Bury Me Dead (1947)

Bury Me Dead (1947) is a mystery noir with comic and fantasy elements, directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring Cathy O'Donnell, Sonia Darrin, June Lockhart, Hugh Beaumont and Mark Daniels.

Made by Eagle-Lion films, this entertaining if slight and lightweight film noir is a straightforward whodunnit, with more of a who-tried-to-do-it feel, as the murder victim survives the attempt on her life, and must then sleuth out the would-be killer from the cast of friends and family.

When the remains of a woman's body are found after a fire consumes the stables on the estate of wealthy Barbara Carlin, it is assumed that the body is hers, especially since the body is found Barbara's diamond necklace. 

Classic noir mystery weirdness kicks off the action however, with the mourning victim on the way to her own funeral in a taxi — an event rich in an almost goofball flavour of black comedy.

The Big Sleep (1946)

The Big Sleep (1946) is a superlative complex classic film noir sizzler of a private detection crime film starring Lauren Bacall and noir's ever faithful ace — Humphrey Bogart.

Directed by Howard Hawks, an apogee of the 1940s expression of crime, sexuality, and everything that film noir stands for, The Big Sleep almost defies description in terms of its script, perhaps down to the fact that no final script was truly ever available during its initial shooting, and then the film was delayed, due to a backlog of war related films which needed to be released and out of the way.

Between principal work in 1945 and release in 1946 footage was condensed, altered and eliminated and new footage had been added. The film was released to capitalise on the publicity already generated by the Hollywood romance between Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart — the She and He of film noir and one of Hollywood's most celebrated couples.