The Big Heat (1953)

The Big Heat (1953)

[8] In this disturbing film noir piece from director Fritz Lang (Metropolis, Fury), Glenn Ford plays a police detective who uncovers a crime syndicate involving the police department and the district attorney. After investigating the unlikely suicide of a fellow officer, Ford…
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

[4] The Strange Love of Martha Ivers starts off strong with fifteen minutes of compelling backstory. We're introduced to a pre-teen girl named Martha hiding out in a train yard with a scrappy young lad named Sam. The police capture them and…
This Gun for Hire (1942)

This Gun for Hire (1942)

[7] Alan Ladd (Shane) made his breakthrough performance in this unusually dark and violent film noir tale co-starring Veronica Lake and Robert Preston. Ladd plays a hit man hunting down a client (The Lodger's Laird Cregar) who double-crossed him. Lake plays a…
The Lady Gambles (1949)

The Lady Gambles (1949)

[5] Barbara Stanwyck catches the gambling bug something fierce in this melodramatic film co-starring Robert Preston as her worried husband. Stanwyck dips her toes in a Las Vegas casino during a vacation and quickly falls under the spell of craps and poker.…
Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

[10] In this darkly comic noir masterpiece from Billy Wilder, a struggling Hollywood screenwriter (William Holden) moves in with a delusional silent film star named Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) who wants him to write the script for her big comeback. But when…
Invisible Stripes (1939)

Invisible Stripes (1939)

[7] George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, and William Holden star in this better-than-average gangster flick. Raft and Bogart play convicts just released from prison. Raft reunites with his mother (Flora Robson) and younger brother (Holden) and tries to start a clean, new life,…
Touch of Evil (1958)

Touch of Evil (1958)

[8] Writer/director Orson Welles also co-stars in his adaptation of Whit Masterson's novel Badge of Evil, a sinister late-era film noir thriller set at the U.S.-Mexican border. Charlton Heston plays a Mexican narcotics officer who spars with Welles's corrupt American police captain…
Dead End (1937)

Dead End (1937)

[8] Humphrey Bogart's star was on the rise when he appeared in this ensemble drama based on a popular Broadway play by Sidney Kingsley. Bogart plays a murderous gangster who returns to his riverside slum in New York City after undergoing plastic…
The Dark Past (1948)

The Dark Past (1948)

[4] William Holden and Lee J. Cobb, who previously co-starred in Golden Boy, headline this snoozy bit of Freudian psychological propaganda. Holden plays an escaped convict who kills the warden before leading his getaway gang to a rural home where a police…
Fury (1936)

Fury (1936)

[8] In director Fritz Lang's first English-language film, Spencer Tracy stars as a man nearly lynched and presumed dead for a crime he didn't commit. His grieving fiancée, played by Sylvia Sidney, soon learns he's not only still alive, but seeking revenge.…