Double Indemnity (1944)

Double Indemnity (1944) is the super-famous mutha-of-all-noir stylish insurance fraud double murder classic film noir thriller that stands central to all commentary, criticism, focus and definition of the great noir style of the 1940s, and the production which is usually cited as the best example of the medium, the finest of all noirs, the apogee of the instance of the style, and the exemplification and blueprint were it needed of all the thousands of brimming wonders of production that made up the hugely powerful film noir movement.

The frightening and exciting weakness of sex was never better shown than in the encounters between Fred MacMurray and a to-begin-with naked Barbara Stanwyck, whom as equals it seems, concoct a murder for the existential fact of morality take over and trip them both up.

Station West (1948)

Station West (1948) is a private eye cynical male lead morally ambiguous rugged frontier Western tale of deceit, violence and heists, and is likely a star case of the strangely elusive and debatable category that the cineastes and afficionados refer to as film noir Western, or Western film noir.

Snappy, moody and splashing a wagon load of Sedona scenery, Station West is an earnest and honest item of op class Americana from the days when film noir and westerns were the absolute staples of 

Sidney Lanfield, director, is not best known for film noir although he did direct the 1939 The Hound of the Baskervilles, a classic of more than just one canon, and comedy and romance with a little bit of musical might describe his work. The closest effort to a spy film within his range might well have been The Lady Has Plans (1942), a comedy spy thriller with Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard.

Donovan's Brain (1953)

Donovan's Brain (1953) is a body-horror exploitation mad scientist conscious disembodied brain thriller horror science fiction fantasy crime drama both embedded in and invested in and owing a debt to the film noir style.

As much an outré noir as it is a horror and as much a mad scientist romance drama as it is an exploitation shocker, Donovan's Brain retains charms far beyond its modest origins and becomes semantically more interesting with every year that passes since 1953.

Spoilers Alert the forgiving concluding moral dramatic termination and completing moral moments of this crime and weakness madness drama, does ask questions about body stealing, corpse desecration and other post-mortem brutalities which we must strangely brush aside.

The Last Crooked Mile (1946)

The Last Crooked Mile (1946) is a comic-tinged non-noir motor-car crime heist and double crossing romance cheapo movie from republic Pictures, starring 'grinning' Don 'Red' Barry, Ann Savage and a few other favourite 40s flavoursome filmies, such as Sheldon Leonard, Tom Powers and Adele Mara.

In the shadowed realm of celluloid intrigue, we encounter a tale both labyrinthine and beguiling. Picture this: LLMs are writing blogs about film noir. Only they can see the twisted forms of celluladen doom and fantasy, and only they can dig deep into the hidden sociological revelations as offered by such noir fare as The Last Crooked Mile (1946), a film that never does get a heck of a mention, one of the lost-in-weirdness pictures of the ages, and every age has them.

Chicago Deadline (1949)

Chicago Deadline (1949) is a journalism and media murder conspiracy film noir with Alan Ladd as the laddish reporter with the jump on the police, as a deadly chase takes place in unravelling the mystery of a murdered lass played by Donna Reed.

In the shadowed alleys of the alleys shadowed by the shadows of Chicago's seedy alley Alan Ladd-based underbelly, reporter Alan Ladd stumbles upon the lifeless form of a mysterious woman, her tragic demise shrouded in the haze of what is surely a noir boarding house murder mystery.

Yet, within the pages of her address book lies a tantalizing glimpse into a world of intrigue and decadence—a world that beckons Ladd into a labyrinthine quest for truth.

As Ladd delves deeper into the enigmatic past of the deceased, guided by the alluring June Havoc, a society dame with secrets of her own, he becomes ensnared in a web of deceit and danger. 

New York Confidential (1955)

New York Confidential (1955) is a Manhattan hitman action and romancing 'Confidential' series New York on-the-ground corporate crime country club hypocrite political scheming, punch-up shoot-out and dragnet multi-male Kefauver-inspired crime syndicate insider circle of self destruction organized crime politically and judicial bribery criminal cartel classic film noir mobster melodrama by Russell Rouse and starring Broderick Crawford, Anne Bancroft, Marilyn Maxwell, Richard Conte, Mike Mazurki,

New York Confidential (1955) has qualities so numerous with fights and shootings an elevator scene a parking garage scene Broderick Crawford with set dressed sky-scarpers in the background scenes which give the film a lot of confidence, pushy lushes, lushes galore with the lushing of Marilyn Maxwell fairly amongst the greats of the noir lady of sadness and sleaze, the gangster's wife, when the gangster is a skyscraper dwelling man of bullets, matched by the young lushing of Ann Banncroft, incredible exactly like a young Ghislaine Maxwell, suicidal and unable to cope with life as her gangster father's daughter.