Gambler and the Lady
1952, UK, 72m, BW, Crime-Drama-Thriller
Screenplay Sam Newfield Producer Anthony Hinds Photography Walter J. Harvey Editor Maurice Rootes Music Ivor Slaney Cast Dane Clark, Kathleen Byron, Naomi Chance, Meredith Edwards, Anthony Forwood, Eric Pohlmann, Enzo Coticchia, Julian Somers, Anthony Ireland, Thomas Gallagher.
Screenplay Sam Newfield Producer Anthony Hinds Photography Walter J. Harvey Editor Maurice Rootes Music Ivor Slaney Cast Dane Clark, Kathleen Byron, Naomi Chance, Meredith Edwards, Anthony Forwood, Eric Pohlmann, Enzo Coticchia, Julian Somers, Anthony Ireland, Thomas Gallagher.
"The Gambler and the Lady was reportedly shot in less than a month, and with a configuration of three directors in order to allow American writer/director Sam Newfield to help the project without drawing flak from the British labor unions, but any production difficulties aren't to be seen in the final product. It's a fast-paced, interesting and compelling drama that features more action than is the norm for Hammer's black-and-white thrillers and it easily ranks among the best of the films born from the partnership between the English studio and American B-movie producer Robert Lippert." - Steve Miller (Shades of Gray)
Gambling House
1950, USA, 80m, BW, Drama-Crime-Mystery
Screenplay Allen Rivkin, Marvin Borowsky (from a story by Erwin Gelsey) Producer Warren Duff Photography Harry Wild Editor Roland Gross Music Roy Webb Cast Victor Mature, Terry Moore, William Bendix, Zachary Charles, Basil Ruysdael, Donald Randolph, Damian O'Flynn, Cleo Moore, Ann Doran, Jack Kruschen.
Screenplay Allen Rivkin, Marvin Borowsky (from a story by Erwin Gelsey) Producer Warren Duff Photography Harry Wild Editor Roland Gross Music Roy Webb Cast Victor Mature, Terry Moore, William Bendix, Zachary Charles, Basil Ruysdael, Donald Randolph, Damian O'Flynn, Cleo Moore, Ann Doran, Jack Kruschen.
"Apart from leads Victor Mature and Wiliam Bendix, the only other strong film noir connection for Gambling House, is Roy Webb’s soundtrack. With a plot broadly similar to Mature’s earlier Kiss of Death (1947), this is a tight thriller-melodrama with nicely-integrated social and romance angles. Mature is charming as the reforming hood, Bendix dependable as the casino-operater, and Terry Moore truly engaging as the love interest. The cinematography and art direction have a gritty noir look with deep-focus New York location shooting. The direction is tight with not a false step for the full 80 minutes." - Tony D'Ambra (FilmsNoir.net)
The Game 
● NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
1997, USA, 128m, Col, Mystery-Paranoid Thriller
Screenplay John Brancato, Michael Ferris Producer Ceán Chaffin, Steve Golin Photography Harris Savides Editor James Haygood Music Howard Shore Cast Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn, Deborah Unger, Peter Donat, Carroll Baker, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Anna Katarina, Charles Martinet, Scott Hunter McGuire.
1997, USA, 128m, Col, Mystery-Paranoid Thriller
Screenplay John Brancato, Michael Ferris Producer Ceán Chaffin, Steve Golin Photography Harris Savides Editor James Haygood Music Howard Shore Cast Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn, Deborah Unger, Peter Donat, Carroll Baker, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Anna Katarina, Charles Martinet, Scott Hunter McGuire.
"Between the tour de force of Seven (1995) and the cult sensation of Fight Club (1999), The Game is the David Fincher movie that time forgot. It’s remembered, if at all, as a winking genre exercise by a craftsman at a loose end – elegant, sure, but hardly top-rank. Imagine for a second that Lars von Trier or Michael Haneke had made it, and the movie would get a lot more credit for what it’s saying, rather than being judged on purely mainstream terms as a clever tease. On top of that, it happens to be the best-looking studio thriller of the Nineties. Give or take The Social Network, it’s my favourite of all Fincher’s films, because it’s a puzzle box with a serious philosophical core, examining free will, fate and the definition of character through suffering without once feeling the need to flag up those concepts." - Tim Robey (The Telegraph)
The Gangster
1947, USA, 84m, BW, Crime-Drama-Gangster Film
Screenplay Daniel Fuchs (from his story) Producers Frank King, Maurice King Photography Paul Ivano Editor Walter Thompson Music Louis Gruenberg Cast Barry Sullivan, Belita, Joan Lorring, Akim Tamiroff, Harry Morgan, John Ireland, Sheldon Leonard, Fifi D'Orsay, Virginia Christine, Shelley Winters.
Screenplay Daniel Fuchs (from his story) Producers Frank King, Maurice King Photography Paul Ivano Editor Walter Thompson Music Louis Gruenberg Cast Barry Sullivan, Belita, Joan Lorring, Akim Tamiroff, Harry Morgan, John Ireland, Sheldon Leonard, Fifi D'Orsay, Virginia Christine, Shelley Winters.
"Another prime noir that goes unheralded, Allied Artists' The Gangster is an evocative and moody little anomaly. Gordon Wiles had a scattered career, dividing his time between directing and serving as an art director. He passed away in 1950, after working on Cyril Endfield's acidic The Underworld Story... The Gangster suffers from a generic title, but viewers will find it a diverting story of the fall of an established hood. With its ensemble cast and amusement pier setting, the movie plays a bit like Graham Greene's Brighton Rock or Gerald Kersh's original novel of Night and the City. Not an action show, the movie saves its violence for the final act. At other times it pauses for decidedly strange effects, always underpinning its story of betrayal and doom with more levels of sadness and misery. Barton Fink might have written this, had he been more talented." - Glenn Erickson (DVD Savant)
The Garment Jungle
1957, USA, 88m, BW, Crime-Drama
Screenplay Harry Kleiner (from a series of articles Gangsters in the Dress Business by Lester Velie) Producer Harry Kleiner Photography Joseph Biroc Editor William Lyon Music Leith Stevens Cast Lee J. Cobb, Kerwin Mathews, Gia Scala, Richard Boone, Valerie French, Robert Loggia, Joseph Wiseman, Harold J. Stone, Adam Williams, Wesley Addy.
Screenplay Harry Kleiner (from a series of articles Gangsters in the Dress Business by Lester Velie) Producer Harry Kleiner Photography Joseph Biroc Editor William Lyon Music Leith Stevens Cast Lee J. Cobb, Kerwin Mathews, Gia Scala, Richard Boone, Valerie French, Robert Loggia, Joseph Wiseman, Harold J. Stone, Adam Williams, Wesley Addy.
"Cut from familiar noir cloth - all eerie ceiling fans and empty elevator shafts expressionistically shot and lit - The Garment Jungle's off-the-peg plot concerns a coming-home Korean war veteran's discovery of foul play in the family firm and political gangsterism on either side. It's a sort of 'pro-labour' (Aldrich's term) On the Fashion Front, a radical retort to On the Waterfront's anti-union allegory three years earlier. Uncredited director Robert Aldrich was replaced by Sherman only one week before shooting ended for his refusal to tone down a tough screenplay. In spite of Sherman's efforts, though, The Garment Jungle makes latter-day labour films like F.I.S.T., Norma Rae and Blue Collar look comparatively unstarched." - Paul Kerr (Time Out)
Gaslight
Angel Street (alternative title)
● BRIT-NOIR / COSTUME NOIR
1940, UK, 84m, BW, Psychological-Thriller-Mystery
Screenplay A.R. Rawlinson, Bridget Boland (based on the play Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton) Producer John Corfield Photography Bernard Knowles Editor Sidney Cole Music Richard Addinsell Cast Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell, Robert Newton, Jimmy Hanley, Minnie Rayner, Mary Hinton, Marie Wright, Jack Barty.
● BRIT-NOIR / COSTUME NOIR
1940, UK, 84m, BW, Psychological-Thriller-Mystery
Screenplay A.R. Rawlinson, Bridget Boland (based on the play Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton) Producer John Corfield Photography Bernard Knowles Editor Sidney Cole Music Richard Addinsell Cast Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell, Robert Newton, Jimmy Hanley, Minnie Rayner, Mary Hinton, Marie Wright, Jack Barty.
"The first film version of Patrick Hamilton's stage play about a Victorian criminal who tries to drive his wife mad in order to prevent her from discovering his guilty secret while he searches their house for a stash of precious rubies. Nothing like as lavish as the later MGM version with Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman, but in its own small-scale way a superior film by far. Lurking menace hangs in the air like a fog, the atmosphere is electric, and Wynyard suffers exquisitely as she struggles to keep dementia at bay. It's hardly surprising that MGM tried to destroy the negative of this version when they made their own five years later." - Nigel Floyd (Time Out)
Gaslight
● COSTUME NOIR
1944, USA, 114m, BW, Psychological Thriller-Mystery-Period Film
Screenplay John Balderston, John Van Druten, Walter Reisch (based on the play Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton) Producer Arthur Hornblow Jr. Photography Joseph Ruttenberg Editor Ralph E. Winters Music Bronislau Kaper Cast Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, Dame May Whitty, Angela Lansbury, Terry Moore, Barbara Everest, Eustace Wyatt, Emil Rameau, Edmund Breon.
1944, USA, 114m, BW, Psychological Thriller-Mystery-Period Film
Screenplay John Balderston, John Van Druten, Walter Reisch (based on the play Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton) Producer Arthur Hornblow Jr. Photography Joseph Ruttenberg Editor Ralph E. Winters Music Bronislau Kaper Cast Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, Dame May Whitty, Angela Lansbury, Terry Moore, Barbara Everest, Eustace Wyatt, Emil Rameau, Edmund Breon.
"George Cukor carefully avoids the obvious effects in telling this story of a husband (Charles Boyer) attempting to drive his wife (Ingrid Bergman) insane; instead, this 1944 film is one of the few psychological thrillers that is genuinely psychological, depending on subtle clues—a gesture, an intonation—to thought and character. Boyer and Bergman are superb, and Angela Lansbury makes her debut as a cunning cockney maid. It's also one of the few films to expand the use of offscreen space, not simply to the sides of the frame, but to the areas above and below the image as well." - Dave Kehr (Chicago Reader)
Get Carter
● BRIT-NOIR / NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
1971, UK, 112m, Col, Crime-Thriller-Gangster Film
Screenplay Mike Hodges (based on the novel Jack’s Return Home by Ted Lewis) Producer Michael Klinger Photography Wolfgang Suschitzky Editor John Trumper Music Roy Budd Cast Michael Caine, Britt Ekland, John Osborne, Ian Hendry, Bryan Mosley, Geraldine Moffatt, Dorothy White, Tony Beckley, George Sewell, Rosemarie Dunham.
1971, UK, 112m, Col, Crime-Thriller-Gangster Film
Screenplay Mike Hodges (based on the novel Jack’s Return Home by Ted Lewis) Producer Michael Klinger Photography Wolfgang Suschitzky Editor John Trumper Music Roy Budd Cast Michael Caine, Britt Ekland, John Osborne, Ian Hendry, Bryan Mosley, Geraldine Moffatt, Dorothy White, Tony Beckley, George Sewell, Rosemarie Dunham.
"Starring Michael Caine as a vicious London hoodlum who tries to smoke out his brother’s killer, Get Carter was released in 1971, seven months before The French Connection. Though Hodges’ film never achieved that level of fame, its shockingly amoral hero and location-shot existential realism were, in their way, every bit as blistering — and revolutionary. Caine, with his gimlet-eyed ironic elegance, has never had a role he dug into with greater relish than that of Jack Carter, who returns to his hometown of Newcastle and bullies his way through its sordid criminal maze. Get Carter is one of the few film noirs that appears to unfold spontaneously, with no hidden blueprint to shape the characters’ fates." - Owen Gleiberman (Entertainment Weekly)
The Getaway
● NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
1972, USA, 122m, Col, Crime-Action-Thriller
Screenplay Walter Hill (based on the novel by Jim Thompson) Producers David Foster, Mitchell Brower Photography Lucien Ballard Editors Robert L. Wolfe, Roger Spottiswoode Music Quincy Jones Cast Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Sally Struthers, Al Lettieri, Slim Pickens, Richard Bright, Dub Taylor, Bo Hopkins, Jack Dodson.
1972, USA, 122m, Col, Crime-Action-Thriller
Screenplay Walter Hill (based on the novel by Jim Thompson) Producers David Foster, Mitchell Brower Photography Lucien Ballard Editors Robert L. Wolfe, Roger Spottiswoode Music Quincy Jones Cast Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Sally Struthers, Al Lettieri, Slim Pickens, Richard Bright, Dub Taylor, Bo Hopkins, Jack Dodson.
"An evident precursor to The Driver (Walter Hill scripted both, this one from Jim Thompson's novel). The major strength of The Getaway rests solidly on McQueen's central role, a cold tense core of pragmatic violence. Hounded by furies (two mobs, police, a hostile landscape), he responds with a lethal control, blasting his way through shootouts that teeter on madness to the loot, the girl, and Peckinpah's mythic land of Mexico. Survival, purification, and the attainment of grace are achieved only by an extreme commitment to the Peckinpah existential ideal of action - a man is what he does. Peckinpah's own control of the escalating frenzy is masterly; this is one of his coldest films, but a great thriller." - Chris Peachment (Time Out)
The Getaway
● NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
1994, USA, 115m, Col, Crime-Action-Chase Movie
Screenplay Amy Jones, Walter Hill (based on the novel by Jim Thompson) Producers David Foster, John Alan Simon, Lawrence Turman Photography Peter Menzies Jr. Editor Conrad Buff Music Mark Isham Cast Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Michael Madsen, James Woods, David Morse, Jennifer Tilly, Richard Farnsworth, James Stephens, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Burton Gilliam.
1994, USA, 115m, Col, Crime-Action-Chase Movie
Screenplay Amy Jones, Walter Hill (based on the novel by Jim Thompson) Producers David Foster, John Alan Simon, Lawrence Turman Photography Peter Menzies Jr. Editor Conrad Buff Music Mark Isham Cast Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Michael Madsen, James Woods, David Morse, Jennifer Tilly, Richard Farnsworth, James Stephens, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Burton Gilliam.
"An exact remake of the 1972 Sam Peckinpah thriller, which essentially reshoots the old Walter Hill script. Roger Donaldson turns out quite an acceptable actioner, though its use of criminal outlaw heroes is more amoral than existential and the ghost of Bloody Sam is impossible to compete with. It’s at its best in the simple suspense sequences, like the supercriminal hero’s pursuit of an opportunist petty crook who has happened to steal the suitcase with the loot from his wife on a train… A good rule of thumb is 'don't remake it if you haven't got anything new to say' and, though this is by no means an atrocious disaster, it's hard not to feel cheated by such a refried movie." - Kim Newman (Empire)
Gilda 
1946, USA, 110m, BW, Thriller-Drama-Romantic Mystery
Screenplay Marion Parsonnet (adapted by Jo Eisinger and Ben Hecht from an original story by E.A. Ellington) Producer Virginia Van Upp Photography Rudolph Maté Editor Charles Nelson Music Marlin Skiles Cast Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready, Joseph Calleia, Steven Geray, Gerald Mohr, Joseph Sawyer, Robert Scott, Ludwig Donath, Don Douglas.
Screenplay Marion Parsonnet (adapted by Jo Eisinger and Ben Hecht from an original story by E.A. Ellington) Producer Virginia Van Upp Photography Rudolph Maté Editor Charles Nelson Music Marlin Skiles Cast Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready, Joseph Calleia, Steven Geray, Gerald Mohr, Joseph Sawyer, Robert Scott, Ludwig Donath, Don Douglas.
"There never was a woman like Gilda!" drooled the posters – and no, there probably wasn’t. Rita Hayworth’s nightclub queen is at once seductive and innocent, a mix of virgin and whore – the perfect male fantasy. Her striptease scene is erotic to the max – but all she peels off are those long black gloves. No wonder club manager Glenn Ford is obsessed, as is club owner George Macready, her arrival disrupting their borderline gay relationship. Hothouse passions were rarely steamier than in Charles Vidor’s 1946 thriller, and the close-knit triangle set-up plays itself out in classic noir style." - Philip Kemp (Total Film)
The Glass Alibi
1946, USA, 68m, BW, Thriller-Crime-Drama
Screenplay Mindret Lord Producer W. Lee Wilder Photography Henry Sharp Editor Asa Boyd Clark Music Alexander Laszlo Cast Paul Kelly, Douglas Fowley, Anne Gwynne, Maris Wrixon, Jack Conrad, Selmer Jackson, Cyril Thornton, Cy Kendall, Walter Soderling, Victor Potel.
Screenplay Mindret Lord Producer W. Lee Wilder Photography Henry Sharp Editor Asa Boyd Clark Music Alexander Laszlo Cast Paul Kelly, Douglas Fowley, Anne Gwynne, Maris Wrixon, Jack Conrad, Selmer Jackson, Cyril Thornton, Cy Kendall, Walter Soderling, Victor Potel.
"Douglas Fowley is an unprincipled opportunistic journalist who is romantically involved with the girlfriend (Anne Gwynne) of a prominent criminal (Cy Kendall)… This is a micro-budget film made on a shoestring, so it’s a little rough around the edges, but taken as a whole, it succeeds in spite of its limitations. The cast does a surprisingly good job for a film of this caliber, with Gwynne giving a standout performance. Her character is put through a wide range of emotions during the story, and she is consistently believable… The low budget production values keep The Glass Alibi from making a strong initial impression… But in spite of these shortcomings, the film delivers a reasonably pleasant movie experience, especially if you hold out for the big surprise ending." - The Film Noir Report
The Glass Key
1942, USA, 85m, BW, Mystery-Crime-Detective Film
Screenplay Jonathan Latimer (from the novel by Dashiell Hammett) Producer Fred Kohlmar Photography Theodor Sparkuhl Editor Archie Marshek Music Victor Young Cast Brian Donlevy, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Bonita Granville, Richard Denning, Joseph Calleia, William Bendix, Frances Gifford, Donald MacBride, Maggie Hayes.
Screenplay Jonathan Latimer (from the novel by Dashiell Hammett) Producer Fred Kohlmar Photography Theodor Sparkuhl Editor Archie Marshek Music Victor Young Cast Brian Donlevy, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Bonita Granville, Richard Denning, Joseph Calleia, William Bendix, Frances Gifford, Donald MacBride, Maggie Hayes.
"Not quite so resonant an early example of noir as The Maltese Falcon, partly because the novel's ending has been clumsily softened, but still a remarkably successful Hammett adaptation. Best sequence by far is the marathon beating-up sustained by Ladd in a bout of grating sado-masochism as Bendix ('He's a tough baby, he likes this') coyly begs his 'little rubber ball' to bounce back for more. Shot and played with deceptive casualness, the sequence is central to the film, flaunting an erotic undertow that sows continuing doubts throughout." - Tom Milne (Time Out)
The Glass Wall
1953, USA, 82m, BW, Drama
Screenplay Ivan Tors, Maxwell Shane Producer Ivan Tors Photography Joseph Biroc Editor Herbert L. Strock, Stanley Frazen Music Leith Stevens Cast Vittorio Gassman, Gloria Grahame, Ann Robinson, Douglas Spencer, Robin Raymond, Jerry Paris, Elizabeth Slifer, Richard Reeves, Joseph Turkel, Else Neft.
Screenplay Ivan Tors, Maxwell Shane Producer Ivan Tors Photography Joseph Biroc Editor Herbert L. Strock, Stanley Frazen Music Leith Stevens Cast Vittorio Gassman, Gloria Grahame, Ann Robinson, Douglas Spencer, Robin Raymond, Jerry Paris, Elizabeth Slifer, Richard Reeves, Joseph Turkel, Else Neft.
"Hungarian Peter Kaban (Vittorio Gassman) survived the camps and life on the run in the battlefield of Europe and escaped the iron curtain that fell across his home country, only to be turned back from the promised land of America… Set mostly over a long night as Peter scurries through Times Square and makes his way to the U.N. building (the “glass wall” of the title), it’s got the urban energy, nocturnal thrum and high stakes of the best noir without the crime or corruption of the genre. It offers a marvelous portrait of immigrant culture in New York in miniature and the references to the camps of World War II provides a dark backdrop to the drama and our hero’s desperation to stay in America. - Sean Axmaker (seanax.com)
The Glass Web
1953, USA, 81m, BW, Mystery-Crime-Drama
Screenplay Leonard Lee, Robert Blees (based on the novel Spin the Glass Web by Max Ehrlich) Producer Albert J. Cohen Photography Maury Gertsman Editor Ted J. Kent Music Frank Skinner, Herman Stein, Milton Rosen Cast Edward G. Robinson, John Forsythe, Kathleen Hughes, Marcia Henderson, Richard Denning, Hugh Sanders, Jean Willes, Eve McVeagh, Harry Tyler, John Hiestand.
Screenplay Leonard Lee, Robert Blees (based on the novel Spin the Glass Web by Max Ehrlich) Producer Albert J. Cohen Photography Maury Gertsman Editor Ted J. Kent Music Frank Skinner, Herman Stein, Milton Rosen Cast Edward G. Robinson, John Forsythe, Kathleen Hughes, Marcia Henderson, Richard Denning, Hugh Sanders, Jean Willes, Eve McVeagh, Harry Tyler, John Hiestand.
"Originally released in 3-D. It hoped to offer a movie benefit over its rival free TV. Sci-fi director Jack Arnold (The Man From Bitter Ridge/Tarantula/Creature From The Black Lagoon) turns to a B/W suspense film and does a decent job with keeping the potboiler going even though it's not that hard from early-on to figure out the guilty party. It's based on the 1952 novel Spin the Glass Web by Max Simon Ehrlich. The script is written by Robert Blees and Leonard Lee, that features a slow unfolding plot in a drab LA TV studio setting." - Dennis Schwartz (World Movie Reviews)
Gone Baby Gone
● NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
2007, USA, 114m, Col, Crime-Thriller-Mystery
Screenplay Aaron Stockard, Ben Affleck (based on the novel by Dennis Lehane) Producers Alan Ladd Jr., Dan Rissner, Sean Bailey Photography John Toll Editor William Goldenberg Music Harry Gregson-Williams Cast Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, John Ashton, Amy Ryan, Amy Madigan, Titus Welliver, Michael K. Williams, Edi Gathegi.
2007, USA, 114m, Col, Crime-Thriller-Mystery
Screenplay Aaron Stockard, Ben Affleck (based on the novel by Dennis Lehane) Producers Alan Ladd Jr., Dan Rissner, Sean Bailey Photography John Toll Editor William Goldenberg Music Harry Gregson-Williams Cast Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, John Ashton, Amy Ryan, Amy Madigan, Titus Welliver, Michael K. Williams, Edi Gathegi.
"Affleck's debut feature Gone Baby Gone is an accomplished, mature thriller with a keen sense of moral complexity. It's also a striking showcase for kid brother Casey Affleck… The premise is child abduction,… The film uses the missing-child theme to get under our skins in no uncertain ways, but it's in no way exploitative. Instead, Gone Baby Gone uses the detective format to ask some prickly questions about responsibility and the perils of attempting to do good. But this is also an extremely gripping and ingenious mystery in the classic Raymond Chandler gumshoe tradition… This is the kind of thriller that Hollywood used to make in the Seventies: as free of false reassurance, as willing to stare the world in the face, as Robert Altman's Chandler adaptation The Long Goodbye, or Arthur Penn's Night Moves." - Jonathan Romney (The Independent)
The Good Die Young
● BRIT-NOIR
1954, UK, 100m, BW, Thriller-Crime-Mystery
Screenplay Lewis Gilbert, Vernon Harris (based on the novel by Richard Macaulay) Producer John Woolf Photography Jack Asher Editor Ralph Kemplen Music Georges Auric Cast Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Richard Basehart, Joan Collins, John Ireland, Rene Ray, Stanley Baker, Margaret Leighton, Robert Morley, Freda Jackson.
1954, UK, 100m, BW, Thriller-Crime-Mystery
Screenplay Lewis Gilbert, Vernon Harris (based on the novel by Richard Macaulay) Producer John Woolf Photography Jack Asher Editor Ralph Kemplen Music Georges Auric Cast Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Richard Basehart, Joan Collins, John Ireland, Rene Ray, Stanley Baker, Margaret Leighton, Robert Morley, Freda Jackson.
"Producer Clayton and director Gilbert (the most hard-working of all British post-war film-makers) assembled a top Anglo-American cast for this predictable but not unentertaining thriller (from a novel by Richard Macaulay). Psychotic playboy Harvey finds himself short of the readies so he persuades ex-GI Basehart, AWOL Air Force sergeant Ireland and no-hope boxer Baker to join him in holding up a mail van. This being a British picture from the '50s, you don't expect them to get away with it - but neither do you quite anticipate Joan Collins and Gloria Grahame popping up in such low-key supporting roles as they do here." - Geoffrey Macnab (Time Out)
Good Time Girl
● BRIT-NOIR
1948, UK, 81m, BW, Drama-Crime
Screenplay Muriel Box, Sydney Box (based on the novel Night Darkens the Streets by Arthur La Bern) Producer Sydney Box Photography Stephen Dade Editor Vladimir Sagovsky Music Lambert Williamson Cast Jean Kent, Dennis Price, Herbert Lom, Bonar Colleano, Peter Glenville, Flora Robson, George Carney, Beatrice Varley, Hugh McDermott, Griffith Jones.
1948, UK, 81m, BW, Drama-Crime
Screenplay Muriel Box, Sydney Box (based on the novel Night Darkens the Streets by Arthur La Bern) Producer Sydney Box Photography Stephen Dade Editor Vladimir Sagovsky Music Lambert Williamson Cast Jean Kent, Dennis Price, Herbert Lom, Bonar Colleano, Peter Glenville, Flora Robson, George Carney, Beatrice Varley, Hugh McDermott, Griffith Jones.
"David MacDonald's Good Time Girl could easily be misconstrued as the UK answer to John Cromwell's Caged -- except that it was release two years before Cromwell's movie and isn't nearly as good. The script, adapted from Arthur La Bern's Night Darkens The Streets, is a little too predictable for this ever to have been a great movie, and it never allows director David MacDonald to hit his stride as a visual storyteller or a director of actors in the manner of, say, his work on The Brothers. Perhaps it was the topicality of the material that got in everyone's way -- the cast is way too earnest in what is essentially a message movie." - Bruce Eder (Allmovie)
The Great Flamarion
1945, USA, 78m, BW, Melodrama-Crime
Screenplay Anne Wigton, Heinz Herald, Richard Weil (based on a story by Anne Wigton and Vicki Baum) Producer W. Lee Wilder Photography James S. Brown Jr. Editor John F. Link Music Alexander Laszlo Cast Erich von Stroheim, Mary Beth Hughes, Dan Duryea, Stephen Barclay, Lester Allen, Esther Howard, Michael Mark, Jack Chefe, Kay Deslys, John Elliott.
Screenplay Anne Wigton, Heinz Herald, Richard Weil (based on a story by Anne Wigton and Vicki Baum) Producer W. Lee Wilder Photography James S. Brown Jr. Editor John F. Link Music Alexander Laszlo Cast Erich von Stroheim, Mary Beth Hughes, Dan Duryea, Stephen Barclay, Lester Allen, Esther Howard, Michael Mark, Jack Chefe, Kay Deslys, John Elliott.
"The life of Erich von Stroheim seems to have been ready-made for film noir. Anthony Mann’s superbly hectic yet downbeat noir The Great Flamarion, from 1945, in which Stroheim stars, reveals both his high veneer and the irreparable damage it bore… In Mann’s highly inventive low-budget film, Stroheim plays an artist whose severe self-discipline and exacting standards come at a high price: isolation, naïveté, and vulnerability. It’s Mann’s film, but Stroheim's performance, character, and story are so powerful and so exemplary that his very presence in a movie makes it his own—a reflection of his life as well as of his art, on both sides of the camera." - Richard Brody (The New Yorker)
Green for Danger
● BRIT-NOIR / COMEDY NOIR
1946, UK, 93m, BW, Mystery-Comedy-Whodunit
Screenplay Claud Gurney, Sidney Gilliat (based on the novel by Christian Brand) Producers Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat Photography Wilkie Cooper Editor Thelma Myers Music William Alwyn Cast Alastair Sim, Sally Gray, Rosamund John, Trevor Howard, Leo Genn, Judy Campbell, Megs Jenkins, Henry Edwards, Ronald Adam, Moore Marriott.
1946, UK, 93m, BW, Mystery-Comedy-Whodunit
Screenplay Claud Gurney, Sidney Gilliat (based on the novel by Christian Brand) Producers Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat Photography Wilkie Cooper Editor Thelma Myers Music William Alwyn Cast Alastair Sim, Sally Gray, Rosamund John, Trevor Howard, Leo Genn, Judy Campbell, Megs Jenkins, Henry Edwards, Ronald Adam, Moore Marriott.
"Green for Danger is a remarkable mixture of sly comedy and genuine thrills, with the sardonic and sarcastic humour of the protagonist providing a good counterpoint to the darkly atmospheric surroundings of the hospital - shot with considerable panache by Launder and Gilliat's regular cameraman Wilkie Cooper. This is seen at its best in the night-time sequence in which the various characters roam around the hospital grounds before one of them meets her end at the hands of a spectral murderer dressed in a surgical gown. Except for two establishing shots at the beginning of the story, the film was shot entirely inside Pinewood studios, including all the 'exteriors'. The result is probably Gilliat's most visually accomplished and controlled film as director." - Sergio Angelini (BFI Screen Online)
The Green Glove
1952, USA-France, 88m, BW, Crime-Drama-Police Detective Film
Screenplay Charles Bennett Producer Georges Maurer Photography Claude Renoir Editor Lola Barache Music Joseph Kosma Cast Glenn Ford, Geraldine Brooks, Cedric Hardwicke, George Macready, Gaby André, Jany Holt, Roger Tréville, Georges Tabet, Meg Lemonnier, Paul Bonifas.
Screenplay Charles Bennett Producer Georges Maurer Photography Claude Renoir Editor Lola Barache Music Joseph Kosma Cast Glenn Ford, Geraldine Brooks, Cedric Hardwicke, George Macready, Gaby André, Jany Holt, Roger Tréville, Georges Tabet, Meg Lemonnier, Paul Bonifas.
"The Green Glove is a Hitchcock-ian thriller that would have benefited from the master's touch -- as well as from the more generous budgets that Hitchcock would have commanded. It's not that director Rudolph Mate's work is in any way bad; as a matter of fact, there are some moments that are quite good. But Glove needs someone with a vision that is simultaneously larger and more focused than that which Mate brings to this particular project. It also needs someone with the ability to tease out the potentially fascinating story in Charles Bennett's screenplay… Still, when Mate and Bennett do fuse, as in the marvelous goat path chase, the results are electrifying… Better than anything, however, are the captivating location shooting in Paris and Monte Carlo, vividly captured by cinematographer Claude Renoir." - Craig Butler (Allmovie)
The Grifters
● NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
1990, USA, 113m, Col, Crime-Drama
Screenplay Donald E. Westlake (based on the novel by Jim Thompson) Producers James Painten, Martin Scorsese, Richard Harris Photography Oliver Stapleton Editor Mick Audsley Music Elmer Bernstein Cast Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, J.T. Walsh, Henry Jones, Michael Laskin, Eddie Jones, Gailard Sartain, Jeremy Piven.
1990, USA, 113m, Col, Crime-Drama
Screenplay Donald E. Westlake (based on the novel by Jim Thompson) Producers James Painten, Martin Scorsese, Richard Harris Photography Oliver Stapleton Editor Mick Audsley Music Elmer Bernstein Cast Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, J.T. Walsh, Henry Jones, Michael Laskin, Eddie Jones, Gailard Sartain, Jeremy Piven.
"Stephen Frears's The Grifters is a delectable con job of a movie. It seduces you into believing it's merely a cheeky trifle, and then, when you least expect it, lowers the boom. Indeed, the tone of this nimble, persistently odd movie is wicked and buoyant. With a script from Donald Westlake, who worked from the Jim Thompson novel about a trio of small-time crooks, the picture is brisk and sleekly contoured, with a sophisticated sense of cynical fun. The line Westlake and Frears walk skirts the edge of parody; it's the most puckish of film noirs. Their characters are scoundrels, but they have a hipster's arrogance; they play the sucker for nobody, and the sneaky thrill here comes from watching them work the angles for the upper hand." - Hal Hinson (The Washington Post)
Guest in the House
1944, USA, 121m, BW, Melodrama-Thriller
Screenplay Ketti Frings (from the play by Hagar Wilde & Dale Eunson) Producer Hunt Stromberg Photography Lee Garmes Editor James E. Newcom Music Werner Janssen Cast Anne Baxter, Ralph Bellamy, Aline MacMahon, Ruth Warrick, Scott McKay, Marie McDonald, Jerome Cowan, Margaret Hamilton, Percy Kilbride, Connie Laird.
Screenplay Ketti Frings (from the play by Hagar Wilde & Dale Eunson) Producer Hunt Stromberg Photography Lee Garmes Editor James E. Newcom Music Werner Janssen Cast Anne Baxter, Ralph Bellamy, Aline MacMahon, Ruth Warrick, Scott McKay, Marie McDonald, Jerome Cowan, Margaret Hamilton, Percy Kilbride, Connie Laird.
"Take it as a cynical lesson in the pitfalls of kindness and trust, or as an overheated melodrama about a rampaging she-devil in human form, Guest In The House is, whichever way you cut it, certainly a spirited slice of 1940s Americana. Anne Baxter stars as Evelyn Heath, a fragile young woman, who is taken into the home of her doctor (played by Scott McKay) after she is diagnosed with a heart condition. Although it seems like the two are in love, Evelyn’s attention soon wanders to the doctor’s brother, Douglas (Ralph Bellamy). … Although it attempts film noir status, Guest In The House is ultimately only a partly successful melodrama, which is as watchable as it is due to the excellent performances.“ - James Benefield (Eye for Film)
The Guilty
1947, USA, 70m, BW, Mystery-Crime-Drama
Screenplay Robert Presnell Sr. (from the short story Two Men in a Furnished Room by Cornell Woolrich) Producer Jack Wrather Photography Henry Sharp Editor Jodie Copelan Music Rudy Schrager Cast Bonita Granville, Don Castle, Regis Toomey, John Litel, Wally Cassell, Thomas Jackson, Netta Packer, Oliver Blake, Carol Andrews.
Screenplay Robert Presnell Sr. (from the short story Two Men in a Furnished Room by Cornell Woolrich) Producer Jack Wrather Photography Henry Sharp Editor Jodie Copelan Music Rudy Schrager Cast Bonita Granville, Don Castle, Regis Toomey, John Litel, Wally Cassell, Thomas Jackson, Netta Packer, Oliver Blake, Carol Andrews.
"John Reinhardt economically directs a crisp crime thriller from the screenplay by Robert R. Presnell, Sr. that is based on the short story Two Men in a Furnished Room by Cornell Woolrich. Though the surprise ending is hardly convincing or for that matter original (Robert Siodmak's The Dark Mirror covered the same territory of identical twins in a superior fashion), and the acting was rather stiff, nevertheless this cheapie Monogram flick always kept me interested in the twisty plot and was quite engaging as it adequately covered the film noir conventions of following the dark sides of the main characters. " - Dennis Schwartz (World Movie Reviews)
Guilty Bystander
1950, USA, 92m, BW, Crime-Thriller-Detective Film
Screenplay Don Ettlinger (from the novel by Wade Miller) Producers Joseph Lerner, Rex Carlton Photography Gerald Hirschfeld, Russell Harlan Editor Geraldine Lerner Music Dimitri Tiomkin Cast Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Mary Boland, Sam Levene, J. Edward Bromberg, Kay Medford, Jed Prouty, Harry Landers, Dennis Patrick, Elliott Sullivan.
Screenplay Don Ettlinger (from the novel by Wade Miller) Producers Joseph Lerner, Rex Carlton Photography Gerald Hirschfeld, Russell Harlan Editor Geraldine Lerner Music Dimitri Tiomkin Cast Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Mary Boland, Sam Levene, J. Edward Bromberg, Kay Medford, Jed Prouty, Harry Landers, Dennis Patrick, Elliott Sullivan.
"Guilty Bystander is a strangely compelling, very atmospheric film noir. The movie is not quite entirely satisfying, but its offbeat casting and the odd, meandering story (which is largely seen through the hung-over haze of its main character) can hold the interest of casual viewers, and it makes superb visual and dramatic use of actual New York locations, including the inside of a subway tunnel... The camera work, even in the daylight shots, is harsh and shadowy, in keeping with the way that the panicked, struggling alcoholic Thursday (Scott) sees things, and many of the exterior shots have the look of newsreel footage, giving it startling verisimilitude -- the violence, when it comes, is always shown at odd angles that don't reveal more to us than Thursday is able to perceive in whatever state he is in at a particular moment." - Bruce Eder (Allmovie)
Gun Crazy
Deadly is the Female (original title)
1950, USA, 86m, BW, Drama-Crime-Thriller
Screenplay Dalton Trumbo [uncredited], MacKinlay Kantor (from the Saturday Evening Post story by MacKinlay Kantor) Producers Frank King, Maurice King Photography Russell Harlan Editor Harry Gerstad Music Victor Young Cast Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Anabel Shaw, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young, Trevor Bardette, Mickey Little, Russ Tamblyn.
1950, USA, 86m, BW, Drama-Crime-Thriller
Screenplay Dalton Trumbo [uncredited], MacKinlay Kantor (from the Saturday Evening Post story by MacKinlay Kantor) Producers Frank King, Maurice King Photography Russell Harlan Editor Harry Gerstad Music Victor Young Cast Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky, Anabel Shaw, Harry Lewis, Nedrick Young, Trevor Bardette, Mickey Little, Russ Tamblyn.
"A handsome young couple (John Dall and Peggy Ann Cummins) meet at a carnival, where they engage in a sharp-shooting contest. It’s love at first (gun) sight. And soon they’re off on a crime spree, which ends tragically. Written under a pseudonym by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo and well-directed by the expert B picture craftsman, Joseph H. Lewis, this is, to be sure, a Bonnie and Clyde precursor. But it is as crisp, no nonsense melodrama, and as a pioneering study of America’s curious passion for the sleek, shiny beauty of death-dealing objects, that it retains its hold on us, 56 years after it slipped on to the bottom of the bills in our long-lost (and sorely missed) neighborhood theaters." - Richard Schickel (TIME)
Guncrazy
● NEO-NOIR / COLOUR NOIR
1992, USA, 96m, Col, Crime-Drama
Screenplay Matthew Bright Producer Zane W. Levitt Photography Lisa Rinzler Editor Kevin Tent Music Ed Tomney Cast Drew Barrymore, James LeGros, Joe Dallesandro, Billy Drago, Rodney Harvey, Michael Ironside, Ione Skye, Robert Greenberg, Jeremy Davies, Dan Eisenstein.
1992, USA, 96m, Col, Crime-Drama
Screenplay Matthew Bright Producer Zane W. Levitt Photography Lisa Rinzler Editor Kevin Tent Music Ed Tomney Cast Drew Barrymore, James LeGros, Joe Dallesandro, Billy Drago, Rodney Harvey, Michael Ironside, Ione Skye, Robert Greenberg, Jeremy Davies, Dan Eisenstein.
"Straight to video in Britain, but audience support in the US eventually won it a theatrical release. Inspired by They Live by Night and the original Gun Crazy, this is a love-on-the-run yarn, with the incendiary Barrymore immensely sympathetic as the promiscuous, sexually mistreated teen who goes on the lam with former prison pen-pal LeGros. They leave behind an unwitting trail of death and destruction, begun by her shooting of abusive guardian Dallesandro. Although it doesn't seek to excuse their wrongdoing, the film stands out for its convincing depiction of the up-against-it white-trash mentality and the overriding demands of youthful desire." - Trevor Johnston (Time Out)
Gunman in the Streets
● FRENCH NOIR (USA CO-PRODUCTION)
1950, France-USA, 86m, BW, Crime-Drama-Thriller
Screenplay André Tabet, Jacques Companéez, Victor Pahlen Producer Victor Pahlen Photography Claude Renoir, Eugen Schüfftan Editor Steve Previn Music Joe Hajos Cast Dane Clark, Simone Signoret, Fernand Gravey, Robert Duke, Michel Andre, Fernand Rauzena, Pierre Gay, Edmond Ardisson, Albert Dinan, Albert Augier.
1950, France-USA, 86m, BW, Crime-Drama-Thriller
Screenplay André Tabet, Jacques Companéez, Victor Pahlen Producer Victor Pahlen Photography Claude Renoir, Eugen Schüfftan Editor Steve Previn Music Joe Hajos Cast Dane Clark, Simone Signoret, Fernand Gravey, Robert Duke, Michel Andre, Fernand Rauzena, Pierre Gay, Edmond Ardisson, Albert Dinan, Albert Augier.
"Gunman in the Streets is truly an odd film. Nowhere near as accomplished as the later Rififi chez les hommes, (made by an official blacklistee, Jules Dassin) it nevertheless has a very good look. The advertising for the film touts it as some kind of spiritual sequel to the classic gangster films of the thirties, but it's really an on-the-lam saga along the lines of Anthony Mann's Raw Deal. A thug's escape depends completely on his tough & savvy girlfriend. The action scenes tend to be pretty stiff, if rather violent for the time, with Dane Clark doing a tight-lipped George Raft impersonation. He faces off with the cops with a machine gun in a well-played but poorly staged climactic shootout. He also tries to murder a stoolie with a gas oven, and is shown kicking a fallen cop in the head." - Glenn Erickson (DVD Savant)
The 100 Most Cited Noir Films Recommended Viewing (by TSPDT)