film-noir

Familial Neurosis in ‘Never Open That Door’ Film-Noirs

Familial Neurosis in ‘Never Open That Door’ Film-Noirs

The family is the source of neurosis, and any hint of an allegedly happy ending in these three film-noirs must happen over someone’s dead body.

Film-Noir ‘Peking Express’ Is Hollywood’s First Encounter with Red China

Film-Noir ‘Peking Express’ Is Hollywood’s First Encounter with Red China

The 1951 film-noir Peking Express (not to be confused with Shanghai Express) should be seen as Hollywood’s first attempt to deal with Communist China in the context of the Red Scare.

She Acts Like a Man and Men Act Like Monsters in 1950s Noir ‘The Unguarded Moment’

She Acts Like a Man and Men Act Like Monsters in 1950s Noir ‘The Unguarded Moment’

Film noir from the 1950s The Unguarded Moment gives off cozy WASP-American TV vibes for its increasingly sinister and sick Technicolor world.

A Woman’s Work Is Finally Done in Siodmak’s ‘Time Out of Mind’

A Woman’s Work Is Finally Done in Siodmak’s ‘Time Out of Mind’

Robert Siodmak’s Time Out of Mind, based on the novel by first National Book Award winner, Rachel Field, mixes gothic, classical, and literary elements in an unappreciated film.

Film Noirs ‘The Guilty’ and ‘High Tide’ Have Strong Literary Roots

Film Noirs ‘The Guilty’ and ‘High Tide’ Have Strong Literary Roots

Crime stories by Cornell Woolrich, The Guilty, and Raoul Whitfield, High Tide, are masterfully adapted by director John Reinhardt in two restored film noirs.

Robert Siodmak’s Auf Wiedersehen to Hollywood

Robert Siodmak’s Auf Wiedersehen to Hollywood

Robert Siodmak’s reverse immigration film, Deported, and drama about capital and labor, The Whistle at Eaton Falls, were the last he’d make for Hollywood.

Film-Noir ‘A Life at Stake’ Is a Saucy Little Potboiler

Film-Noir ‘A Life at Stake’ Is a Saucy Little Potboiler

Restored noir ‘A Life at Stake’ sets viewers smack in the middle of the sleek, seamy, sweaty, paranoid underside of the American ’50s, and it’s a nice trip.

The Best Classic Films on Blu-ray in 2020

The Best Classic Films on Blu-ray in 2020

Many formats have come and gone and streaming competes, to a degree, but these best classic films offered on Blu-ray in 2020 prove irresistible.

Jules Dassin Versus Mark Hellinger and ‘The Naked City’

Jules Dassin Versus Mark Hellinger and ‘The Naked City’

Producer Mark Hellinger may have committed the biggest crime in the filming of Jules Dassin's classic film-noir, 'The Naked City'.

Uncensored ‘Native Son’ (1951) Is True to Richard Wright’s Work

Ross Is the Name, Crime Is the Game: ‘My Name Is Julia Ross’

Ross Is the Name, Crime Is the Game: ‘My Name Is Julia Ross’

My Name Is Julia Ross is fast, direct, and easy fun. It never tests the viewer's patience with unnecessary trills.

England’s Postwar Paranoia Creeps in the Shadows of Three Film-Noirs

England’s Postwar Paranoia Creeps in the Shadows of Three Film-Noirs

Something portentous comes out of quiet ordinary postwar English life: three schizoid noirs from directors Carol Reed, Roy and John Boulting, and Tharold Dickinson.