The Undercover Man (1949)

The Undercover Man (1949) is a Joseph H. Lewis procedural Capone-inspired cops and gangsters corruption and organised crime oddly neglected G-man IRS Burnett Guffey class-act street photography special gangland mob boss and determined cop chase-off class but not classic crime film noir with Glenn Ford, Nina Foch, Barry Kelley, Judith Warren, James Whitmore, George Pappas, David Bauer and Howard St. John. 

Cry of the Werewolf (1944)

Cry of the Werewolf (1944) is a she-wolf werewolf cry of the Alsatian forties Romany-defacing uberwald supernatural proto horror lady lycanthrope darkened corridors-style thriller from the golden era of the classic film noir period of the silver screen, and although no noir to speak of, the crossover themes, designs and elements of the forties horror style and canon is so film noir adjacent that someone must appeal to the strain of horror to full understand the high standards of the film noir of the day, and it stars Nina Foch and Fritz Leiber, and was directed by Henry Levin.

Everything that we are seeing on these silver sets is a product of the formation of cinema, and the sets are the full epic of the era, hand built for thrills and lighting.

Johnny O'Clock (1947)

Johnny O'Clock (1947) is a sinister snappy-dialogue murder and finally it has to be said classic film noir which is a lot of fun and is surely one of the hidden gems of the who noir effort of the 1940s.

Complex in approach and yet diverting in its charm and snazz, Johnny O'Clock is a waltz through the film noir style, able to copy with mystery, murder, deception and some vile violence, before it wraps up and paces stylishly through its conclusion.

New York gambling house operator Johnny O'Clock played by Dick Powell, is junior partner in a smart  casino with Guido Marchettis (Thomas Gomez) and Chuck Blayden (Jim Bannon), the latter being a crooked cop. 

Illegal (1955)

Illegal (1955) is a court-room thriller exposing the tentacles of corporate evil, and the massive protections afforded to the new class of criminal emerging in the boardrooms of America.

Edward G. Robinson plays superstar District Attorney Victor Scott, on fire in the courtroom, a wit and a showman, able it appears to convince any jury of his case.

Illegal opens with a salacious murder which is quickly executed, codified, examined and tried; much to the amusement of anyone who has ever enjoyed the television series, Star Trek; for the hapless hero in this vignette of justice and its flaws, is DeForest Kelley.

That's one reason alone to check in with this rather interesting variation on an increasingly important theme. 

The Dark Past (1948)

The Dark Past (1948) is one of several films noir which opens with the aerial shot of the city, and an earnest voice over describing the existential experience of the urban life, the technological alienation which is suggestive of an architectural emptiness, a nihilism even, akin to crime in its freedom.

As Side Street seems to open with the message that any one of us may be the day's murder victim as much as they may be that murder's suspect.

The Dark Past takes the more traditional Mark Hellinger informed attitude that this is the naked city, and that it's like a jungle sometimes, and this is our framing, the real life city.

William Holden plays mean as hell psychopath and killer Al Walker, a film noir apogee and the defining casting action of a style which elevated to central protagonist the idea of villain as narrative prime mover.

My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

One of the best times you can have if you crave a sixty-five minute paranoid woman film noir, is My Name Is Julia Ross (1945), starring Nina Foch.

Should there be madness in your script and the stretching of credibility, and should your script also be offering some subtle social comment, then there will be film noir.

The theme of there being a woman-in-danger ― or as the producers might prefer it ― to call it exactly what it is in their minds  ― the paranoid woman ― is a firm film noir fave.

Nina Foch is one of many who had a bash at this ― note: you can tell she is a paranoid woman, because she is shot in bed. The paranoid woman is always filmed in bed, often clutching the covers. It's one of the more obvious signs of the trope. Bed is where these paranoid women often are!

Nina Foch however keeps the suspense on high throughout. The script never strays from her dilemma, which is just as well, because as with other films in this style, once examined, the set-up will be revealed as preposterous. It's one of the other better genre tropes and why it makes this psychological mayhem the fun time it is.

This is all happening in your marriage!