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Description

Film noir - literally "black film" - is Hollywood's moody vision of a dark, shadowy, smoky underworld populated by beautiful-but-deadly dames and the regular Joes who fall for them. These films are literally black in that they often take place at night or in the shadows - or both.

But they are black in other ways, too: Shady characters with no redeeming or "light" qualities; likable people who mean well but are pulled into the dark world of murder and mayhem; and plots that focus primarily on the darker aspects of man's nature.

Although films noir continue to be produced today, the heyday of these low-budget, high-tension pictures was from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s. Here are ten classic films noir that set the tone for countless "black films" that followed in their echoing, unsettling footsteps.

DISC ONE

SCARLET STREET (1945) - Starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea. Directed by Fritz Lang. A mild-mannered, henpecked bank cashier and amateur painter (Robinson) falls for a pretty face (Bennett) who figures he's a rich and famous artist, leading to his being taken advantage of by her greedy and scheming boyfriend (Duryea). (93 mins.)

DETOUR (1945) - Starring Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake. Directed by Edgar G. Ullmer. A Manhattan night-club piano player (Neal) hitchhikes to Hollywood to meet up with his girl friend (Drake). Along the way, he's picked up by a driver who winds up dead. The hitchhiker assumes the dead driver's identity but winds up being blackmailed by a sexy - and scheming - female hitchhiker (Savage) who knows his secret. (67 mins.)

DISC TWO

THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS (1946) - Starring Kirk Douglas, Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott. Directed by Lewis Milestone. A gambler with a dark past (Heflin) returns to his hometown to find that his wealthy ex-fiancee (Stanwyck) is now married to an alcoholic district attorney (Douglas in his film debut). The D.A. is worried that he and his wife are going to be blackmailed (since she's also a murderess), so he tries to use the gambler's sultry new friend (Scott) to get rid of him. (115 mins.)

WHISTLE STOP (1946) - Starring George Raft, Ava Gardner, Victor McLaglen, Tom Conway. Directed by Leonide Moguy. A sexy woman of ill repute (Gardner) returns to her hometown looking for money and rekindles her relationship with her old love, an alcoholic gambler (Raft). His bartender pal (McLaglen) lures him into a sinister plot to do away with a wealthy and corrupt nightclub owner (Conway) who is also interested in the dishy - but dangerous - dame. (84 mins.)

DISC THREE

HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948) - Starring Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Jack Webb. Directed by Alfred L. Werker. An intrepid detective (Brady) is hot on the trail of a cunning and elusive cop-killer (Basehart). A light-hearted ballistics expert (Webb in his first substantial role), lends his forensic expertise to help apprehend the killer. (79 mins.)

TRAPPED (1949) - Starring Lloyd Bridges, Barbara Payton, John Hoyt. Directed by Richard Fleischer. A resourceful forger (Bridges) is allowed to escape from prison so that the feds can secretly follow him to a stash of counterfeiting plates. His plan is to print up some fresh money and then head to Mexico with his sexy gal-pal (Payton). (78 mins.)

DISC FOUR

IMPACT (1949) - Starring Brian Donlevy, Ella Raines, Charles Coburn. Directed by Arthur Lubin. A scheming femme fatale (Raines) and her boyfriend conspire to murder her industrialist husband (Donlevy), who survives the attempt but suffers from amnesia - until he gradually retrieves his memory and begins plotting his revenge. (110 mins.)

D.O.A. (1950) - Starring Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton, Luther Adler. Directed by Rudolph Mate. A hapless accountant discovers he has only a week to live after he is poisoned. He and his loyal secretary (Britton) try to beat the clock and find out just who poisoned him - and why - before it's too late. (83 mins.)

DISC FIVE

QUICKSAND (1950) - Starring Mickey Rooney, Jeanne Cagney, Peter Lorre. Directed by Irving Pichel. A meek auto mechanic (Rooney) falls for a sexy - but scheming - waitress (Cagney), and is pulled into the dark world of crime by her ruthless boyfriend (Lorre). (79 mins.)

THE HITCH-HIKER (1953) - Starring Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman. Directed by Ida Lupino. Two army buddies (O'Brien, Lovejoy) decide to drive down to Mexico. Along the way, they pick up a hitch-hiker (Talman) who turns out to be a psychotic killer who forces them to do his bidding. An all-male film noir, directed by - a woman! (71 mins.)

BONUS

BEST OF FILM NOIR - This fascinating, original documentary utilizes classic film noir clips and interviews to tell the story of the tough guys and femme fatales who populated this unique genre. Such classics as The Big Sleep, Touch of Evil, Mickey Spillane's Kiss Me Deadly, D.O.A., Out of the Past, Against All Odds, Laura, and Kiss of Death are examined. (50 mins.)