Edge of Doom
1950, USA, 99m, BW, Crime-Drama
Screenplay Philip Yordan, Charles Brackett [uncredited] (with additional scenes by Ben Hecht, based on the novel by Leo Brady) Producer Samuel Goldwyn Photography Harry Stradling Editor Daniel Mandell Music Hugo Friedhofer Cast Dana Andrews, Farley Granger, Joan Evans, Robert Keith, Paul Stewart, Mala Powers, Adele Jergens, Harold Vermilyea, John Ridgely, Douglas Fowley.
Screenplay Philip Yordan, Charles Brackett [uncredited] (with additional scenes by Ben Hecht, based on the novel by Leo Brady) Producer Samuel Goldwyn Photography Harry Stradling Editor Daniel Mandell Music Hugo Friedhofer Cast Dana Andrews, Farley Granger, Joan Evans, Robert Keith, Paul Stewart, Mala Powers, Adele Jergens, Harold Vermilyea, John Ridgely, Douglas Fowley.
"Edge of Doom is a surprisingly bleak film noir, and that's saying something. It's also a somewhat frustrating one, as it could have been a truly exceptional film but had to settle for being merely quite good. The main problem are the prologue and epilogue that bookend the film; these were written after the film was completed and released, and the tacked-on feeling they give to the piece is unmistakable. Between this beginning and this end, the screenplay makes some other mistakes... Even with these flaws, Doom is quite effective and in places remarkably powerful, especially when its social conscience meshes with its story and the two build up a good head of steam. Mark Robson directs the main body of the story with skill and precision, aided enormously by Harry Stradling's commanding and compelling cinematography." - Craig Butler (Allmovie)
Edge of the City 
1957, USA, 85m, BW, Urban Drama
Screenplay Robert Alan Aurthur (based on his teleplay A Man is Ten Feet Tall) Producer David Susskind Photography Joseph Brun Editor Sidney Meyers Music Leonard Rosenman Cast John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier, Jack Warden, Kathleen Maguire, Ruby Dee, Ruth White, Robert F. Simon, William A. Lee, Val Avery, John Kellogg.
Screenplay Robert Alan Aurthur (based on his teleplay A Man is Ten Feet Tall) Producer David Susskind Photography Joseph Brun Editor Sidney Meyers Music Leonard Rosenman Cast John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier, Jack Warden, Kathleen Maguire, Ruby Dee, Ruth White, Robert F. Simon, William A. Lee, Val Avery, John Kellogg.
"Edge of the City was the directorial debut of Martin Ritt, a politically motivated artist with a passion and fury to match Poitier's. (Ritt is probably best known for Hud, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and Norma Rae)… As far as male bonding goes, it's pretty healthy stuff. Cassavetes' twitchy method acting plays well against Poitier's upright performance, and Jack Warden rounds it out with smarmy menace. The climax where the two men must finally deal with this cranky thorn in their sides is maybe a little too On the Waterfront, but the gritty honesty of the writing up until that point allows Ritt to get away with it. A lot of the movie was shot on location, and so it has an on-the-street authenticity that prefigures French verite while also showing the influence of Jules Dassin's Naked City." - Jamie S. Rich (DVD Talk)
8 Million Ways to Die
● NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
1986, USA, 115m, Col, Crime-Mystery-Detective Film
Screenplay David Lee Henry, Oliver Stone (based on the novels A Stab in the Dark and Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block) Producer Steve Roth Photography Stephen H. Burum Editors Robert Lawrence, Stuart Pappe Music James Newton Howard Cast Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, Alexandra Paul, Randy Brooks, Andy Garcia, Chip Arnold, Fred Asparagus, James Avery, Loyd Catlett, Danny De La Paz.
1986, USA, 115m, Col, Crime-Mystery-Detective Film
Screenplay David Lee Henry, Oliver Stone (based on the novels A Stab in the Dark and Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block) Producer Steve Roth Photography Stephen H. Burum Editors Robert Lawrence, Stuart Pappe Music James Newton Howard Cast Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, Alexandra Paul, Randy Brooks, Andy Garcia, Chip Arnold, Fred Asparagus, James Avery, Loyd Catlett, Danny De La Paz.
"8 Million Ways to Die is an odd entry in a peculiar 1980s genre: the cops-and-drugs big-city thriller. Movies as varied as Beverly Hills Cop and Tequila Sunrise saw a lone law enforcement officer going after a Mr. Big drug lord… 8 Million Ways to Die has car chases, intense verbal showdowns, shout-outs—all the things required in your standard cops-and-drugs thriller. Ashby directs these bits of business with no-fuss finesse. But car chases and shoot-outs don’t interest him. What does interest him are characters under duress due to professional or personal obligations. He’s also intrigued by how a city like L.A. can operate on currents of fear, drugs, and status while its citizens are in a constant state of self-improvement… 8 Million Ways to Die is a curio from the decade of excess worthy of rediscovery. It’s a fine swan song for Ashby." - Aaron Aradillas (Slant Magazine)
Element of Crime
Forbrydelsens element (original title)
● DANISH NOIR / SC-FI NOIR / NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
1984, Denmark, 104m, Col, Science Fiction-Crime-Detective Film
Screenplay Niels Vørsel, Lars von Trier Producer Per Holst Photography Tom Elling Editor Tómas Gislason Music Bo Holten Cast Michael Elphick, Esmond Knight, Me Me Lai, Jerold Wells, Ahmed El Shenawi, Astrid Henning-Jensen, János Herskó, Stig Larsson, Harry Harper, Roman Moszkowicz.
● DANISH NOIR / SC-FI NOIR / NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
1984, Denmark, 104m, Col, Science Fiction-Crime-Detective Film
Screenplay Niels Vørsel, Lars von Trier Producer Per Holst Photography Tom Elling Editor Tómas Gislason Music Bo Holten Cast Michael Elphick, Esmond Knight, Me Me Lai, Jerold Wells, Ahmed El Shenawi, Astrid Henning-Jensen, János Herskó, Stig Larsson, Harry Harper, Roman Moszkowicz.
"A futuristic murder-mystery set in a post-apocalyptic Europe, Trier’s feature debut really is like taking a trip through time. Back in time, that is, to the mid-eighties: this is a very 1984 vision of the future, one that has predictably dated very quickly. In fact, it’s a very 1984 vision of the future, creating a shabby, colour-drained, retro-tech world very similar to that of Michael Radford’s George Orwell adaptation that was released around the same time – with some spectacular outdoor setpieces that recall Russell Mulcahy’s mid-’84 Wild Boys video for Duran Duran." - Neil Young (Neil Young's Film Lounge)
Elevator to the Gallows
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (original title); Lift to the Scaffold (alternative title)
● FRENCH NOIR
1958, France, 92m, BW, Thriller-Crime-Romance
Screenplay Louis Malle, Roger Nimier (based on the novel by Noël Calef) Producer Jean Thuillier Photography Henri Decaë Editor Léonide Azar Music Miles Davis Cast Maurice Ronet, Jeanne Moreau, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin, Jean Wall, Elga Andersen, Sylviane Aisenstein, Micheline Bona, Lino Ventura, Iván Petrovich.
● FRENCH NOIR
1958, France, 92m, BW, Thriller-Crime-Romance
Screenplay Louis Malle, Roger Nimier (based on the novel by Noël Calef) Producer Jean Thuillier Photography Henri Decaë Editor Léonide Azar Music Miles Davis Cast Maurice Ronet, Jeanne Moreau, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin, Jean Wall, Elga Andersen, Sylviane Aisenstein, Micheline Bona, Lino Ventura, Iván Petrovich.
"As French crime thrillers go, this is about as good as it gets. It's also an important film historically, and to top it off, the jazz score, by Miles Davis, is famous in its own right... Elevator to the Gallows was the first feature in Louis Malle's long directorial career and probably his best. The story is pure pulp fiction, about a murder plan that goes bad, but what really counts is the fatalistic atmosphere... The heart of the picture is the Moreau character's odyssey, much of it at night and accompanied by poetic internal monologues, as she visits bars and cafes in search of her missing lover... The black-and-white cinematography of Henri Decae, who went on to work with Jean-Pierre Melville and François Truffaut, gives the movie the clarity of a dream and offers a vision of the City of Light as melancholy and haunted." - Walter Addiego (San Francisco Chronicle)
The Enforcer
1951, USA, 87m, BW, Drama-Crime-Gangster Film
Screenplay Martin Rackin Producer Milton Sperling Photography Robert Burks Editor Fred Allen Music David Buttolph Cast Humphrey Bogart, Everett Sloane, Zero Mostel, Ted De Corsia, Roy Roberts, Bob Steele, King Donovan, Lawrence Tolan, Adelaide Klein, Don Beddoe.
Screenplay Martin Rackin Producer Milton Sperling Photography Robert Burks Editor Fred Allen Music David Buttolph Cast Humphrey Bogart, Everett Sloane, Zero Mostel, Ted De Corsia, Roy Roberts, Bob Steele, King Donovan, Lawrence Tolan, Adelaide Klein, Don Beddoe.
"The Enforcer is a taut and suspenseful film noir, notable for its intriguing fragmented structure, its shockingly violent scenes, and its groundbreaking subject matter... When an informer who has agreed to testify against his mobster boss is killed, Assistant D.A. Martin Ferguson (Humphrey Bogart) reviews the case he has built up against the boss, searching for any discrepancies in the catalogued testimony... Though director Bretaigne Windust's name graces the credits, it was an uncredited Raoul Walsh who was really responsible for the film's most suspenseful sequences. Walsh directed five days' worth of retakes and additional scenes, including the thrilling finale." - Jeremy Arnold (Turner Classic Movies)
Escape
● BRIT-NOIR
1948, UK-USA, 78m, BW, Thriller
Screenplay Philip Dunne (based on the play by John Galsworthy) Producer William Perlberg Photography Freddie Young Editor Alan L. Jaggs Music William Alwyn Cast Rex Harrison, Peggy Cummins, William Hartnell, Norman Wooland, Jill Esmond, Frederick Piper, Marjorie Rhodes, Betty Ann Davies, Cyril Cusack, John Slater.
1948, UK-USA, 78m, BW, Thriller
Screenplay Philip Dunne (based on the play by John Galsworthy) Producer William Perlberg Photography Freddie Young Editor Alan L. Jaggs Music William Alwyn Cast Rex Harrison, Peggy Cummins, William Hartnell, Norman Wooland, Jill Esmond, Frederick Piper, Marjorie Rhodes, Betty Ann Davies, Cyril Cusack, John Slater.
"Escape wants to be a Hitchcock-ian thrill ride, but it keeps getting de-railed by its rather ponderous source material. The John Galsworthy play from which it is drawn is a treatise on good and evil, not to mention sin and the inevitable failure of man to escape from sin without the help of divine influence. Heavily allegorical, Galsworthy's work has been lightened considerably by Philip Dunne's screenplay and by Joseph L. Mankiewicz's taut and skillful direction. When they succeed in tossing aside the religious rhetoric and symbolism, the audience is treated to a more-than-decent story that has all the elements necessary to provide some nail biting suspense and a few moments of genuine excitement." - Craig Butler (Allmovie)
Escape in the Fog
1945, USA, 65m, BW, Crime-Drama-Mystery
Screenplay Aubrey Wisberg Producer Wallace MacDonald Photography George Meehan Editor Jerome Thoms Cast Otto Kruger, Nina Foch, William Wright, Konstantin Shayne, Ivan Triesault, Ernie Adams, Jessie Arnold, Chin Kuang Chow, Edmund Cobb, Heinie Conklin.
Screenplay Aubrey Wisberg Producer Wallace MacDonald Photography George Meehan Editor Jerome Thoms Cast Otto Kruger, Nina Foch, William Wright, Konstantin Shayne, Ivan Triesault, Ernie Adams, Jessie Arnold, Chin Kuang Chow, Edmund Cobb, Heinie Conklin.
"Escape in the Fog, a 63-minute Columbia production, was Boetticher's fifth picture. It's the story of an expert in psychological warfare (William Wright) who is given a secret mission to deliver some wartime documents from San Francisco to the Far East… It would be a stretch to try and find any real visual stamp of Boetticher's in a film like Escape in the Fog. His more mature later work features vivid and fascinating spatial relationships between characters in the frame and against the landscape, but you won't find that here. Instead you'll just find a filmmaker starting to piece together the basics in a breezy little programmer. The use of fog to create a claustrophobic and occasionally dreamlike effect is probably the most interesting thing visually in the movie." - Jeremy Arnold (Turner Classic Movies)
Experiment in Terror
● LATE NOIR (1960s)
1962, USA, 123m, BW, Crime-Thriller-Police Detective Film
Screenplay Gordon Gordon, Mildred Gordon (based on their novel Operation Terror) Producer Blake Edwards Photography Philip Lathrop Editor Patrick McCormack Music Henry Mancini Cast Glenn Ford, Lee Remick, Stefanie Powers, Roy Poole, Ned Glass, Ross Martin, Clifton James, Anita Loo, Patricia Huston, Gilbert Green.
1962, USA, 123m, BW, Crime-Thriller-Police Detective Film
Screenplay Gordon Gordon, Mildred Gordon (based on their novel Operation Terror) Producer Blake Edwards Photography Philip Lathrop Editor Patrick McCormack Music Henry Mancini Cast Glenn Ford, Lee Remick, Stefanie Powers, Roy Poole, Ned Glass, Ross Martin, Clifton James, Anita Loo, Patricia Huston, Gilbert Green.
"After seven lightish comedies and dramas, and directly following Breakfast at Tiffany's, Edwards launched himself in a new direction with this thriller: an experiment for him and also for the genre. Years before John Carpenter and other movie brats began to play with audience expectations and memories, Edwards constructed his film - about an asthmatic psycho pursuing Lee Remick - around precisely similar attitudes. Gone was the whodunit mystery formula; gone the need for psychological explanations; in their place, an exercise in steely style, with the audience split between its concern for the victim and its fascination with the psycho's activities. After Carpenter and De Palma, it may seem a little dated; yet Edwards' classical feel for pure cinema remains unalloyed." - Chris Wicking (Time Out)
Experiment Perilous
1944, USA, 91m, BW, Romance-Thriller-Melodrama
Screenplay Warren Duff (based on the novel by Margaret Seymour Carpenter) Producer Warren Duff Photography Tony Gaudio Editor Ralph Dawson Music Roy Webb Cast Hedy Lamarr, George Brent, Paul Lukas, Albert Dekker, Carl Esmond, Olive Blakeney, George Neise, Margaret Wycherly, Stephanie Bachelor, Julia Dean.
Screenplay Warren Duff (based on the novel by Margaret Seymour Carpenter) Producer Warren Duff Photography Tony Gaudio Editor Ralph Dawson Music Roy Webb Cast Hedy Lamarr, George Brent, Paul Lukas, Albert Dekker, Carl Esmond, Olive Blakeney, George Neise, Margaret Wycherly, Stephanie Bachelor, Julia Dean.
"A comparatively minor but characteristically elegant Tourneur costume melodrama-cum-psychological thriller in the vein of Rebecca and Gaslight, this features Lamarr as the wife of a wealthy philanthropist; inevitably, she comes to fear not only for her own sanity, but also for that of her genuinely dangerous husband, a manic authoritarian patriarch whose violence is the product of a troubled, traumatic childhood. Equally inevitably, doctor/ detective Brent is there to save her and supply romantic interest, but Tourneur manages to overcome the formulaic plotting and cod-Freudian characterisations through carefully controlled performances and Tony Gaudio's fine camerawork." - Geoff Andrew (Time Out)
Eyewitness
● NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
1981, USA, 102m, Col, Thriller-Romantic Mystery
Screenplay Steve Tesich Producer Peter Yates Photography Matthew F. Leonetti Editor Cynthia Scheider Music Stanley Silverman Cast William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer, James Woods, Irene Worth, Kenneth McMillan, Pamela Reed, Albert Paulsen, Steven Hill, Morgan Freeman.
1981, USA, 102m, Col, Thriller-Romantic Mystery
Screenplay Steve Tesich Producer Peter Yates Photography Matthew F. Leonetti Editor Cynthia Scheider Music Stanley Silverman Cast William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer, James Woods, Irene Worth, Kenneth McMillan, Pamela Reed, Albert Paulsen, Steven Hill, Morgan Freeman.
"It's easy to say that this is much less than the sum of its parts - part fairytale love story, in which a poor boy loves and wins rich TV reporter, part soufflé of New York paranoia, which involves a murder (with a Vietnamese background) in the building where the poor boy works as a janitor. However, it is rare to find an American film these days that manipulates its plot to accommodate the relationships (and there are lots of them - friends, families, dogs), and whose characters are at least interesting. Steve Tesich's script sometimes smacks of screenwriting classes, but Yates (who worked with Tesich on Breaking Away) easily accommodates these lapses with his unfussy, medium-fast direction. Indeed, he guides his cast around the furniture better than most." - Chris Petit (Time Out)
Recommended Viewing (by TSPDT)