Joe MacBeth (1955)

Joe Macbeth (1955) is a feverish, noir-soaked transposition of Shakespeare’s blood-stained tragedy into a mobster film noir in which ensemble parking garage acting where ambition clashes with brass-knuckled loyalty collapses under the weight of prophecy, and a henpecked trigger man is whipped into grandiose dreams of power by his razor-edged wife, featuring back-alley execution, and guilt-ridden hallucination seeping from the same anxious postwar mood of rising urban brutality and moral corrosion, and starring Sid James as an American, an oddity in itself, and Paul Douglas as Macbeth and Ruth Roman as the all alluring femme fatale star of the show.

Down Three Dark Streets (1954)

Down Three Dark Streets (1954) is a later period police procedural docu-style triple narrative case study murder mystery film noir starring Broderick Crawford and Ruth Roman, as a cop on the case and a victim in the suburbs, in fairly standard practise style thrillnoir for its era and budget.

Clearly by 1954 there was little noir left and although this film and many others like it carry the label of film noir and are known to the lazies who populate the fanchats and social pages constructed and dedicated to the deconstruction and dedication of the style, there is little of what could ever be classified as the true film noir in here, with none of the noirish measures of shadow and paranoia, of the individual and their fateful decline, and of the psychosexual madnesses of melodrama so typical of the medium in its 1940s heyday.

Champion (1949)

Champion (1949) is a sports-noir drifter narrative boxing film noir rags to riches drama of hubris and corruption, starring Kirk Douglas as a one time bum who finds he is a great boxer, and makes an all-American stab at gaining the all-American system of fight-rigging, mobsterism, and big sport gambling and media.

A remarkable and entertaining vehicle for the young Kirk Douglas, for whom this was a certain break-through role, Champion (1949) is not lauded much as a great noir, although it is, with first rate performances and high drama and emotion, sweeping through much of American social systems and presenting as well as any other high-period film noir does, the story of the individual against himself, against the country, against the insurmountable cruelty and manipulations of the system that elevates sport to the wild, corrupted and abusive focal point of life it will become.

Beyond the Forest (1949)

Beyond the Forest (1949) is a vicious bored housewife rural murder film noir starring Bette Davis, Joseph Cotten, David Brian and Ruth Roman as lumber town citizens wrapped up in more iniquity than should be tolerable within such an idyll.

Bette Davis vamps up as the housewife who just wants more. Dissatisfied with her life in the rural Wisconsin logging town of Loyalton where she finds herself — and unable to cope with the boredom and the satisfaction of a modest family life, she not only has an affair with a Chicago businessman, she cruelly schemes up a murder to keep her secret safe.

For Rosa Moline (Bette Davis) Chicago is a dream, and represents all things fine, and all things glamourous. For Rosa Chicago is a byword for the sophistication she craves, where expensive items await her along with interesting people.

The Window (1949)

The Window (1949) is a modest voyeur murder witness classic film noir period child endagerment noir thriller set within the confines of a crummy New York apartment block, which stars child actor Bobby Driscoll as a kid who witnesses a murder one hot night.

Because of his tendency to make stories up however, this poor kid is not believed by his parents and then by the cops, when he does the right thing and reports the crime.

Soon the murderous couple, played by Ruth Roman and Paul Stewart are on to the kid and attempting to psychologically squeeze him, creating a beautifully urban noir aura of paranoia.

There is no doubt that young Bobby Driscoll is the star that holds this picture together, and without him, it might be a mess. This was felt too Howard Hughes.

Strangers on a Train (1951)

Strangers on a Train is a masterful 1951 adventure in film noir, with all the morbid fun that Alfred Hitchcock perennially mustered. 

The theme of psychopathy was explored more than once by Alfred Hitchcock, and was one of the more interesting developments in the film noir style.

The idea of the psychopath, who may murder for reasons which are extra-normative to the great American dream, is traced through film noir. Psychological shock explanations are often used, and other psychopaths in noir, who were the first batch of psychopaths in cinema, like Robert Walker's character Bruno in Strangers on a Train, are either aberrations, or the product of environments that are sick.

In this case, Robert Walker's psychopathic Bruno appears to be spoiled by his family's money, and his father's determined disapproval.

The story follows two men who meet on a train, one of whom is a psychopath who suggests that they "exchange" murders so that neither will be caught. The film initially received mixed reviews but has since been regarded much more favourably, especially as it showcased many techniques which Alfred Hitchcock had already perfected and would further perfect, as a master cinematic storyteller.