Welcome to Stars of Noir

a guide to films noir, and profiles of those who made them

"Film noir" (French for "black film) is a style or genre of cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace. The term was originally applied (by a group of French critics) to American thriller or detective films made in the period 1944–54 and to the work of directors such as Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang, Orson Welles, and Billy Wilder. ​

Noir (and noir-ish) movies on TCM each Sunday morning

All films start at 10 AM Eastern time

APRIL 2017

• 2 The Blue Gardenia (1953) Based on a story by Vera Caspary, author of Laura. A telephone operator [Anne Baxter] believes she has killed a creepy pick-up [Raymond Burr] in self-defense, but can't remember details of the encounter. She is terrified that the police will connect her to the crime. Her path soon crosses with that of an intrepid, and attractive reporter [Richard Conte] determined to crack the case. Nat King Cole has a cameo as himself and who sings the movie's theme song. Dir. Fritz Lang.
• 9 Scarlet Street (1945) A henpecked cashier and weekend painter, Christopher Cross [Edward G. Robinson], falls for heartless tramp Kitty [Joan Bennett] whom he meets by chance. She and her pimp/boyfriend Johnny [Dan Duryea] play the sucker for everything he has. Then Chris starts to embezzle to keep his lady love happy and things go from bad to worse. Dir. Fritz Lang.
• 16 The Set-Up (1949) An aging boxer [Robert Ryan] defies the gamblers who expect him to throw his fight. Audrey Totter plays his devoted wife who begs him to retire from boxing before he's destroyed. With Percy Helton. Dir. Robert Wise.
• 23 Brute Force (1947) In this brutal film noir, a convict [Burt Lancaster] plans a daring and violent escape from a sadistic prison. With Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford. Gritty noir photography provided by Oscar winner William Daniels. Dir. Jules Dassin.
• 30 He Walked by Night (1948) In this noirish police procedural loosely based on real events, a burglar [Richard Basehart] fights to evade the police after killing a cop. Watch for a young Jack Webb as a forensic scientist. Webb's experiences working on set with the technical consultant inspired him to create Dragnet. The great cinematographer John Alton shot the film. Alton's frequent collaborator Anthony Mann reportedly took over direction of the film (without screen credit) early in the production. Dir. Alfred Werker

MAY

• 7 Shield for Murder (1954) A crooked detective [Edmond O'Brien] kills and robs a criminal, in order to buy his girlfriend their suburban dream house. He soon finds himself under suspicion by his fellow cops, the mob and a crime reporter. With John Agar. Dir. Howard W. Koch
• 14 The Prowler (1951) The lonely wife [Evelyn Keyes] of a nighttime DJ falls for the beat cop [Van Heflin] who responds to her report of a prowler. Unknown to her, he finds a murderous way to get rid of the husband. Dir. Joseph Losey
• 21 Crime of Passion (1957) A journalist [Barbara Stanwyck] gives up her career to marry a cop [Sterling Hayden] and be a housewife in the burbs. Things go badly when she barters sex with her husband's sleazy boss [Raymond Burr] to further hubby's career. So worth watching if only for the scene where she lambasts the other oh so good 50's suburban wives at a hen party. Hard to feel sorry for the men in this film: Who would think Stanwyck would be happy as a suburban wife and who would think it is a good idea to double cross her? Dir. Gerd Oswald.
• 28 Journey Into Fear (1942) This playful film features Joseph Cheshire Cotten, Jr., who adapted the novel for the screen, as a munitions expert who gets tangled up in an espionage plot in Turkey. Watch for Orson Welles as an amorous army officer. With Dolores Del Rio. Karl Struss served as director of photography. Dir. Norman Foster & Orson Welles (uncredited)

JUNE

• 4 Out of the Past (1947) In this quintessential film noir, small town gas station owner Jeff Bailey's (Robert Mitchum) past catches up with him when a stranger passing through town recognizes him. He tells his girlfriend Ann Miller (Virginia Huston) about his previous life via flashback, of course. Jeff was a private eye who falls for a gangster's moll (Jane Greer) that he's supposed to find for her lover Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas). She's allegedly stolen $40,000 from Whit and he wants her and the dough back. As in all good noirs, nothing is really as it seems. Watch for future noir siren Rhonda Fleming as a duplicitous secretary. Based on Geoffrey Homes' excellent pulp novel Build My Gallows High and shot by legendary cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca. Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas. Dir. Jacques Tourneur.
• 11 Phantom Lady (1944) In this adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich novel, Carol Richman (Ella Raines), the loyal secretary of murder suspect Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis), descends into darkness to confirm Scott's alibi and find the real killer. Scott claims to have spent the evening with a mystery woman wearing a spectacular hat, a woman all witnesses claim never existed. Woolrichian paranoia at its finest. Produced by Hitchcock's protégé, Joan Harrison. Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis , Elisha Cook, Jr.. Dir. Robert Siodmak.
• 18 He Ran All the Way (1951) John Garfield plays a desperate criminal on the run from a robbery that ended with a shooting. He takes refuge in the family apartment of a naïve young woman (Shelley Winters). She falls in love with him, complicating further a tense hostage situation. John Garfield, Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford. Dir.John Berry
• 25 High Wall (1947) Quintessential postwar noir! Brain-damaged vet Robert Taylor confesses to murdering his unfaithful wife and is sentenced to a sanitarium. His doctor (sexy Audrey Totter) gradually realizes he might not be guilty. Taylor gives his best performance ever in this neglected gem, which glistens with director Curtis Bernhardt's feverish rain-soaked noirscapes. Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter and Herbert Marshall. Dir. Curtis Bernhardt

JULY

• 2 They Live by Night (1949) Nicholas Ray's fiercely romantic noir about a young innocent, Farley Granger who gets mixed-up with hardened criminals and a violent escape after serving an unjust prison sentence. Cathy O'Donnell plays the girl who becomes his lover in an ill-fated romance. Cathy O'Donnell, Farley Granger, Howard da Silva. Dir. Nicholas Ray.
• 9 T-Men (1948) Director Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton— king of chiaroscuro — pull out all the stops in relating the intensely exciting and shockingly brutal tale of U.S. Treasury agents, led by the redoubtable Dennis O'Keefe, going undercover to infiltrate a cadre of counterfeiters. Great character bits from Charles McGraw and Wallace Ford in a vivid script by crime scribe John C. Higgins. One of the most artfully arresting visual spectacles of the original film noir era! Dennis O'Keefe, Mary Meade, Alfred Ryder. Dir. Anthony Mann.
• 16 Gun Crazy (1950) In this justly famous noir, a gun obsessed reform school graduate (John Dall) meets the girl of his dreams, a circus sharp shooter (Peggy Cummins). They get married in a fever, but she gets fed up living without the finer things of life. The two go on a crime spree, but her blood lust had fatal consequences. Private, John Dall, Berry Kroeger. Dir. Joseph H. Lewis.
• 23 Deadline at Dawn (1946) In this adaptation of the Cornell Woolrich novel, a taxi dancer June (Susan Hayward) helps an amnesiac sailor Alex (Bill Williams), that she believes to be innocent, try to track down the real killer of a woman whom Alex apparently robbed earlier in the evening, after she helped fleece him in a card. Susan Hayward, Paul Lukas, Bill Williams. Dir. Harold Clurman.
• 30 Born to Kill (1947) This utterly bizarre film noir details the torrid affair between a killer (Lawrence Tierney) and the narcissistic woman (Claire Trevor) who witnessed his crime. He marries her sister and things really heat up between the amoral pair. Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak. Dir. Robert Wise.

AUGUST (HIATUS)

SEPTEMBER

• 03 Framed (1947) Glenn Ford, Janis Carter, Barry Sullivan. Dir. Richard Wallace.
• 10 711 Ocean Drive (1950) Edmond O'Brien, Joanne Dru, Otto Kruger. Dir. Joseph M. Newman
• 17 In a Lonely Place (1950) Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy. Dir. Nicholas Ray.
• 24 Scandal Sheet (1952) Broderick Crawford, Donna Reed, John Derek. Dir. Phil Karlson

OCTOBER

• 01 Possessed (1947) Joan Crawford, Van Heflin, Raymond Massey. Dir. Curtis Bernhardt
• 08 They Won’t Believe Me (1947) Susan Hayward, Robert Young, Jane Greer. Dir. Irving Pichel
• 15 Side Street (1950) Farley Granger, Cathy O'Donnell, James Craig. Dir. Anthony Mann
• 22 Raw Deal (1948) Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt, Raymond Burr, John Ireland. Dir. Anthony Mann.
• 29 No Questions Asked (1951) Barry Sullivan, Arlene Dahl, George Murphy. Dir. Harold F. Kress

NOVEMBER

• 05 Split Second (1953) Stephen McNally, Alexis Smith, Jan Sterling. Dir. Dick Powell
• 12 Night and the City (1950) Richard Widmark, Gene Eliza Tierney, Googie Withers. Dir: Jules Dassin
• 19 The Window (1949) Bobby Driscoll, Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart. Dir. Ted Tetzlaff
• 26 Strangers on a Train (1951) Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock

DECEMBER

• 03 Pushover (1954) Fred MacMurray, Phil Carey, Kim Novak. Dir. Richard Quine
• 10 The Breaking Point (1950) John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter. Dir. Michael Curtiz
• 17 The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway. Dir. Tay Garnett

JANUARY 2018

• 07 Red Light (1949) George Raft, Virginia Mayo, Gene Lockhart. Dir. Roy Del Ruth
• 14 Where Danger Lives (1950) Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, Claude Rains. Dir. CDR Jack V. Farrow.
• 21 The Threat (1949) Michael O'Shea, Virginia Grey, Charles McGraw and Julie Bishop. Dir. Felix E. Feist.
• 28 Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951) Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran. Dir. Felix E. Feist.

Synopses from http://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/news-tv.html

You can send comments about this project to roycerowe@gmail.com