my american wife ( 1936 film )
my american wife is a 1936 american comedy film directed by harold young and written by elmer davis, edith fitzgerald and virginia van upp. the film stars francis lederer, ann sothern, fred... see full summary »
an american playboy in saigon has to fight to get his eurasian wife out of the country .
freshman love (1936) william c. mcgann, patricia ellis, warren hull, frank mchugh
the moment was 1936 and an incredible american athlete called jesse owens had just run his way to the first of four gold medals in the 100 metres .
this short film dramatizes the birth of the american bill of rights. vitaphone release 9300 - 9301 .
this short film presents how separate events led to the creation of three of the rights in the american constitution .
an insurance agent' s greedy wife leads him to a life of crime .
a broadway critic must write a negative review about his wife' s play .
a neglected wife turns to bank robbery to get her husband' s attention .
a corrupt rancher hires four soldiers of fortune to rescue his wife from kidnappers .
file name: my american wife 1936. avi file size: 719. 29 mb resolution: 640×480 duration: 01: 13: 16 video: mpeg - 4 visual (xvid), 1 231 kbps, 29. 970 fps audio: mpeg audio (mpeg - 1 audio layer 3), 128 kbps (cbr), 44. 1 khz, 2 channels, 1 stream
an innocent man stands trial for killing the man who tried to steal his wife .
a gangster plots an elaborate revenge on the wife and partner who did him dirty .
this short film offers a panoramic view of american history from the pilgrims up to 1950 utilizing archival footage. vitaphone release 2032a .
a prizefighter who died before his time is reincarnated as a tycoon with a murderous wife .
a jealous husband plots to dispose of his wife' s lover in an acid bath .
a young virginian joins the american revolution despite his love for a beautiful royalist .
a british war widow falls for an opportunistic american sailor during world war ii .
an american artist finds love in paris but almost loses it to conflicting loyalties .
1925: american singer, actor, athlete and civil rights activist paul robeson .
mischner claimed owens showed him the photograph and told him:' that was one of my most beautiful moments.'
a man falsely accused of his wife' s murder escapes to search for the real killer .
an aging football star risks his health when his greedy wife won' t let him retire .
a radio announcer accidentally kills his wife, then leads an on - air hunt for her killer .
a producer fights labor problems, financiers and his greedy ex - wife to put on a show .
this short film focuses on joseph goldberger, the physician who found a cure for an endemic that affected the american south in the 1910' s .
a modern - day don juan tries to go straight for love of an american woman .
' prostitutes, orgies, group sex - all of it': ex - wife of ...
when a bank robbery goes bad, an ex - con and his wife take it on the lam .
a recent college graduate has an affair with his neighbor' s wife, then falls for their daughter .
american nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable, dinosaur - like beast .
' he was my son!' devastated father sobs as he is detained by police moments after his two - year - old ...
nazis kidnap a key american intelligence officer and try to convince him that world war ii is over .
a small - town lawyer gets the case of a lifetime when a military man avenges an attack on his wife .
an american saloon owner in north africa is drawn into world war ii when his lost love turns up .
three american roommates working in italy wish for the man of their dreams after throwing coins into a fountain .
troubled actor jonathan rhys meyers is detained at lax after getting into a' drunken fight with his wife and ...
if we may be permitted slight liberty with one of fred stone' s lines in
my american wife
at the music hall, anybody that likes this kind of a picture will find this kind of a picture the kind of a picture he or she likes. this extremely comprehensive critical formula was originated by mark twain, and was probably inserted in the current motion picture by paramount by way of suggestion to film critics. view full article in timesmachine »
this short film focuses on songs that have become standards in american music, such as
the band played on
and
bicycle built for two .
vitaphone release 1593a .
count ferdinand von und zu reidenach arrives in smelter city, arizona, with his american bride, mary cantillon .
an american nobel prize - winner mixes it up with spies when he travels to stockholm to collect his award .
mischner, who went on to write a book about the 1936 olympics, said other journalists were with him on the day that owens produced the photo and they too did not report on it .
is a masterpiece. funny to think that american critics looked down their noses at the film at the time of its release. maybe they took offense at the inescapable scent of welles’ passion for rita hayworth, his wife at the time and his ex shortly after production wrapped. he captures her in close - up with a hungry, enraptured eye, the most coherent image in a film that’s built on logical incoherence .
this short film presents a series of bloopers from various warner bros. productions .
this short film tells the true story of vermont blacksmith and inventor tom davenport .
this short film highlights the work of master make - up artist william tuttle .
in this silent film, a spanish army captain falls for a german spy .
in this short film, nostradamus predicts the fate of dictators mussolini and hitler .
this short film takes the viewer to several cities in the state of florida .
this short film, filmed off the coast of florida, offers fishing advice .
this short film focuses on the job of a lab technician and forensic detail .
this short film looks at the debate revolving around who should get credit for the
tennessee plan ,
which proved to be a vital action for the north in its push south during the american civil war .
this short film focuses on the agriculture, history, and natural wonders of virginia .
a faded film star fights to hold on to her past glamour despite failing finances .
american man who posed as a saudi prince to try and buy a stake in a miami hotel was busted when the ...
an outsider called it. a bystander observing a uniquely american phenomenon. and, for decades, a largely unacknowledged bystander at that .
judy garland and gene kelly perform in a clip from
for me and my gal
; susan hayward introduces a clip from
i' ll cry tomorrow .
hosted by george murphy .
future learning and skills – giving everyone the opportunity to build a lifelong relationship with film .
in this short film, choreographer dave gould and his students demonstrate various tap dancing steps .
in this short film, a raccoon spends the night looking for food for his family .
this short film visits the commonwealth of virginia and showcases some of its many historical sites .
in this social guidance short film, teens on the make spread syphilis among their friends .
this short film focuses on the rules and safety measures for the sport of ski flying .
american singer, acclaimed actor of stage and screen, political activist and civil rights campaigner paul robeson, rehearses in relaxed mood at the piano .
as a crazed scientist and jennifer connelly as our hero’s estranged wife (who, it must be noted, was born to play a noir femme fatale). —
' all my colleagues are dead, owens is dead. i thought this was the last chance to set the record straight. i have no idea where the photo is or even if it exists still.'
this short film highlights the impact of the automobile on the united states. vitaphone release 2512a .
joseph doakes appears on a game show and competes against a child in this comedic short film .
1925: american singer, actor, athlete and civil rights activist paul robeson (1898 - 1976). (photo by sasha / getty images )
this film is not currently playing on mubi but 30 other great films are. see what’s now showing
this short film presents various curiosities of people and nature across the united states. vitaphone release 1864 .
in this silent film, an english noble sold into slavery escapes and turns himself into a pirate king .
american singer, acclaimed actor of stage and screen, political activist and civil rights campaigner paul robeson (1898 - 1976), rehearses in relaxed mood at the piano .
in this short film, a man commits a murder and is tormented by the victim' s beating heart .
this short film is a humorous look at basic first aid techniques for mishaps that often occur around the house .
' hi. i' m linda o' keefe... 45 years ago today, i disappeared and my killer was never found': police tweet as the 11 - year - old girl who was murdered in 1973 in a bid to publicize the cold case
and rutger hauer, as well as some of the most emotionally intense action set pieces ever put to film. moreover, a good portion of the film’s appeal lies in its incorporation of film noir aesthetics—shadow - filled, rainy metropolitan exteriors, a brooding yet resourceful investigator hero, retro ’40s fashion—into its dreary, dystopian setting. at one point, the film even boasted a philip marlowe - esque voiceover narration that was thankfully excised from future cuts. once regarded as a failed experiment ,
to brilliantly deconstruct traditional cinematic storytelling, toggling between chronological black - and - white vignettes and full - color five - minute segments that unfold in reverse order while shelby frantically searches for his wife’s killer. the film is jarring, inventive and adventurous, and the payoff is every bit worth the mind - bending descent into madness. —
in this silent short film, george washington appeals to betsy ross to help create a flag for the new united states .
in this short film, a soda jerk / songwriter dreams of performing his songs on broadway. vitaphone release 1776 - 1777 .
in this short film, ted healy and the his stooges are fired by their theater and try out new jobs as waiters .
this short film tells the story of how france' s
le marseillaise
came to be written during the french revolution .
carl franklin’s excellent early ’90s neo - noir walks a razor - thin tightrope of suspense: you get the sense from one minute to the next that any step out of place could send the entire narrative into violent anarchy. franklin’s film has great aspirations, delving into the complexities of modern american race relations just a few years after
in this short film, a young monarch invites a traveling rodeo show to perform at his palace. vitaphone release 9539 - 9540 .
in this short film, a man fired from his job places a curse on his former boss. vitaphone release b194 - 195 .
in both quality of filmmaking and cynicism of spirit. this film not only announced hanson as a filmmaker well beyond his previous work (
paul was blacklisted and all doors for work closed against him; furthermore, his passport was revoked, leaving him unable to travel and his income reduced to a trickle. his voice was known and loved all over the world; he had done nothing illegal; he was never arrested, or put on trial; yet the powers that be were determined to destroy him nonetheless for his political beliefs. “i care nothing – less than nothing – about what the lords of the land, the big white folks, think of me and my ideas, ” robeson later wrote, in here i stand. “for more than 10 years they have persecuted me in every way they could – by slander and mob violence, by denying me the right to practice my profession as an artist, by withholding my right to travel abroad. to these, the real un - americans, i merely say: ‘all right – i don’t like you either! ’”
like a fast - paced burner. it’s not fincher’s most famous film, but it’s absolutely one of the most underrated thrillers since 2000. —
essie was a powerhouse in her own right. at first, she served as paul’s manager; later, she became an author, anthropologist and activist, campaigning against colonialism in africa and racism in the us. she made a lengthy journey to uganda and south africa in 1936; and later, with paul, to the front lines of the spanish civil war in 1938 .
this short film focuses on how the production team for the movie
mister buddwing
( 1966) scouted for filming locations in new york city .
aestheticizes violence without fetishizing it. bullet holes and knife wounds help color the film in dark brushstrokes—such is the coens’ wont—and careful attention to shot composition ratchets the film’s morbid elements to almost intoxicating heights. you’ll want to look away, but the coens keep your eyes glued to their somber fatalism. —
treats redemption as a cruel joke, a spell of relief that lasts only long enough for us to view its obsolescence. the film takes jabs at
since its coining in 1946 by french critic nino frank, who observed from afar something dark, quite literally, going on at the american cinema, the term “film noir” has been debated and debated and debated some more. is it a genre? a subgenre? a movement? a trend? a commentary? a style? for the purposes of this introduction, let’s call it a response .
forty years before the blair witch project popularized the idea of a film being told from the camera’s perspective, actor / director robert montgomery gave this radical idea a spin with lady in the lake, his adaptation of one of raymond chandler’s philip marlowe detective stories. ultimately, the case proves to be minor marlowe and the first - person gimmick does eventually wear thin over the course of the film’s runtime. putting aside these reservations, however, the film is most certainly worth a watch if just to witness montgomery’s sheer audacity and inventiveness. it’s the textbook example of a film being ahead of its time. — m. r .
to most of us, robeson is inextricably associated with the song “ ol’ man river ” from jerome kern’s showboat – the first musical to tackle themes as serious as racism and miscegenation in the deep south. the role of joe, a barge worker by the mississippi, was written for him; he starred in the show in london in 1928, taking the city by storm. his deep bass timbre, the eloquent power of his projection and the all - embracing humanity of his booming tone were captured in the 1936 film adaptation and make an unforgettable impression .
this short film presents a dramatization of patrick henry' s speech before the virginia legislature in which he argues for colonial independence. vitaphone release 7766 - 7767 .
and los angeles, thus necessitating some creative uses of lighting. this commitment to realism would help perfect the film noir style we all know and love. —
was a rarity in its heyday, though if you didn’t know lupino held the reins, you might not guess the film was directed with a feminine touch .
a film crew discovers the
eighth wonder of the world ,
a giant prehistoric ape, and brings him back to new york, where he wreaks havoc .
this short film provides highlights from u. s. history, focusing on washington' s farewell to the troops to the war of 1812. vitaphone release 1740 .
puts male toughness on trial and makes it look ridiculous, but the study of manliness might be a smokescreen for kurosawa’s veiled jabs at the board of censors installed by the u. s. government in post - world war ii japan. note the western clothing. observe the recurring image of the bubbling muck that serves as one of the film’s central locations. the american occupation whitewashes and corrupts japanese culture in equal measure, and
in this short film, a pastor in a western town competes against a saloon in order to form a congregation for his small church. vitaphone release 7661 - 7662 .
well known canine performers of the 1930s, including asta from the thin man series, vie for a part in an upcoming movie in this short film. vitaphone release 9686 .
plays with noir tropes more than he plays to them, deflating film noir’s inherent machismo by revealing the chief heavies of his cast as scrabbling cowards. depending on your mood ,
and guy pearce to american audiences by giving them their first signature roles. this tabloid version of the city of angels celebrates all the sex, corruption and other seedy circumstances the superficial city can provide. it offers a string of unforgettable sequences, from bud white’s yuletide raid to exley’s interrogations to the final shootout where the film’s utterly ellroy perspective on police morality is (quite literally) executed with masterful precision. at the time of its release ,
during a brutal attack in which he believes his wife was raped and murdered, insurance - fraud investigator leonard shelby (played with unequivocal intensity, frustration and panic by guy pearce) suffers head trauma so severe it leads to his inability to retain new memories for more than a few minutes. this device allows
prior to reinventing filmic language with their playful genre experiments, the members of france’s new wave movement got their start as film critics. in fact, it was through their writings and discussions that the term “film noir” was first christened as a means of describing a certain breed of brooding postwar films. it’s not surprising then that louis malle—though not an official new wave member—would settle on a film noir - influenced project as his first feature film. acting both as an homage to noir as well as a subversion of its structure, elevator to the gallows stars jeanne moreau and maurice ronet as a pair of criminals whose plan to kill moreau’s husband quickly falls apart when the ronet character gets stuck in an elevator. this already absurd concept becomes all the more confounding when paired with the film’s unorthodox, experimental editing and somber, miles davis - performed jazz score. — m. r .
robeson’s own travels took him to the ussr several times during the 1930s; in moscow, he said: “here i am not a negro but a human being for the first time in my life... i walk in full human dignity. ” he espoused many of communism’s apparent ideals, noting that “the power of the soviet union… would become an important factor in aiding the colonial liberation movement” .
chris hemsworth kicks off filming for the star - studded men in black spin - off as he cuts a sharp figure in london... 21 years after the first film hit screens
in this short film, robert l. ripley presents more of life' s curiosities, such as a small office building designed to look like a dresser drawer. vitaphone release 1294 .
is the coolest melville film of them all; odds are, it’ll land upright, because that’s an impossible distinction to make. melville films pulse with ineffable cool. in the case of
, a movie that hits with quick percussive impact and spares no time from one bout of action to the next. the film strikes a comparison between youthful and experienced viewpoints: james edwards’ boxer on the rise is brimming with self - assurance, while david clarke’s battle - scarred ring veteran speaks aloud to pugilists’ inevitable decline. is robert ryan’s last attempt at glory worth suffering for? is it worth the mental trauma it inflicts on his wife (audrey totter, showing off a different side of herself ahead of 1950’s
, alex proyas’ 1998 magnum opus serves up a cerebral sci - fi extravaganza as filtered through the visual tropes of film noir and german expressionism. the result is a staggering achievement in imagination that, like
a criminally underrated gem of ’70s cinema, night moves stars gene hackman as a retired football player - turned - private investigator who is hired by an aging starlet to track down her wayward daughter. naturally, this seemingly simple assignment leads our hero down a convoluted path littered with illicit relationships and rampant corruption. released a year after francis ford coppola’s much celebrated the conversation, night moves very much serves as that film’s spiritual sibling—a complex, somewhat opaque treatise on american cynicism in a post - watergate world. — m. r .
at the start of jean - pierre melville’s le doulos, a handy dandy intertitle card kindly lets us know that the film’s name refers either to a style of hat or a police informant. once the picture commences, we get plenty of both plus the oozing - cool style of melville, whose tendency to play down everything in his frame makes even his use of shadow and light seem aloof. le doulos is the most - least french contribution to this list; it’s melville’s adaptation of a novel by pierre lesou, but he blends lesou’s words with twists on symbols and staples of american noir. a purist might argue that combining a french novel with american sensibilities is an implicit rejection of the filmmaking model he and his fellow rive gauche comrades established in the 1950s. in truth, that synthesis produces a celluloid slurry that’s uniquely melville, minimalist and slick. — a. c .
long before the boomers came to know fred macmurray as the kindly father on my three sons, the actor essayed his best performance in double indemnity as the deplorable, hard - boiled walter neff, who falls for a married temptress (barbara stanwyck) who talks him into killing her husband. whether in film or on television, macmurray normally played the nice guy, but for double indemnity he turned his everyman decency into a mask—perfect for a character who can barely conceal what a lustful, conniving bastard he is. one of the great noirs, this early effort from billy wilder revealed the filmmaker’s talent for wonderfully thorny, unapologetically rotten characters—and it doubles as one of the definitive mid - century los angeles movies. — t. g .
has enormous ambitions that belie its tight running time, the end result of odious studio interference that nonetheless fails to impede the viewing experience. come for hayworth and welles, stay for the film’s dizzying hall of mirrors shootout. —
criss cross marks the screen debut of future movie star tony curtis (here billed as “james curtis”). fortunately, the film—which reunites burt lancaster with killers director / noir auteur robert siodmak—works as much more than merely a footnote in curtis’ career. lancaster stars as an armored truck guard who hatches a plan with his ex - wife to fake a vehicle robbing so they can make off with the loot. per the title, the plotline soon transforms into a tangled web of double - (and triple -) crosses that concludes with an ending that, even by noir standards, is pretty damn bleak. — m. r .
mcqueen has remarked, though, that his idea was sparked by a newspaper article he was shown aged 14; it described robeson in wales, campaigning for better pay and conditions for the miners. the bond between black american activist and welsh coal pit workers was not as unlikely as it sounds: there, robeson once said, he “first understood the struggles of white and negro together – when i went down into the coal mine in the rhondda valley, lived amongst them”. he joined their hunger marches in 1927 and 1928 and starred in a 1940 film, proud valley, about a black miner moving to the region .
leave it to the master of suspense to meld docudrama realism with the melodrama of film noir. “ alfred hitchcock ’s powerful portrait of a man … drawn from life! ” the wrong man ’s original trailer proclaims. it’s to the film’s credit that hitch doesn’t screw around here, telling in full the story of a man falsely convicted for robberies he never committed. unsurprisingly, hitch is every bit as interested in the effects of the outrageous miscarriage of justice that befalls manny balestrero as he is in the lasting trauma his detention inflicts on him and his family. the wrong man puts a high premium on claustrophobic camerawork—we feel like we’re as confined as poor old manny—but the film’s greatest impression is left in its aftermath. — a. c .
mary’s grandfather, lafe cantillon, founded the town and disapproves of mary’s marriage to a foreigner. mary and her mother, however, are thrilled with the fact that mary is now a countess, and they make the most of it via various social occasions. “ferdie, ” however, is tired of high society and has dreams of becoming a “real” american by running his own ranch .
, however, lynch took his fascination with the subgenre to a whole other level, depicting a world where a character’s interior life influences not only the film’s visual style but its narrative structure as well. in the first great performance of her illustrious career ,
robeson was born in princeton, new jersey, in 1898. his father started life as a plantation slave in north carolina, but escaped in 1860 and eventually become a pastor. robeson recalls, in his book here i stand (1958), his father’s determination and loyalty to his convictions: “from my youngest days i was imbued with that concept, ” he writes. his family’s longer history of activism is noteworthy, too; his maternal great - great - grandfather, cyrus bustill, became in 1787 a founder of the free african society, the first mutual aid organisation of african americans .
indeed, perhaps robeson’s greatest legacy is as civil rights activist – one victimised by his own country for his socialist leanings, mccarthyism shattering his career in the 1950s. in a white man’s world during the cold war, robeson was considered a double danger: both black and red. even now, one can’t help noting that it has taken a british filmmaker, not an american, to plan his screen biography .
“a beautiful femme fatale saunters into an unsuspecting man’s life and entices him into committing murder for her. ” this logline could be used to describe any number of classic film noirs. most of this can be traced back to author james m. cain, who wrote two books—
hits new depths of noir pessimism—all threat, no sentiment. it’s no stretch to draw parallels between dassin’s displaced filmmaker and fabian’s yank in london, nor his vision of the noir city, quintessentially american, across the pond. harry is, as his long - suffering friend mary (tierney) tells him, “an artist without an art, ” a cipher left to scavenge the hellish urban underbelly, london’s architecture practically suffocated in expressionist
film noir or horror—which category does charles laughton’s night of the hunter belong in? frankly, all such quibbles are needless. the film fits snugly beneath either appellation, for one thing: it’s a hybridized version of both. (let’s call it “film noirror. ”) for another, it’s a masterwork, so fie upon labels. night of the hunter lurks in shadows and revels in misogyny. whether you’ve seen it or not, you probably have the image of robert mitchum’s tattooed knuckles imprinted upon your brain thanks to pop culture osmosis. reverend harry powell is quite the villain, a man as quick to distort the truth with honey - coated lies as laughton is to distort reality through oblique perspective, unnerving use of shadows and light, and a dizzying array of camera compositions that make small - town west virginia feel altogether otherworldly. — a. c .
, which centers on two treasury agents who must go undercover to infiltrate a notorious counterfeiting ring. while not boasting any big - name actors or even a particularly novel story, the film is noted for its inventive cinematography, with mann and cinematographer john alton deciding to shoot several scenes on location in
after taking a law degree at columbia, robeson began to work for a firm of lawyers, but resigned after facing racism within the company. turning to the stage, spurred on by his wife, eslanda (essie), he shot to fame when eugene o’neill asked him to star in all god’s chillun got wings and the emperor jones in 1924. showboat in london followed four years later. meanwhile, in 1925, he began his singing career in new york by becoming the first artist to give a recital consisting entirely of negro spirituals .
we’ll start with the following 100 titles. some 70 years after the term “film noir” was first uttered, take a trip through the screwed - up terrain of the mid - century psyche, with all its sex, lies, and crime scene tape. let’s get going—don’t say we didn’t warn you. — amanda schurr
, an adaptation of novelist / screenwriter scott b. smith’s 1993 thriller about three working - class men who end up stumbling upon a crashed plane filled with millions of dollars in cash. seeing this as the answer to their financial woes, the men divvy up the money only to quickly find their close - knit group torn apart by greed and paranoia. while not ostensibly film noir in its construction, the story nevertheless touches upon classic noir themes—namely, the corruptive power of greed and the folly of man in attempting to control life’s chaos. whatever its designation, the film presents an absorbing, if unmistakably devastating, modern - day morality tale. —
lawrence kasdan’s directorial debut remains, to this day, one of the sexiest movies ever to grace the big screen—not to mention, the rare occasion where the phrase “erotic thriller” can be appropriately uttered without the slightest hint of a snicker. boasting a star - making performance by kathleen turner, the film takes the standard double indemnity / the postman always rings twice premise (femme fatale hires lover to kill husband) and grafts it onto the humid nightmare that is florida in the midst of a heat wave. memorable sex scenes aside, however, the film is also a master class in how to build suspense and escalate tension. — m. r .
, flopped at the box office only to be revived later as a beloved cult classic. the film casts rufus swell as an amnesiac who wakes up one night to discover that his city is (quite literally) being manipulated by a band of mysteriously pale men in jet - black trench coats and fedoras. along for the ride is
plays a wide - eyed actress newly arrived in hollywood who stumbles upon a beautiful young woman who can’t remember who she is. that pithy logline only touches the tip of the iceberg, as the film delights in throwing numerous other subplots and mysteries at its audience only to violently pull the rug out from under them in its latter half .
a favorite of martin scorsese, force of evil centers on a lawyer who finds himself involved with an influential gangster looking to take over all smaller rackets in town. the problem? one of those desirable rackets is run by the lawyer’s older brother. like t - men, the film makes great use of shooting on location. moreover, at times, the film’s familial themes and stylized writing help elevate the conflict to near shakespearean levels (or biblical levels, considering how frequently it alludes to the story of cain and abel). though relatively small in scale, force of evil finds greatness in its aim to convey grandiose, large - scale ideas. — m. r .
.) kubrick’s work here is no - frills and elegantly straightforward: sterling hayden plans one final holdup before retiring and settling down with coleen gray. no twists and turns, just good old - fashioned theft at the racetrack. the film revels in the gray morality of hayden’s good intentions. crime pays, at least until it doesn’t. —
does any psychopath in film noir’s rogues gallery strike quite as much immediate, stomach - churning terror as tommy udo? the man’s got a leering, sunken visage only a mother could love, provided she keeps her eyes closed tightly and doesn’t give him reason to shove her down the stairs. richard widmark’s wolf grin might be the only thing about kiss of death that matters. bereft of him, of course, henry hathaway’s film remains solid, but widmark’s oscar - nominated performance makes the entire enterprise feel vital. he’s a villain for the ages, perhaps robbed of his due by hathaway’s need to architect a happy ending. such is life working with production codes. — a. c .
the robesons returned to the us on the outbreak of the second world war; and during this era robeson’s american recognition reached its apogee. critics lauded him as an “artistic and social genius” (theodore dreiser) and “gifted by the gods as musician and actor” (walter damrosch). but now his activism, too, intensified. he met president harry s. truman to demand anti - lynching legislation, supported the rise of trade unions and campaigned in 1948 for the election of the progressive party’s candidate henry a. wallace as president .
: at first confused, then maybe a little angry, but then ultimately delighted by how fooled they’d just been. perfectly paced, brilliantly scored by director bryan singer and editor / composer john ottman—the film never lets the marks know they’re being conned by the irresistible ensemble or christopher mcquarrie’s dark, mischievous script. and then like that … it’s gone… —
get carter director mike hodges’s last great film was budding star clive owen’s first. in fact, even now more than 15 years after its release, croupier may be the best thing owen has ever done, playing a struggling novelist who takes a job at a casino, looking for inspiration but finding mostly trouble. watch this film now to be reminded where the actor first prompted speculation that he’d make a great james bond: his character jack manfred isn’t a super - spy, but he’s got the jet - black suaveness, lady - killing panache and dry wit we associate with 007. croupier is a movie attracted to the sleazier side of life, and owen’s antihero was the perfect tour guide. — tim grierson
maybe falling in love with dead people is just an occupational hazard of being an investigative detective in new york city. then again, maybe a shotgun blast to the face couldn’t keep anybody from developing a crush on gene tierney, which is pretty much how the plot of otto preminger’s laura goes. the film tracks the trajectory of nypd detective mark mcpherson’s growing obsession with the eponymous young lady as he cobbles together the bits and pieces of her life and death. poring over her diary and her letters, he comes to moon over her, and why not? she’s every bit as delightful as preminger’s movie. laura doesn’t waste time and stacks contrivance on top of unlikelihood, but such is the strength of preminger’s craft and the performances of his cast that the film’s convolution doesn’t matter. — a. c .
mcqueen, whose film 12 years a slave was showered with awards, has apparently wished to tackle the topic for many years, but has said that only now has he the necessary “juice”. sure enough, robeson’s life, both public and personal, cries out for adaptation. and even 38 years after his death, he still awaits true recognition as the cultural giant and social idealist that he really was .
of all the films on this list, joseph h. lewis’ deliriously lusty gun crazy might be the best starting place for viewers looking to brush up on their film noir. gun crazy gets it. more than just about any noir of any era, gun crazy understands on a cellular level why people watch noirs, why the criminal element has such an incongruously romantic appeal. the film is an embarrassment of naughty delights, notably the tension between john dall and peggy cummins, so taut it’s fit to snap; it’s also made with high - level craftsmanship, best exemplified in a bravura bank robbery sequence shot in one jaw - dropping take. men do all kinds of crazy stuff in the name of love. watching dall embark on a life of gun - toting crime with cummins doesn’t strike one as all that far - fetched. — a. c .
some noirs get their hooks into you within their first few minutes and don’t let go even after the credits roll. angel face isn’t one of those. it’s a deliberate, considerate film, one that has a destination in mind and makes no bones about taking its time getting there. whether you ride with it is up to you, but come on: this is otto preminger—lesser otto preminger, perhaps, certainly not one of his better celebrated films. even lesser preminger is worth your time, though, particularly when he’s as laser - focused as he is here. angel face builds. it’s a movie that constantly sets itself up and points toward its shocker of a climax. preminger’s direction renders this story of crazy love, shared between robert mitchum and jean simmons, unpredictable if slow. don’t let the apparent languidness get in your way. the unhurried pace adds to the film’s grimmer pleasures. — andy crump
as it was a change of pace for lupino, who, after directing four features that each revolved around the struggles and victimization of women, decided to try her hand with decidedly more masculine fare. decades later, her film is still generally considered the first noir directed by a woman, but it should really be thought of first as a slim, unsparing, suspenseful slice of true crime. she puts her foot on the gas and doesn’t let up until the very end. —
and so noir cast its misfits—gun - toting, hard - drinking, lipstick and stiletto - wearing human chimneys of neuroses—into a seductive, violent postwar labyrinth, in which the terror was internal and external. fear of the next world conflict, fear of each other, fear of never getting back to a pure time, the fear in realizing there never really was one. a study in extremes that dealt in innuendo (thanks again, censors !) as it departed from accepted cultural norms and, sometimes, basic humanity—film doesn’t get more perverse, or more unapologetic about it, than the noir environment .
actually marks one of the filmmaker’s more accessible works. indeed, the opening set - up feels akin to the sort of “wrong man” scenarios favored by hitchcock—a new york thief ends up pickpocketing a young woman’s wallet, only to discover it contains top - secret government intel. the man quickly realizes he has become an unwitting player in some serious cold war - era espionage. though undeniably dated in certain places, the film’s take on politics and sex as well as its willingness to position an unrepentant thief in its main character slot represented the kind of daring mentality that would have been celebrated years later in the new
as a down - on - his - luck wwii veteran who relocates to l. a. to start a new career as a private investigator. as tends to happen with pis in this subgenre, the man inevitably finds himself embroiled in a complicated murder investigation. adding his own spin to the well - trodden noir plotlines, writer / director carl franklin uses his film’s detective story as a launching pad to explore the racial landscape of 1940s america. philip marlowe certainly had his share of rough encounters, but he had the benefit of never being instantly judged on the basis of his skin color. mix in a scene - stealing turn from don cheadle and
in one of the most intriguing opening scenes in film history, d. o. a. commences with a lengthy tracking shot of a man as he stumbles into the police office to make an unusual request—he wants to report his own murder. this opening image just about sums up d. o. a. , a brisk yet exhilarating noir thriller with one hell of a high - concept. after being administered a deadly poison, the main character has only a few days to discover who dosed him and why. what follows is a glorious mix of high - stakes melodrama and entertaining sleaze all compacted into a concise hour - and - twenty minute running time. — m. r .
jules dassin’s impact on film noir is widely documented—if you need proof, just consider the fact a handful of his best contributions to the genre have landed on this very list—and among them, thieves’ highway is perhaps the most economical. at the same time, it’s superficially the least noirish: it’s a revenge movie, sure, but that revenge is sought by a good man driven to right wrongs done to his father. this is a movie built on a pure search for retribution, though of course it’s dassin, so nothing is ever that simple, and in point of fact everything that can go wrong for nick garcos does. who knew the world of fruit trucking could be so damn cutthroat? — a. c .
when you look at jack nicholson ’s run of films in what i’ll call the “new hollywood” era, starting with easy rider in 1969 and ending with the shining in 1980, it’s truly astounding. there’s barely a dud on the list, so it’s really saying something that chinatown, roman polanski’s crime classic, stands out among the best. the central mystery is bold for its complexity, revolving around water rights in 1930s southern california—a plot that remains relevant today—and was undoubtedly an influence for the second season of true detective. like much of polanski’s work, an ominous atmosphere works alongside the plot, shadowing every character in doubt and undermining the possibility of a clean conclusion. in polanski’s world, the mere fact that a mystery is solved doesn’t mean there’s a happy ending, and his incredible powers of ambiguity have never been so strong as in chinatown. nominated for 11 academy awards, it won the oscar for robert towne’s original screenplay. add nicholson at his most essential, along with a young faye dunaway and an aging john huston, and this is truly one of the classics of american cinema. — s. r .
a story of unintended connections and one woman’s spiraling descent into paranoia and terror, sorry, wrong number gets sort of a bum rap next to double indemnity in barbara stanwyck’s catalogue of awesome performances. the film alternates between flashbacks and the present, and so too does stanwyck’s spoiled, shiftless heiress to a drug - store empire go from lethargy to hysteria. turns out she’s the center of a murder plot, though she doesn’t quite realize it at first and must piece together the architecture of her own demise as she lies bedridden and alone in her opulent manhattan digs. stanwyck gives sorry, wrong number a pulse, while anatole litvak’s direction soaks her growing terror in shadows so deep, the intruder sneaking through her house can’t help but bump into the furniture. — a. c .
after the success of 1947’s t - men, director anthony mann reteamed the following year with star dennis o’keefe, screenwriter john c. higgins, and cinematographer john alton for raw deal. the plot revolves around a prisoner who, after taking the fall for his boss, makes a break from the slammer with the help of his girlfriend. his boss, however, isn’t looking to reward his employee’s loyalty and sets about trying to have him killed. much like t - men, raw deal boasts some truly arresting images, courtesy of alton, that worked to crystallize the standard noir look. and though some of the film’s story now comes across a bit rote, particularly the inclusion of a love triangle, there’s enough visual splendor and hard - hitting action to make it essential noir viewing. — m. r .
don siegel’s debut picture, the verdict rests between two axes: peter lorre and sydney greenstreet. siegel could have shot the film and styled his misé en scene any way he wanted, and none of it would have mattered so long as he kept his two leading men on the cast. the verdict is all about them, both from the perspective of narrative and in terms of the viewing experience. lorre has a habit of stealing our attention while hanging out at the edges of the frame, while greenstreet uses his imposing bulk to command from the center of the camera. they make a fun pair as antiheroes trying to redeem greenstreet’s disgraced scotland yard superintendent when an innocent man is sent to the gallows thanks to his botched investigation, while siegel soaks their mission in noir’s dark - washed style and black humor. — a. c .
placed next to the rest of his filmography, jules dassin’s the naked city feels somewhat rote. if you’ve ever watched a single episode of law and order, or if you have a distinct fondness for procedural fare at large, then you really owe a debt of thanks to dassin’s stripped - down work here. unlike so many other noirs, the naked city aims for realism over stylish melodrama. that verisimilitude has kept the film from aging well, but dassin’s commitment to authenticity lends a great deal of heft to his story of brute violence in new york city, even if the plot runs pretty much by the numbers. that’s sort of the point, of course: to showcase the way that law operates in service to justice. the results might be flat, but their influence and dedication to purity call for our acknowledgement. — a. c.
my american wife is a 1936 american comedy film directed by harold young and written by elmer davis , edith fitzgerald and virginia van upp . the film stars francis lederer , ann sothern , fred stone , billie burke , ernest cossart and grant mitchell . the film was released on august 7 , 1936 , by paramount pictures . 
my american wife is a 1936 american comedy film directed by harold young and written by elmer davis, edith fitzgerald and virginia van upp. the film stars francis lederer, ann sothern, fred stone, billie burke, ernest cossart and grant mitchell. the film was released on august 7, 1936, by paramount pictures.
my american wife is a 1936 american comedy film directed by harold young and written by elmer davis, edith fitzgerald and virginia van upp. the film stars francis lederer, ann sothern, fred stone, billie burke, ernest cossart and grant mitchell. the film was released on august 7, 1936, by paramount pictures.