The Small Voice (1948)

The Small Voice (1948) is a lousy husband returning veteran home invasion British hostage classic tension and confrontation low budget escaped prisoners jeopardy film noir drama with Valerie Hobson, Howard Keel and James Donald. 

Golden Earrings (1947)

Golden Earrings (1947) is an immediatley post-war wartime Romany-gypsy adventure transformation prisoner of war with shades of screwball comedy in the shape of a misbehaving wild sexpot gypsy espionage kind of backdrop infused film noir flashback but no voiceover man on the run and behind enemy lines Eurowaldian soundtage based romancer flick about a man and a 'gypsy' who is at odds with English morality, obviously, and who drives a cliched caravan through Nazi Germany with the SS in cold pursuit, ultimately creating a fusion genre that could be described by the phrase serious comedy, and starring Ray Milland and Marlene Dietrich, with Murvyn Vye, Bruce Lester and Dennis Hoey.

The Threat (1949)

The Threat (1949) is a prison break revenge and violence cons on the run hostage procedural Felix E. Feist classic era film noir psychopathic bully drama with Charles McGraw, Virginia Grey, Michael O'Shea, Anthony Caruso, Julie Bishop and Frank Conroy.

Felix E. Feist's The Threat (1949) is a violent, accelerated bullet of a film. Clocking in at barely over an hour, it encapsulates the claustrophobic essence of noir within its limited timeframe. There is no flab to be found; every scene is propelled by urgency, and every character stands in the shadow of mortal danger. The film traffics in archetypes: the brutal criminal, the loyal detective, the compromised woman, and the hapless bystander. 

They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)

They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) is a post war British limey spivving and drug dealing film noir classic psychopath action adventure returning veteran misty London rooftop and scabby old boozer thriller prison break police procedural fist-fighting exploitation violence-against-women crime movie by Alberto Cavalcanti and with all the mystery of any Alberto Cavalcanti production, it races onwards with Trevor Howard at his handsome hero best, and Sally Gray, Maurice Dunham — and Griffith Jones as a class act noir psychopath, complete with hanky mannerisms and a funeral business to cover his narcotics dealing, which is pretty hep for '47.

We're No Angels (1955)

We're No Angels (1955) is a Michael Curtiz Humphrey Bogart and Peter Ustinov and Aldo Ray Christmas themed inappropriate island based prison break comedy in full studio colour as the trio fun and blunder through some uncanny voyeuristic crapulent more than semi-sexist kind of misery as comedy experience as they play three escapees from Devil's Island, the penal colony of Cayenne (French: Bagne de Cayenne), commonly known as Île du Diable, which was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953, in the Salvation Islands of French Guiana.

The Secret of Convict Lake (1951)

The Secret of Convict Lake (1951) is a pressure cooker ensemble cast prison break snow-bound gang on the run innocent-man-accused Western movie with film noir tendencies aplenty and a few side comments too on the social roles of men and women, as such relate to heroism, homesteading and justice.

The 1951 Western The Secret of Convict Lake emerges as a unique entry in the genre, distinguished by its noir-inflected atmosphere and an unusually strong female presence. 

Directed by Michael Gordon, the film tells the story of a group of escaped convicts who, after enduring a harrowing journey through the snow-covered Sierra Nevadas, stumble upon a remote settlement populated solely by women. 

I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932)

I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932) is a proto-noir pre-Code prison and prison break film noir classic of American penal servitude and injustice, laying the ground work for many noir movies which followed, thematically 

The 1932 film I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a remarkable example of pre-Code Hollywood’s capacity to blend searing social critique with gripping drama. Adapted from Robert Elliott Burns' memoir, I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!, the film portrays the systemic brutality of the Southern penal system during the 1920s. 

The Big Shot (1942)

The Big Shot (1942) is a Warner Bros. three-time-loser prison break couple-on-the-run innocent-man-convicted heist and gangland crime film noir thriller with Humphrey Bogart as the sympathetic gangster mob boss hero and Irene Manning as the woman he loves.

As any canon of work relies on trope and recognition, trope and repetition, all of which should be traceable back into the originating myths of its society, here is an archetypal late 1930s tale of motor madness, criminal expression, and the determination to go straight.

The latter is one of the greatest themes of the era. There were men who were innocent caught up in crime, there were veterans returning from the moral order of war to the confused criminal urban environments, and there were the charismatic guilty, who try as they might, could not avoid crime.

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.

Dark Passage (1947)

Dark Passage (1947) is a face-lift ex-con innocent hunted man on the run POV prison break cabbie sexual chemistry classic Warner Bros. mystery picture starring the Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, who are all over this marvel of a chemistry set of a classic film noir.

The mythology of the face-lift is deeply rooted in cultural narratives and societal expectations, particularly regarding beauty and aging. In many stories, women undergo face-lifts to retain their partners, highlighting the societal pressure for women to remain beautiful. 

This contrasts with men, who are often depicted as seeking new partners rather than maintaining their current relationships. The perceived ugliness of aging women is seen as natural and biological, though it is heavily influenced by cultural standards that do not apply equally to men.

Take Aim at the Police Van (1960)

Take Aim at the Police Van (1960) is a borderless youth prison guard pursuit cat and mouse violent revenge noir-bent thriller that was made in Japan in 1960.

Police Van serves slab of cold prison guard in a preemptive strike against global cop culture, fresh for the 1960s and with all the right style.

The reviews for Take Aim at the Police Van provide a nuanced perspective on the film, reflecting both admiration for Seijun Suzuki's distinct directorial style and some reservations about certain aspects of the plot and character development. Seijun Suzuki, known for his unconventional approach to filmmaking, is described as one of the more eccentric Japanese directors of the 1960s, and Take Aim at the Police Van is seen as a reflection of his penchant for pushing the boundaries of traditional film noir.

Crashout (1955)

Crashout (1955) is a prison break gang-on-the-run rebel romance home invasion film noir from when the prison break gang-on-the-run rebel romance home invasion film noir was at its most popular as a style.

The breakout gang bossed over by the man with the knowledge of the stash in Crashout, the wounded William Bendix starts with six members — no need to guess how many there are at the end.

The gang is a sharp slice of actors of the film noir style, playing thug-jawed mooks and hardened cons, one with psychotic tendencies, and one who is the golden hearted con, in stir for the murder he didn't mean to commit — an Arthur Kennedy of a con — and ready to fall in love.

Johnny Apollo (1940)

Johnny Apollo (1940) is an inter-generational double identity crime and prison break film noir from early in the cycle.

Directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Tyrone Power and Dorothy Lamour, Johnny Apollo tells the story of the son of a jailed financial and corporate embezzling broker who turns to crime to pay for his father's release.

Tyrone Power fits the title role of Johnny Apollo well. 

The name Johnny Apollo is a crazy, spontaneous, to-heck-with-it whassin-a-name spur of the moment decision for his character Robert Cain, Jr. whose father (played by Edward Arnold) has been jailed for some white collar securities violations, an event which brings his son's soft and privileged life to an end.