griggs's - Noirvember 2024 (Ranked) List

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Having Graham Greene's riveting and authentic novel about the leader of a Brighton based gang of hoods and ne'er do wells as source material was an obvious advantage, but the Boulting Brothers (John directed, brother Roy produced) still managed to conjure arguably the finest British thriller ever

in what is a genuine and evocative film noir. Expressively shot by veteran cinematographer Harry Waxman (The Wicker Man), for many the film's most abiding quality is the outstanding, intense performance of a young Richard Attenborough as the emotionally and physically scarred gang leader Pinky Brown, who courts and marries a local waitress (Carol Marsh) he detests in order to stop her testifying against him. Beautifully scripted by Greene and Terence Rattigan (The Browning Version), whose eye for detail and atmosphere is astounding, Brighton Rock is utterly hard bitten in tone and abundant in cruel ironies, right up to its well-judged, refreshingly cynical ending.

Hired to work on a yacht belonging to the disabled husband of femme fatale Rita Hayworth, Welles plays an innocent man drawn into a dangerous web of intrigue and murder.

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You have a lot of time to think when you're locked away seven years. So criminal mastermind Doc (Sam Jaffe) conceives what he believes is the perfect heist.

As in 'The Maltese Falcon' and 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre', director John Huston explores the feverish grab for the big score and how it unravels in 'The Asphalt Jungle', a renowned tale of dishonour among thieves whose cast includes Sam Jaffe as Doc and Sterling Hayden as Doc's unflappable gundel. Louis Calhern portrays Emmerich, the shady lawyer for whom "crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavour". And rising star Marilyn Monroe grabs everyone's attention as the doxie who briefly provides Emmerich with the most gorgeous alibi ever to reach the screen.

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In one of the most powerhouse performances in American screen-acting, the great Kirk Douglas stars as Chuck Tatum, a newspaper reporter who stumbles upon a potentially career-making story in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

When Tatum begins to influence the story's outcome, a descent begins that finds more than one man caught between a rock and a hard place. An electric narrative that stands as one of Wilder's tautest and most (melo)dramatic plots (penned with Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman), 'Ace in the Hole' plays today as both a prescient examination of the modern media landscape, and the public appetite for the disastrous news-story that leads to toxic wish-fulfillment.

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Prohibition era gangster Roy Earle (Humphrey Bogart) walks out of prison...and into two unfamiliar worlds: the jitterbugging 1940s and the towering majesty of 'High Sierra'. This fast-paced, heist-gone-wrong manhunt movie is also a fascinating study of a man time has passed by.

Earle identifies more with the era's homeless Okies than the callow punks he leads on a disastrous hotel robbery. Then the teenager he loves (Joan Leslie) rejects him and only Marie (Ida Lupino), a weary '30s survivor like himself, remains loyal when cops close in.

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Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson) is a meek but respected bank clerk who, on his way home from a dinner in recognition of his service, goes to the aid of Kitty Marsh (Joan Bennett) who is being attacked by Johnny Prince, her lowlife boyfriend (Dan Duryea).

Attracted by her beauty, but contrary to his usual persona, he takes Kitty for a drink and tells her that he is a famous painter. Kitty and Johnnie soon plan to take Chris for all he's got. He is pulled into a world of crime and deception by this seductive femme fatale and her manipulative boyfriend. For their sins Kitty and Johnnie pay a heavy price but, after a bizarre chain of events and sordid brutality, it is Chris who is left a broken man, deranged - and in a living hell.

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Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) gains notoriety when her father, a Nazi spy is convinced of treason against the US following World War II. At a party thrown soon after, Alice meets a handsome stranger named Devlin (Cary Grant) who reveals after a clash of wits and temperament that he is a U.S.

Intelligence Agent. Because she has fallen in love with the dashing FBI Agent, Alicia is persuaded into helping Devlin trap and catch Nazi mastermind Alex Sebastian. The more she gets involved in her work, the more at risk she becomes...

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Police detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is drawn into Manhattan high society as he investigates the death of stunning ad exec Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), apparently shotgunned in her own apartment.

The slithery suspects are numerous, led by effete, snobbish columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), and Laura's philandering fiancee Shelby (Vincent Price), who's also been cavorting with Laura's wealthy aunt (Judith Anderson). McPherson begins to fall in love with Laura through a portrait in her home and the memories relayed by those who knew her...just as it becomes apparent that even the basic facts of the case might not be what they seemed.

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Ernest Hemingway s spare, laconic short story about two professional killers and their encounter with a mysteriously unresisting victim was significantly expanded into this all-time film noir classic, which Hemingway said was the first adaptation of his work that he really admired.

As washed-up boxer turned hitman victim Ole 'Swede' Andreson, Burt Lancaster made his screen debut, and was catapulted to instant stardom, not least for the screen chemistry that he showed opposite sultry Ava Gardner, whose Kitty Collins is the very personification of the femme fatale. German émigré Robert Siodmak was one of the filmmakers who helped create film noir, and Elwood Bredell s high-contrast cinematography, all harsh lighting and long shadows, elevates the film far above a conventional crime drama. But even on that level it s a first-rate demonstration of how to maintain narrative tension, with the flashback structure withholding crucial details until almost the very end.

A tough action drama in the classic film noir vein. Released from jail for a crime he did not commit, John Payne portrays a disgruntled ex-con who scours the underworld for the real thieves behind a sophisticated armoured car heist.

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Nineteen-year-old Lauren Bacall makes her sizzling screen debut in the first of 4 films she made opposite Humphrey Bogart. he plays a cynical American expatriate swept up in the fighting of the French resistance - and swept off his feet by an alluring young drifter - Bacall.

Set on the island of Martinique in 1940, the film features smouldering performances from the legendary couple.

Al Roberts (Tom Neal) decides to hitchhike to California to follow his girlfriend Sue (Claudia Drake). After discovering one of the drivers who has given him a lift dead, Al assumes his identity for fear of being charged with his murder. This leads him into trouble and blackmail along the way.

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The sign outside the roadside diner says "Man Wanted." Drifter Frank Chambers knows the sign has more than one meaning when he eyes pouty, luminous Cora, the much-younger bride of the diner's proprietor. Based on the same-titled novel by James M.

Cain (Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce), this quintessential film-noir classic combines studio-system gloss with Cain's hard-bitten tale of murderous attractions. John Garfield and Lana Turner give career-benchmark performances as Frank and Cora, illicit lovers who botch a first attempt to bump off Cora's hubby, pull it off, betray each other at trial and yet wriggle free. But their volatile tale does not end there. As the film's metaphorical title indicates, fate is sure to ring again.

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Years of police work have taught Detective Finlay that where there's crime, there's motive. But he finds no usual motive when investigating a man's death by beating. The man was killed because he was Jewish. "Hate", Finlay says, "is like a gun".

Robert Young portrays Finlay, Robert Mitchum is a laconic army sergeant assisting in the investigation of G.l. suspects, and Robert Ryan plays a vicious bigot in a landmark film noir nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Edward Dmytryk (Murder, My Sweet) directs, draping the genre's stylistic backdrops and flourishes around a topic rarely before explored in films: anti-Semitism in the U.S. Here, Hollywood takes aim at injustice...and catches bigotry in a 'Crossfire'.

Truck-driving brothers Humphrey Bogart and George Raft battle the dangers of the open road as well as a murder frame-up in this vintage production full of wisecracking wit and great performances.