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Tag Archives: Classic-Noir

Downbeat crime films made between 1941 and 1959

Double Indemnity (1944)

January 27, 2022by Eric Binford 28 Comments

Synopsis: An insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray, The Absent-Minded Professor) falls in love with a married woman (Barbara Stanwyck, Stella Dallas), and together they come up with a plan to kill […]

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1944

Criss Cross (1949)

February 14, 2021by Eric Binford 11 Comments

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 […]

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1949

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)

February 13, 2021by Eric Binford 10 Comments

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 […]

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1948

Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

January 15, 2021by Eric Binford 18 Comments

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 […]

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1948

I Walk Alone (1947)

November 2, 2020by Eric Binford 5 Comments

Synopsis: Frankie Madison (Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry) has been released from jail after serving a long sentence for bootlegging. Frankie immediately contacts ex-partner Noll Hunter (Kirk Douglas, Lust for Life) […]

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1947

Brute Force (1947)

September 23, 2020by Eric Binford 8 Comments

Synopsis: In order to be with his sickly wife (Ann Blyth, Mildred Pierce), troubled convict Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster, The Killers) devises a daring jailbreak. However, the scheme goes awry […]

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1947

Desert Fury (1947)

September 22, 2020by Eric Binford 11 Comments

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 […]

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1947

The Killers (1946)

September 10, 2020by Eric Binford 21 Comments

Synopsis: Two hit men arrive in a sleepy small town with the intention of killing a gas station employee nicknamed “The Swede” (Burt Lancaster, From Here to Eternity). After “Swede” […]

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1946

Arch of Triumph (1948)

August 28, 2020by Eric Binford 12 Comments

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 […]

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1948

The Web (1947)

April 19, 2020by Eric Binford 21 Comments

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, […]

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1947

Out of the Past (1947)

January 21, 2019by Eric Binford 11 Comments

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 […]

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1947

Murder, My Sweet (1944)

January 18, 2019by Eric Binford 9 Comments

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 […]

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1944

My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

December 7, 2018by Eric Binford 7 Comments

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. […]

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1945

A Woman’s Face (1941)

June 20, 2018by Eric Binford 3 Comments

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, […]

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1941

Beyond the Forest (1949)

April 9, 2018by Eric Binford 2 Comments

Synopsis: Bette Davis is Rosa Moline, a physician’s wife who hates the monotony of her ordinary existence in a small Midwestern town. Rosa craves a gregarious life in Chicago, Illinois, […]

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1949

Rancho Notorious (1952)

June 20, 2017by Eric Binford 4 Comments

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 […]

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1952

Nightmare Alley (1947)

December 13, 2016by Eric Binford 2 Comments

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 […]

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1947

Deception (1946)

May 2, 2016by Eric Binford 19 Comments

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 […]

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1946

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

June 18, 2015by Eric Binford 7 Comments

Synopsis: A one-armed World War II veteran, John J. Macreedy (Spencer Tracy, Boys Town), arrives at the small town of Black Rock. Macreedy goes about his business, unaware that the […]

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1955

Roger Corman Presents: Highway Dragnet (1954)

June 7, 2015by Eric Binford Leave a comment

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. […]

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1954

The Letter (1940)

June 4, 2015by Eric Binford 8 Comments

Synopsis: In Southeast Asia, a rubber plantation manager’s wife, Leslie Crosbie (Bette Davis), shoots a man to death after he supposedly tried to rape her. However, a letter Leslie wrote […]

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1940

Garden of Evil (1954)

April 15, 2015by Eric Binford 2 Comments

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 […]

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1954

Bordertown (1935)

December 1, 2014by Eric Binford Leave a comment

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 […]

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1935

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