The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)

The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) is a creepy euromad historical whodunnit mad pianist and body horror gothic wandering hand vintage special effect horror suspenser with the most unique and unusual music, and directed by Robert Florey and written by Curt Siodmak, and starring Andrea KIng, Robert Alda, Peter Lorre, J. Carrol Naish and Victor Francen, and though we may say whodunnit, when we know that it's the the hand that dunnit, the structure of the whodunnit does override the horror, with the Poirot-like detective making a bumbling but brave and coherent stab at solving the crazed mystery. 

Casablanca (1942)

Casablanca (1942) is the one of a kind classic cinema anti-Nazi tale of war time love and intrigue which regularly appears in greatest film of all time compositions and not that often in classic film noir selections nor even moderate noir canons, nor even in the non-canonical and noir at a stretch.

Funny that Casablanca was not an instant hit and funny that your first thoughts are that the special effects are not that good for the greatest film of all time. 

By which you mean that the basic investment made in this greatest film of all time seems moderate to say the least. The aeroplane and some of the attending dressing of scene, the special effects.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) is an Alfred Hitchcock British-period thriller proto-noir proto-Hitchcock proto-innocent person swept up in intrigue psychological and action exciter.

In his contemporary review of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Forsyth Hardy noted the absence of expressive use of sound, especially when compared to earlier Hitchcock works like Murder! or Blackmail. However, while the film lacks overt or showy sound techniques, it marks a significant evolution in Hitchcock’s handling of sound. 

Island of Doomed Men (1940)

Island of Doomed Men (1940) is an undercover cop prison exploitation lousy husband film noir adventure shocker about sadistic capitalistic island owner in conspiratorial league with the US prison system, who runs a mean slave labour based penal island where he keeps his wife a captive, and where he is bothered to his downfall by a domestic monkey.

Peter Lorre is that island owner in Island of Doomed Men (1940), the prosaically named Stephen Darnel who runs a mean slave colony, with a sophisticated home enclave of dreams, flowers, a kitchen, grand piano, electric fence and a domestic monkey.

Invisible Agent (1942)

Invisible Agent (1942) is a Universal Monsters classic media franchise fake news erotic propaganda wartime horror comedy heroism anti-Axis adventure movie, charged with spookery, xenophobia, and not just a crazed fantasy of an invisible man behind enemy lines, but enemy lines behind which the Nazis and Japanese co-operate and compete as violent evil-doers.

The usual invisible man style of comedy is present and so of course he smokes a cigarette, as well as trying out some great new trick effects, such as changing out of his clothes mid air to land in 1942 Germany naked and invisible, as well as a cold cream application in order to reveal himself.

All Through The Night (1942)

All Through The Night (1942) is a comedic espionage hunted man anti-Nazi propaganda gambling and screwball influenced thriller directed by Vincent Sherman and starring an interestingly familiar film noir cast including Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorrie, Kaaren Verne, Barton MacLane and Conrad Veidt, who played many a Nazi across the course of the 1940s espionage noir cycles of film.

Made before the bombing of Pearl Harbour and released after it, All Through The Night (1942) plays upon ideas of a simpler sort, funning up the World War a little, and a little too late in the day for comfort.

Der Verlorene (1951)

Der Verlorene (1951) is a post-World War II Peter Lorre directed West German rubble vengeance and regret existential experimental-Nazi vivisection lab film noir, directed and starring the recovering morphine-addicted super-scion of film noir, Peter Lorre.

Peter Lorre does manage within the scope of this late period rubble film, to create a most memorable character, although he does so much Lorre drift, peer, stare and smoke, and like all Peter Lorre films, and like all of Peter Lorre's life, the mis en scene is heavy on the cigarette-based action.

The Verdict (1946)

The Verdict (1946) is an historical chiller thriller police versus killer film noir, and noir boy genius' Don Siegel's first directorial work.

With the smoke over the sound stage and the shadow chasing bulky form of Sidney Greenstreet and character actors galore to boot, The Verdict plays an old time turna the century London vibe as upped with character as any other in the foggy-noir sub genre.

This classic of foggy noir has more than a few twists to turn your interest to it, superior in depth perhaps if less held together in the low key nature of the incidents, while playing in turn for a kind of horror, the very possible horror of having condemned an innocent man, while coupled with smug 1890s Victorian era cop shop workplace bullying.

The Conspirators (1944)

The Conspirators (1944) is an espionage and resistance romance and adventure film noir made by Jean Negulesco, and starring Hedy Lamarr and Paul Henreid.

Despite its wartime time and the complexities of wartime spying and resistance and the very real and sometimes unreal presence of the Nazis, the set-up of this wartime noir is classicly typical of the style - - a man and a woman, both of whom are fleeing from their pasts, accidentally meet and he falls for her - - big time.

A chance meeting, indicative of the noirish fate of many a wartime film noir protagonist. He in particular feels that the past can never harm them, and urges his new love to forget it.

The Mask of Dimitrios (1945)

The Mask of Dimitrios (1945) beloved of many whom adore the adventurous and thrilling aspect of the silver screen in its lovely golden age, is part mystery, part adventure and a part film noir.

That part which remains film noir, is here within The Mask of Dimitrios, perhaps relegated to the baggage of delight and mystery which is transported within the facial and emotional aspects presented by Peter Lorre. 

Lorre in The Mask of Dimitrios does not however play to any of his strengths, and plays best of all in his duet with Sidney Greenstreet.  Peter Lorre is for once the good guy, the hero no less, the seeker on that often-told quest and his are the bulging eyes through which the audience approaches the mystery.

Like every good slice of film noir, The Mask of Dimitrios is told mostly in flashback. Like many other film noir favourites, the character flashing back is in fact a writer, a mystery writer in this case. 

On hearing about the exploits of the international blackguard Dimitrios, Peter Lorre becomes fascinated and determines to learn as much as he can from as many sources as he can find, and crucially, every one of these sources has been left sadder and wiser after their encounter.

Jean Negulesco who later moved over to 20th Century Fox and made more lighter films than this, did manage to generate of dream of sorts here, in the form of a study in pure evil, in the form of Zachary Scott playing Dimitrios Makropoulos.

Rope of Sand (1944)

Rope of Sand is an action-adventure movie with film noir elements, featuring Burt Lancaster, who certainly was one of the film-noir kings of the 1940s.

Although it sometimes appears on lists of film noir titles, Rope of Sand isn’t urban, it isn’t psychological, it doesn’t feature much of those well-known shadowy cinematic elements, and its femme fatale turns on her heels fairly quickly, changing from a manipulative and greedy cheat, into a loving and caring amour, on the basis of a coup-de-foudre attack of love.

Corinne Calvet, who plays the femme fatale turned girl-next-door, Suzanne had an interesting, but rather unsatisfactory career. She made over thirty films, but the vast majority of people will have heard of none of them. 

And most actors who have worked for forty years in Hollywood will have been in at least one major production.

Corrine Calvet’s entrance in Rope of Sand is stunning, however. She vamps in and immediately attempts to abuse Claude Rains in the worst way possible ― tousling herself up after blagging her way into his hotel room, she announces that if he doesn’t give her money, she’ll say he raped her. 

When this doesn’t work, she reveals her true colours as a prostitute and then actually offers herself for money.

Black Angel (1946)

Black Angel (1946) is a mystery female seeker hero lousy husband alcoholic amnesia film noir from the heart of the classic noir period.

Jean-Luc Godard said that all you need for a movie is a gun and a girl — and bien sur, Monsieur Godard knew his noir.

Certainly, Black Angel (1946) satisfies Godard’s wisdom within one minute.

There’s a lot of noir in that first minute of Black Angel. 

Darkness, shadows, the down-at-heel, a glamorous girl with a gun, and piece of music that is going to haunt everyone right to their graves.  

Black Angel is a classic noir and as a signpost into the magic of the media in question, consider it as fantastical elements. This part of the story and the weirdness of ambience, focused in dreamlike and ridiculous assertions, that are more nightmare like in fact, this is a hallmark more than any other to show how 40s noir was the very crucible of mystery and crime cinemas many subsequent genres.

The Chase (1946)

The opening shot of The Chase (1946) is straight out of a mad god's dictionary of crazy Americana —  a burger being flipped, watched by a hungry ex-military man.

This is Chuck Scott, hapless heel about town and nervous pill-popper, a guy scarred into insecurity and down on his luck as a result of World War II.

And The Chase is not quite what you suspect. It's firmly film noir because of the psychology and the dream like quality of much of the story. 

Watch out for spoilers from this point on, because the dreamlike results of PTSD, which is what is being suggested in this film, make for a mad and paranoid set of circumstances.

Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

Eddie Robson, who is one of the world’s most thorough-going experts on film noir, is determined that Stranger on the Third Floor is the world’s first film noir. 

Not that one should spend a lot of time on this debate, but still it’s discussed. And he might even be right!

Despite being heavy on the expressionist shadows and the hapless hero, Stranger on the Third Floor lacks a few key noir elements, notably the femme fatale or bad girl — of which there is none.

But Stranger more than makes up for that in shadows and the psychological blurring of dream and reality.

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Despite spectacle, stories and such technical attributes as lighting and special effects, it’s a comfort that the biggest pull in cinema is that vague quantity known as ‘star quality’.

It’s star quality that makes a film noir classic like The Maltese Falcon watchable, even when the plot is failing.  There’s a section about 40 – 50 minutes into The Maltese Falcon in which the story widens out — suddenly there are more adventurers revealed, and a whole lot more in terms of characters and detail — and for those not used to the vagaries of the medium , this is the moment many switch off.

If it weren’t for Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre, and the vile duplicity portrayed by Mary Astor, they may even not switch back on again.