Murder By Contract (1958)

My favourite moment in Murder By Contract (1958) was when Claude (Vince Edwards), the cool out-of-town contract killer wearing a suit and a pair of shades, is picked up by two hoods (Philip Pine and Herschel Bernadi) who will oversee his assassination of a jury witness. Claude wants to tour the sights of LA. “I’d […]

Stray Dog (1949)

In Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog (1949; Nora inu), a young Toshiro Mifune plays a rookie detective named Murakami who feels shame and twists himself in knots over losing his newly acquired Colt pistol to a pick-pocket on a tram. This is both a film noir and a police procedural, which seems to have influences on […]

Elevator To The Gallows (1958)

Elevator to the Gallows (1958; Ascenseur pour l’echafaud) is a French film noir directed by Louis Malle that doesn’t waste any time, introducing its adulterous lovers – Julien (Maurice Ronet) and Florence (Jeanne Moreau) – on the phone in gorgeous close ups plotting the murder of her husband, his boss. Getting straight into this carefully […]

New Rose Hotel (1998)

New Rose Hotel (1998) is based on a William Gibson short story but is pretty low-tech in terms of being anything cyberpunk. For director Abel Ferrara (of Bad Lieutenant and King Of New York), it’s more about the raw emotions surrounding what is basically a classic noir plot – a honey trap designed to secure […]

Laura (1944)

Laura (1944) has always been held up as a classic and a key title when it comes to the genre of film noir. What I was surprised by was, in comparison to say Raymond Chandler adaptations, there is something sophisticated about this film, a drawing room mystery rather than a plunge into the dark, gritty […]