian Donlevy, Peggy Dow, Lawrence Tierney, Bruce Bennett and Anne Vernon, Shakedown manages to blur the lines between crime and reportage.

With its hero to heel ending Shakedown (1950) is a lot more than a thrilling item of media noir, with its twin villains and twin romance stories, and with a central character about whom we shouldn't but do sympathise with.