Criss Cross (1949)
Synopsis: A young man, Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster, Atlantic City), returns to his hometown and quickly reconnects with his ex-wife (Yvonne De Carlo, Band of Angels), who (accidentally?) gets him […]
Tag Archives: Classic-Noir
Downbeat crime films made between 1941 and 1959
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)
Synopsis: In post-World War II England, a Canadian veteran (Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry) suffering from PTSD accidentally kills a man in a bar fight. The ex-soldier goes on the lam […]
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
Synopsis: When her phone line gets crossed with another, a bedridden heiress, Leona Stevenson (Barbara Stanwyck, Stella Dallas), overhears a plot to murder an unnamed woman. Leona tries to alert […]
I Walk Alone (1947)
Synopsis: Frankie Madison (Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry) has been released from jail after serving a fourteen-year sentence for bootlegging. Frankie immediately contacts ex-partner Noll Hunter (Kirk Douglas, Lust for Life) […]
Brute Force (1947)
Synopsis: In order to be with his sickly wife (Ann Blyth, Mildred Pierce), troubled convict Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry) devises a daring jailbreak. However, the scheme goes awry […]
Desert Fury (1947)
Synopsis: A shady businessman (John Hodiak, The Harvey Girls) and his sidekick (Wendell Corey, The File on Thelma Jordon) arrive in a small Arizona town on the same day a […]
The Killers (1946)
Synopsis: Two hired assassins arrive in a small town with the intention of killing a gas station employee nicknamed “The Swede” (Burt Lancaster, From Here to Eternity). After “Swede” is […]
Arch of Triumph (1948)
Synopsis: The year is 1938. The place is Paris, France. An undocumented German physician (Charles Boyer, Algiers) comes to the aid of a penniless woman (Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia) roaming the […]
The Web (1947)
Synopsis: A small-time lawyer (Edmond O’Brien, D.O.A.) agrees to work as a bodyguard for a wealthy businessman (Vincent Price, House of Wax). As soon as he starts his new job, […]
Out of the Past (1947)
Synopsis: An ex-private detective (Robert Mitchum, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison) with a shady past is now enjoying a quiet life in a small town, but old associates reappear and the […]
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Synopsis: Private eye Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell, The Bad and the Beautiful) is hired by an ex-con, Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki, Some Like it Hot), to find the man’s old […]
My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
Synopsis: Julia Ross (Nina Foch, An American in Paris) in an American woman living in London, England, who answers a lady’s (Dame May Whitty, Mrs. Miniver) newspaper ad for a personal secretary. […]
A Woman’s Face (1941)
Synopsis: A terribly disfigured criminal, Anna Holm (Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce), becomes involved in a plan to kill a young heir. However, Anna has a change-of-heart after a surgeon (Melvyn Douglas, […]
Beyond the Forest (1949)
Synopsis: Bette Davis is Rosa Moline, a local physician’s wife who hates the monotony of her ordinary existence in a small Midwestern town. Rosa dreams of a gregarious life in […]
Rancho Notorious (1952)
Synopsis: After his fiancée is brutally raped and murdered by a bandit, cowhand Vern Haskell (Arthur Kennedy, Peyton Place) sets out to find the man responsible for the death of […]
Nightmare Alley (1947)
Synopsis: A traveling carnival employee, Stanton Carlisle (Tyrone Power, The Mark of Zorro), schemes his way into a mind-reading act created by the carnival’s mentalist, Zeena (Joan Blondell, Three on a […]
Deception (1946)
Synopsis: Concert pianist Christine Radcliffe (Bette Davis) finds out that her presumably dead boyfriend, cellist Karel Novak (Paul Henreid, Now, Voyager), is alive. Christine wants to pick up where she […]
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Synopsis: Spencer Tracy (Inherit The Wind) plays John J. Macreedy, a one-armed World War II veteran who arrives at the small town of Black Rock. The town is controlled by […]
Roger Corman Presents: Highway Dragnet (1954)
Synopsis: After being wrongly accused of murdering a barfly, Terri Smith (Mary Beth Hughes, The Ox-Bow Incident), an ex-Marine, James Henry (Richard Conte, House of Strangers), flees from the police. […]
The Letter (1940)
Synopsis: In Singapore, the wife of a rubber plantation manager (Herbert Marshall, The Little Foxes), Leslie Crosbie (Bette Davis), shoots a man to death after he supposedly tried to rape […]
Garden of Evil (1954)
Synopsis: In a Mexican village, a woman (Susan Hayward, I Want to Live!) hires a group of men (Gary Cooper, High Noon, Richard Widmark, Kiss of Death, Cameron Mitchell, House […]
Bordertown (1935)
Synopsis: After an unsuccessful stint as a lawyer for the poor, Mexican immigrant Johnny Ramirez (Paul Muni, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang) moves from L.A., California, to […]
Pushover (1954)
Synopsis: A burnt-out cop (Fred MacMurray, Double Indemnity) is assigned to tail a mysterious gunmoll (Kim Novak, Vertigo) but the police officer makes the mistake of falling in love with […]
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