Overlooked Noir

Deenis O'Keefe and Ann Sheridan in WOMAN ON THE RUN
Deenis O’Keefe and Ann Sheridan in WOMAN ON THE RUN

Look, this may be a crummy joint but a nickel still don’t buy more than a cup of coffee.  Nocturne (1946)

OK, so you’ve seen the classics in the film noir canon: Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Maltese Falcon, Laura, Sunset Boulevard, The Big Sleep, In a Lonely Place and The Big Heat, and maybe even D.O.A., Detour, Gun Crazy and Kiss Me Deadly.  You’re now hooked on noir.  Here are some less well-known movies that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

Some of these are vastly under-appreciated noir masterpieces that belong in the same class as the likes of Double IndemnityNight and the City, Touchez pas au grisbiCry Danger, The Narrow Margin, Pushover, Nightfall, The Burglar.  Others are guilty pleasures (Pickup, Paid to Kill).

99 River Street: can he get off the canvas of life? (highly recommended)

Ashes and Diamonds: a killer wants to stop

Black Gravel: too jaded for love? (highly recommended)

The Bribe: ambiguity and double crosses amid the sweat

The Burglar: loyalty among thieves (highly recommended)

Caged: Eleanor Parker and Hope Emerson in the prototype for Orange is the New Black

Cash on Demand: film noir’s Christmas Carol

The Crimson Kimono: Sam Fuller and James Shigeta break ground

Cry Danger: getting framed wasn’t the worst part (highly recommended)

The Dark Corner: framed…again

Decoy: the MOST FATALE femme fatale

Elevator to the Gallows: one murder is his alibi for another (highly recommended)

Gambling House: ordinary except for the patter

The Gangster: a seedy empire crumbles

Guilty Bystander: booze gets in the way of redemption

He Walked By Night: nerd hunt

His Kind of Woman: he knows the deal is too good

Human Desire: she is who she is (highly recommended)

I Wake Up Screaming: framed by a stalker

The Killer that Stalked New York:  outbreak noir

Killer’s Kiss: Stanley Kubrick presages neo-noir

The Lineup:  cool killer, volcanic killer careening thru San Francisco

The Long Haul:  moments from an escape

The Man Who Cheated Himself: he shoulda known better

The Midnight Story:  North Beach whodunit

Murder, My Sweet: hardboiled detective as piñata (highly recommended)

The Narrow Margin: murderous hide and go seek on a train (highly recommended)

Night and the City: he doesn’t know that he’s the sucker (highly recommended)

Nightfall: hunting loot while on the run (highly recommended)

Paid to Kill: paying for a murder and then changing your mind

Panic in the Streets: a man hunt on the down low

The Phenix City Story: ripped from the headlines

Pickup:  an old fool and his young blonde

Pitfall: a noir thriller without a conventional sap or a conventional femme fatale (highly recommended)

The Prowler: Van Heflin takes a dark turn

Pushover: stealing the girl from the crook and the loot from the cops (highly recommended)

Raw Deal: ménage à noir

Razzia:  Gabin as gangster consultant

Ride the Pink Horse: disillusioned in New Mexico

The Set-Up: when the loser surprises

The Stranger on the Third Floor: Nicholas Musaraca and the beginning of film noir

Los tallos amargos (The Bitter Stems): his nemesis is within him (highly recommended)

The Turning Point: justice comes at a high price

Violent Saturday: desert noir in De Luxe color

While the City Sleeps: backstabbing in the board room in a race to find the killer

Witness to Murder: Can she believe her own eyes?  (highly recommended)

Woman on the Run: a sassy gal in 1950 San Francisco (highly recommended)

Coming up in Overlooked Noir:

  • The Big Combo
  • Decoy
  • The Good Die Young
  • House of Bamboo
  • The Killing
  • The Mob
  • Naked Alibi
  • Touchez pas au grisbi (highly recommended)
  • Underworld U.S.A.

Also see:

Jayne Mansfield and Dan Duryea in THE BURGLAR
Jayne Mansfield and Dan Duryea in THE BURGLAR

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