The Mummy's Tomb (1942)

The Mummy's Tomb (1942) is a Universal monster series early to mid forties Lon Chaney recyclathon gauzed menace archive footage filled fun filled shadow sequel mummy movie from Harold Young with Elyse Knox and Tuhran Bey and reprise roles with George Zucco, and Dick Foran, as well as Wallace Ford combined in a conceptual orientalist expression of North American longing for immortality combined with colonial guilt re-wiped and the use of the word 'occidentals' among other blundering culture and race jamming.

The Mummy's Hand (1940)

The Mummy's Hand (1940) is a fun flick follow up but not sequel Universal Classic Monsters US horror chiller mummy film directed by Christy Cabanne and produced by Ben Pivar, about the ancient Egyptian mummy of Kharis (played by Tom Tyler), who is kept alive with a brew of tana leaves by The High Priest (played by Eduardo Ciannelli) and his successor Andoheb (played by George Zucco), which used stock shots taken from The Mummy (1932), leftover sets from James Whale's film Green Hell (1940), and musical scores almost entirely lifted from Son of Frankenstein (1939). Wallace Ford and Cecil Kellaway play incredible acting roles keeping the show going, indeed this may even be a Kellaway classic. 

The Furies (1950)

The Furies (1950) is a dark and simmering Freudian subtext-laden family plot tycoon and succession drama noir western.

Anthony Mann’s The Furies (1950) occupies a unique place in the Western genre, transcending traditional conventions to deliver a dark, psychological drama that explores themes of power, family, and vengeance. As a director, Mann had a reputation for transforming the Western from a genre defined by its action-oriented plots into a medium for complex emotional and psychological narratives. 

All Through The Night (1942)

All Through The Night (1942) is a comedic espionage hunted man anti-Nazi propaganda gambling and screwball influenced thriller directed by Vincent Sherman and starring an interestingly familiar film noir cast including Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorrie, Kaaren Verne, Barton MacLane and Conrad Veidt, who played many a Nazi across the course of the 1940s espionage noir cycles of film.

Made before the bombing of Pearl Harbour and released after it, All Through The Night (1942) plays upon ideas of a simpler sort, funning up the World War a little, and a little too late in the day for comfort.

Flesh And Fury (1952)

Flesh And Fury (1952) is a rise and fall glamour and gloves biting the dust deaf and mute boxing exploitation film noir with Tony Curtis, Jan Sterling, Joseph Pevney, Mona Freeman and Wallace Ford.

It is almost in a way a new and undiscovered media, what might be called simpleton noir. Joseph Pevney’s Flesh and Fury occupies a fascinating position within the boxing genre, offering a melodramatic yet compelling exploration of identity, class, and vulnerability. 

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) is an early film noir era Alfred Hitchcock charming uncle  prototypical mainstreet serial killer psychopath philosophical murder mystery shocker oncle-noir suspense thriller drama, which is a also a classic film noir, and surely indicative of Hitchcock's effect on and contribution to the style.

It is noted in these chaumers that Alfred Hitchcock is a genre unto himself, and there is a lot of truth in that. So distinct becomes his work, from its earliest to its latest, and undoubtedly it is the same, and uses motifs and styles that only he seemed to be able to excel within. 

His to-camera photography is unique in that it never breaks the fourth wall, but looks through the fourth wall to place his target character within the mind of the audience. Compelling.

The Set-Up (1949)

The Set-Up (1949) is a high-intensity weakened male failing old timer boxing set-up patsy takes a dive real-time action concept classic film noir based on a narrative poem published in 1929.

The streets of the night with their emphasis on fun, with arcades and bars, and  cigar stands and joints of all sorts, are seen as places of isolation as Julie walks them without aim, unable to watch her man Stoker take part in another fight.

Existential expression is often key to film noir, and of course Albert Camus needed to go to the cinema too, and would have ideally found confirmation of his philosophical expression in a picture such as this.

Crack-Up (1946)

Crack-Up (1946) is an amnesia fraudulent artwork persecution noir with psychological elements delving into the amazing practise of narcosynthesis, and featuring some great train-bound action as a paranoid art critic played by Pat O'Brien searches frantically for his unknown tormentors.

Directed by Irving Reis, this fast moving art-crime drama also starred Claire Trevor, Herbert Marshall, Erskine Sanford and Wallace Stevens —  a strong film noir showing by any standards.

Dark and mysterious and tugging at undercurrents in the highest echelons of society, as represented by the artworld, Crack-Up has an uncanny feel, largely brought about by its quite distinctive paranoid train sequences.

Spellbound (1945)

Spellbound (1945) is an Alfred Hitchcock romantic psychological amnesia thriller with a noir nuance that cannot be denied. 

In some senses an outlier in the body of Alfred Hitchcock's own work, and not entirely styled in the mode of a more traditional or acceptable example of film noir, Spellbound does carry with it key noir themes of amnesia and psychoanalysis, and is as much a thriller as it is a psychological mystery.

Most of Spellbound's power comes as a romance story — always a strength with Alfred Hitchcock, who was as much a master of amour as he was of suspense.

Spellbound follows a psychoanalyst who falls in love with the new head of the Vermont hospital in which she works, only to find that he is an imposter suffering dissociative amnesia, and potentially, a murderer.

The Breaking Point (1950)

The Breaking Point (1950) is a swell of a smart film noir drama that falls sweetly across the boundary between 1040s and 1950s cinema.

The movie stars John Garfield, who plays the otherwise moral captain of a charter boat who becomes financially strapped and is drawn into illegal activities in order to keep up payments on his boat.

Across the varieties of film noir, there are many flavours, and this includes the tragic drama that has elements of film noir, as here in The Breaking Point.

Although not complex, the story is interesting because of the realism brought to the characters, an exchange made in favour of dropping the more familiar and fantastical elements of film noir.

One of the most common themes and juxtapositions in film noir, is made between domestic life and the life of crime, or at least the life 'out there' in the city of danger.

T-Men (1947)

T-Men (1947) is a tough and exciting undercover semi-documentary style film noir directed by Anthony Mann, starring Dennis O'Keefe in his breakthrough film noir role.

This classic film noir from 1947 follows two Treasury Department agents, Dennis O'Brien and Tony Genaro, as they go undercover to break up a counterfeiting ring. The film provides a glimpse into the post-World War II era of the United States and speaks to several aspects of 1940s American society.

One of the main themes of the film is the idea that the American dream is attainable through hard work and honesty. This idea is represented in the characters of O'Brien and Genaro, who are portrayed as hard-working and dedicated agents who are willing to risk their lives to protect their country. The film also portrays a strong sense of patriotism, which was common in the post-World War II era.

Another theme of the film is the idea that crime does not pay, which is a common message in many film noir movies. The counterfeiting ring that O'Brien and Genaro are trying to bust is shown to be ruthless and violent, and the film suggests that their criminal enterprise is ultimately doomed to fail.

Blues in the Night (1941)

Blues in the Night (1941) is a blues musical roadhouse road movie jazz band drinking and gambling brutal love and betrayal American Dream style rags to riches to institution for the insane violence against women national narrative love steals a man's creative powers hustle and dream montage rail-ridin left-leanin guy becomes a nobody rosy-posy monkey on a stick fast talkin comedy that is among the most fun of all film noir. 

Fun and noir are not the most common of screen-fellows, but this fast-moving wise-cracking funny and feeling love adventure into music, has more packed into its hour and a half than many of its slower contemporaries.

Black Angel (1946)

Black Angel (1946) is a mystery female seeker hero lousy husband alcoholic amnesia film noir from the heart of the classic noir period.

Jean-Luc Godard said that all you need for a movie is a gun and a girl — and bien sur, Monsieur Godard knew his noir.

Certainly, Black Angel (1946) satisfies Godard’s wisdom within one minute.

There’s a lot of noir in that first minute of Black Angel. 

Darkness, shadows, the down-at-heel, a glamorous girl with a gun, and piece of music that is going to haunt everyone right to their graves.  

Black Angel is a classic noir and as a signpost into the magic of the media in question, consider it as fantastical elements. This part of the story and the weirdness of ambience, focused in dreamlike and ridiculous assertions, that are more nightmare like in fact, this is a hallmark more than any other to show how 40s noir was the very crucible of mystery and crime cinemas many subsequent genres.