Cat People (1942)

I’d heard so much about Cat People (1942) over the years as a classic horror-noir, and it was one of those old Hollywood movies that lived up to its reputation. I was watching it by myself one afternoon, and every moment of expressionistic lighting, suggestive and creepy use of shadows and sound design, I would […]

The Stranger (1946)

The Orson Welles film, The Stranger (1946), which he directed and starred in, has always been around. Without a copyright holder, it’s long been in the public domain, and has shown up on public access TV, cheap DVDs, different streaming sites, and uploaded on YouTube. Held up as a classic film noir, the first that […]

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 […]

A Matter Of Life And Death (1946)

SBS OnDemand adding several films by British directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger is a real treat for any lover of cinema, and a great chance for myself to catch up on the titles that I’d not seen. What strikes me, and I’m sure many others, about A Matter Of Life And Death (1946) is […]

Detour (1945)

Detour (1945) always seemed like the ultimate example of film noir to me on account of the mythos around it; that it wasn’t a big studio picture, that it was low budget and shot quickly, and that its lead star would later in life would be involved in Hollywood true crime gossip (was it an […]