The Razor's Edge (1946)

The Razor's Edge (1946) is an intergenerational returning veteran historical drama episodic male point of view romance adventure two and a half hour Somerset Maugham worldliness versus spirituality adaptation which was a huge romantic hit in its time, and which owes little to film noir, but offers a stable and repetitive cascading style of romance story that is a soft-soap kind of storytelling, offering the purest kind of escape known to 1946.

This is not a film noir, and yet within it lurks the genes of the style not quite activated, but present as the underscored factual spiritual well from which draws a grabbing interest, between the snogs and high-class encounters. In the 1940s they did not have slacker movies, but they did have loafer movies, and this is one.

I Shot Jesse James (1949)

I Shot Jesse James (1949) is a wild west historical-mythical hero-plagued-by-guilt and self-disgust film noir western concerning one of the pivotal motions in the story of the national formation of the super-historic late nineteenth century force that was to become the United States, retelling in its suitably sanitised and Samuel Fullerised force to story of the the shooting of Jesse James by Robert Ford, whose name inspired a rhyme scheme that draws the tourists and the film makers to this very day.

It is a rocky period in history and it is a question indeed as to whether I Shot Jesse James (1949) might categorically qualify for either the western noir or the historical noir designation, for weirdly in effect it is both.

Rimfire (1949)

Rimfire (1949) is a shoddy wild west justice undercover cop revenge journalism and media mystery semi-supernatural ghost of a gambler low budget thriller western film noir starring Reed Hadley, and directed by B. Reeves Eason.

Eason, who directed his first film in 1915, proving something about the Hollywood machine, and it must have been wonderful for him to see it in these glorious nascent and then silver and golden stages. This film starts too with a stage, a rather arbitrary and somehow unexciting stagecoach chase, which trails round the bends in a high speed action for the sake of action-sequence.

Highway Dragnet (1954)

Highway Dragnet (1954) is an innocent male war veteran accused of murder mistaken identity road movie and sexual tension couple on the run thriller film noir, set on the highways and desert areas of Nevada and California.

Highway Dragnet holds the distinction of being the inaugural film to feature Roger Corman in the credits, marking his debut in the industry.

Corman was part of a team of six screenwriters who crafted this tension-filled melodrama shot on location. The film features Richard Conte as a former Marine fleeing from an unjust murder accusation. During his escape, he encounters Joan Bennett, a sophisticated magazine photographer, and her leading model, Wanda Hendrix, as they embark on a cross-country journey. 

The Mystery of Marie Roget (1942)

The Mystery of Marie Roget (1942) is a historical film noir mystery rendering of an early detective  crime solving story film starring Patric Knowles. 

The story in question is The Mystery of Marie Rogêt written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1842. The film, directed by Phil Rosen and produced by Universal Pictures, is set in 1889.

In 1889 Paris, musical comedy star Marie Roget has been missing for ten days. Police inspector Gobelin is investigating her disappearance. This is side shaving of film noir with the ambience of the old city creating ham where there should may not be so much ham, but also creating tension where possible, in a solid attempt to bring the mystery and the history as one to the screen.

The French Minister for Naval Affairs, Henri Beauvais, a friend of Marie's grandmother, Madame Cecile Roget, and her younger sister Camille, threatens to take Gobelin off the case. Therefore, Gobelin brings medical officer Dr. Paul Dupin into the case.