Underseen Film-Noirs for Noirvember

Film-Noir. My favourite genre. Originally known simply as melodramas before being coined by French critic Nino Frank as the term we all know it as. A genre that in its purest form of American cinema from 1940-1959 amounted to around 600 films. 

Drawing influence from the visual stylings and intense lighting of German expressionism, the pre and post-WWII uncertainty and the constant feeling of doom, dread and guilt. Then drenched in the lush hardboiled American pulp novel adaptations, with their fierce no-nonsense dialogue, shady characters and beautifully dangerous Femme Fatales that dominated the first half of the 20th century.

Here are some Film-Noirs which I think are either underrated, over-shadowed or just simply underseen. 

Moonrise (1948, Frank Borzage)

Here's a forgotten noir that truly embodies the essence of noir. From it's very opening, we're thrown into our protagonist's (Danny's) world from infancy with the haunting image of his father being hanged. Thus leading to a world of doom and despair from the get-go, a running theme within the film-noir world.

It’s a morbid tale of feeling somewhat born into damnation, suffocated by the memory of his father’s downfall and the fear of falling into his father’s grim footsteps.  Unsurprisingly, this fear of his turns into a nightmarish reality as he ends up taking someone’s life, be it by self-defence. Of course, his guilty conscience still manages to get the best of him as he falls into a spiral of self-loathing and self-destruction. 

Thanks to the beautiful Criterion collection 4K release back in 2018, we can now witness Borzage's most powerful film about the power of human values and the darkness guilt carries. 

Armored Car Robbery (1950, Richard Fleischer) 

This director is, of course, no stranger to crime, nor to this blog, and having begun his career in the 1940s, he of course endured in film-noir. With only 2 years prior to his masterpiece The Narrow Margin, Fleischer crafted this electrifying early procedural heist film (a relatively new sub-genre at the time) which unfortunately was released the same year as the John Huston's heist noir masterpiece The Asphalt Jungle, and therefore inevitably overshadowed.  

However, unlike The Asphalt Jungle, this B picture was directed by an upcoming director and was released as a double feature alongside The Good Humor Man... which was a comedy.

Non-the-less this tight 67-minute film is an underrated gem that should be revered by noir and heist fans alike. Beginning with a well-staged armoured car robbery which then develops into a tense no bullshit manhunt film. It's extremely well-acted, well shot and packs a real smart screenplay that is bound to grip you.  “No loose ends baby!”

The Hitch-Hiker (1953, Ida Lupino)  

Quite the sadistic film for its time and the only film-noir not to consist of a single female actress. Yet surprisingly, this tough nailed noir is the only classic noir to be directed by a woman, the great Ida Lupino.  An actress turned director who had a knack for tackling taboo content (for the time) such as bigamy, unwanted pregnancy and rape. 

The film begins with a highway murder and soon after we're introduced to Ray (Edmond O'Brien) and Gilbert (Frank Lovejoy), two unsuspecting buddies on a fishing trip who of course pick up a hitch-hiker on the side of the road. He states his car had run out of gas, but unbeknownst to them, it's Emmett Myers (William Talman) who's currently wanted for numerous highway murders. Now, these two need to figure out how to stay alive long enough till he's caught or killed. 

Based on the 1950 true story of real-life hitch-hiker killer Billy Cook, whose reign of terror ended after 22 days with 6 murders and 2 surviving hunters who were held hostage. Ida had visited Cook in death-row for material on the film but was not allowed the use of his real name from the FBI. However many subtle facts still made it to the film such as the killer's half shut-eye whilst sleeping, portrayed ever so menacingly by Talman. It's a fierce film.  

Shield for Murder (1954, Howard W. Koch, Edmond O'Brien)

Probably the most underrated film on this list, this is the first of only two films ever to be directed (along with Howard W. Koch) by Edmond O'Brien. A character actor favourite of mine who had an extensive amount of roles within the film-noir era such as A Double Life, White Heat, and the starring role in D.O.A. Sadly, O'Brien's name just never gained the status of other great noir actors that he so clearly deserved. 

We begin with a bookie, on the run from Barney (Edmond O'Brien), a brute detective of 16 years. However, rather than taking him in, Barney murders him in cold blood, takes the $25K he was carrying and makes it look like self-defence. Little does he know, there was a witness who saw the whole thing. Meanwhile, Barny's friend and protégé Mark (John Agar) refuses to be clouded by the endless rumours of Barny's dirty activity all around the precinct. But the evidence soon starts to pile up.

Surprisingly, this film is never mentioned on any film-noir lists despite having been a financial success upon its release. It was based on William P. McGivern's novel, who had written numerous pulp novels that inspired such films such as On Dangerous Ground and The Big Heat, a film-noir masterpiece. This is quite the brutal film with its everlasting relevant subject matter acting as a cautionary message back in its day (with 3 other bad-cop films that very same year), and even more so today.

Nightfall (1956, Jacques Tourneur)

It's utterly baffling to me how this film simply doesn't receive the major recognition it so clearly deserves.  I had discovered this from a Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics II DVD box set which floored me on first viewing. Directed by the French auteur Tourneur who's responsible for numerous masterpieces such as Cat People, Night of the Demon and his crowning achievement Out of the Past. He's also ventured into the adventure pictures and made quite a few decent westerns such as Wichita. 

Our hero James (played by Tarantino fav Aldo Ray) begins walking down the beautifully neon-lighted boulevard and into a bar where he meets the luscious Marie (Anne Bancroft). They hit it off instantly but as soon as they leave the bar, two thugs grab James and thank Marie. Thanks to some beautiful flashback scenes, we learn James was on a hunting trip in the snow mountains of Wyoming when two bank robbers cross paths with them.  However between the thugs' first encounter with James and now, their $350K has vanished and they're adamant James has it, and will not stop until they get their hands on "their" dough.

Based on the 1947 novel by David Goodis as a follow up to Dark Passage (another favourite of mine), Tourneur perfectly adapts this part LA part snowbound noir with an awesome cold performance from Brian Keith as one of the thugs. The film is a clear inspiration on the Coen Bros masterpiece Fargo and is an absolute underrated noir masterpiece of the latter half of the classic noir period. This is one of my favourites.

BONUS

Stage Fright (1950, Alfred Hitchcock) 

Within the master of suspense's magnificent filmography, there's bound to be a few films that slip through the cracks. We all know Hitchock's great noirs like Shadow of a Doubt (his personal favourite film), Notorious and Strangers on a Train, yet little light is shown on this forgotten film-noir gem (not to be confused with the Michele Soavi's Stagefright). 

Opening in post-war London, we're told the story from Jonathan that the glamorous actress Charlotte (whom he's having an affair with) entered his apartment, gowned in a long white dress and drenched in her husband's blood. Jonathan's dear friend Eve (who's in love with Jonathan) tries to help him clear his name as he was seen in the apartment with the body. With Eve now playing undercover detective (as a sort of training for her acting career) she soon discovers not all is on the level with Charlotte and not all is what she seems. 

The main casts consist of the great and glamorous Marlene Dietrich as Charlotte, Richard Todd (my childhood Robin Hood) as Jonathan, Jane Wyman as Eve. But the star of the show for my money is the great character actor Alastair Sim (An Inspector Calls, Green for Danger) known mostly for his star role as Scrooge who plays Eve unique father who finds this whole murder investigation rather exciting and stimulating. I guess you can say he's playing Hitchcock's inner self.