Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) Ossie Davis wound up co-writing this adaptation of Chester Himes’ famous noir, and then was talked into directing what became one of the early “blaxploitation” movies. Nobody takes the action seriously, except perhaps Raymond St. Jacques as Coffin Ed Johnson and Godfrey Cambridge as his NYPD partner Gravedigger Jones. Their … More Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) Desperation drives Robert Ryan over the brink in this outstanding film noir directed by Robert Wise from a script by blacklisted Abraham Polonsky. John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet created the jazz soundtrack, and Harry Belafonte sings behind a vibraphone, as a gambler whose losing streak forces him to join … More Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Raw Deal (1948) John Alton’s rapturous noir cinematography captures this stark tragedy about a palooka who breaks out of prison to “catch a breath of air.” Joe Sullivan [Dennis O’Keefe] is aided and abetted by Pat [Claire Trevor] who provides, quite a twist, the voice-under narration. Joe, forced to find a hideout, breaks into the … More Raw Deal (1948)
The Scar (aka, Hollow Triumph; aka, The Man Who Murdered Himself) (1948) Paul Henried produced, starred in, and partially directed this noir about a convict who, to escape the mob, takes on another person’s identity. In John Alton’s exquisite cinematography, a world of smoke and rain melts into identity confusion where no one can be … More The Scar (1948)
Possessed (1947) Not to be confused with the 1931 pre-Code Crawford melodrama, Curtis Bernhardt brings his German expressionist style to bear on this Freudian study of a psychotic breakdown. Joan Crawford said this was the most difficult role she ever played. Van Heflen, as the cynical war vet, and Raymond Massey, as the stern … More Possessed (1947)
The Wrong Man (1956) Alfred Hitchcock experiments with documentary realism, adapting The True Story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero by Maxwell Anderson. Henry Fonda plays the everyman, accused of multiple armed robberies, and Vera Miles plays his emotionally troubled wife, as the full repercussions of false accusations split their marriage apart. The noir streets of Jackson … More The Wrong Man (1956)
Murder By Contract (1958) Finally restored to its sparse black and white cinematography that influenced directors such as Jean-Luc Godard , Robert Bresson, and Martin Scorcese, Irving Lerner directs beat cool Vince Edwards as Claude, a hit man for hire, who provides an existentialist philosophy for murder that proves successful until his target becomes a … More Murder By Contract (1958)
I Wake Up Screaming (1941) [aka The Hot Spot] Helmed by director Bruce “Lucky” H. Bruce Humberstone, and beautifully shot by Edward Cronjager, this became the first in 20th Century Fox noir releases. Victor Mature stars as a New York promoter who finds talent in a restaurant waitress Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis) only to be … More I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932) Michel Simon created his most memorable role as an anarchic bum whom a bourgeois bookseller and family decide to rescue and civilize, all with disastrously comic results in this Jean Renoir classic film. The feral clown thumbs his nose At civic respectability, Spits where he wants and throws Tantrums with … More Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) John Frankenheimer, using documentary techniques from live television, created this classic of paranoid cinema, starring Frank Sinatra as the Major, Lawrence Harvey as the war hero, and Angela Lansbury as his mother, the Red Queen. It addressed unfounded public fears that soldiers captured by North Korea had been returned brainwashed … More The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
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