Born to Kill (1947)

I am a sucker for an older noir probably because I love the formula: the dramatic lighting, the at-once brute simple but utterly confounding plot, the histrionic scores. Our actors (character and otherwise): alternatively glamorous or grotesque. Hard to imagine these...

The Uninvited (1944)

Ghost stories today aren’t what they used to be, and as much as I enjoy gore and over-the-top carnage, there’s something to be said for a quietly effective thriller. The Uninvited is not only a great little mystery that stands the test of time, it is...
The Big Clock (1948)

The Big Clock (1948)

In this underrated crime thriller Ray Milland plays George Stroud, a hardworking magazine editor who after seven hard years laboring under media mogul Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton) is starting to feel a bit resentful. The night before his vacation with his...
Ride the Pink Horse (1947)

Ride the Pink Horse (1947)

An incredibly understated, border-town noir film that is surprisingly compelling despite serious drawbacks. In its favor: breathtaking cinematography, a perfectly spare score, beautiful production design, genuinely creepy crime – and a fabulous actress. Those...