Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

"Seeing Otto Preminger's film Where the Sidewalk Ends recently has made me regard it as a very odd companion piece with his earlier, more well-known film Laura. With this film, Preminger was reunited not only with his two principal Laura actors, Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney, but also his director of photography, Joseph LaShelle. However, it's similarities end there. Laura with its urbane, sophisticated characters and its high society setting, succeeds as an elegant murder mystery. On the flipside, the crime in Where the Sidewalk Ends takes place in tenement apartments, police precincts, parking garages, and gambling dens. It is for this reason that, of the two films, Where the Sidewalk Ends better represents the classic noir period."
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His Kind of Woman (1951)

"That pretty much nails it, although it says something interesting about what one might call Farber's critical ecumenism that he could deem this both 'nonsense' and a 'best film' of the year. It is a thoroughly enjoyable picture, and its enjoyable qualities stem in no small part from its being something of a mess—more nonsensical than your average bit of studio nonsense. Blame then-RKO-head Howard Hughes, whose obsession with his discovery Russell compelled him to micro-manage the production, firing original director Farrow and bringing in RIchard Fleischer to preside over a grueling series of re-shoots, during which the principle actors took the liberty of revising their own dialogue."
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Brute Force (1947)

"Prison films were most popular in the 1930s when dozens of movies about men serving hard time were churned out. The films were an allegory for the bigger problems in society. Depression era movie goers liked seeing prisoners in Invisible Stripes or Hell's Highway have victories -even small ones- against authority. The men, usually serving time because of mitigating circumstances, were surrounded by violent men and tried to survive despite oppressive living conditions."
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Thieves' Highway (1949)

"From director, Jules Dassin, whose earlier films included the noirs, Brute Force (1947) and The Naked City (1948), Thieves’ Highway about the struggles of truckers trying to make a buck hauling fruit to the San Francisco produce markets, is great melodrama with a strong social conscience. It tells a story strongly rooted in the southern European migrant experience. The screenplay was adapted by Albert Isaac Bezzerides from his novel Thieves’ Market (1949). Bezzeridis’ noir credits include Desert Fury (1947), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), On Dangerous Ground (1952), and They Drive by Night (1948). Dassin was blacklisted by the HUAC and left the US before the final cut was made, and word has it the studio axed his original 'noir' ending and added a 'happy-ending' re-take. But even with a darker ending, I would not say it is a film noir."
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Criss Cross (1949)

"Criss Cross (1949) is a film noir, directed by Robert Siodmak from a novel by Don Tracy. This black and white film was shot partly on location in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles. The film was written by Daniel Fuchs. Franz Planer's cinematography creates a black-and-white film noir world. Miklós Rózsa scored the film's soundtrack. The production nearly derailed when producer Mark Hellinger died suddenly before filming began. Lancaster claimed he was unhappy with the way Siodmak and Fuchs had reworked Hellinger's idea of a racetrack heist into a fatal romantic triangle."
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Kansas City Confidential (1952)

"From a hotel room window a man observes the delivery of millions of dollars in cash to a bank across the street. Through several days the man observes and times the routine of the armored truck crew, noticing how a panel truck always arrives to deliver flowers to the shop located next door to the bank just before the armored car arrives. The unnamed man (Preston Foster) recruits three criminals to help him rob the armored truck- Pete Harris (Jack Elam), Boyd Kane (Neville Brand), and Tony Romano (Lee Van Cleef). The master mind keeps himself masked in these encounters and explains to all the thieves they will remain masked throughout the heist to avoid identification. During the robbery they use a delivery truck identical to the florist truck. The police chase and arrest the driver of the delivery truck, Joe Rolfe (John Payne), an ex-convict. As they escape the master mind tells the thieves they will be contacted later to collect their share of the money, as a countermark each of the thieves is given half of a playing card, the mastermind keeping the other half."
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Black Angel (1946)

"Black Angel is a 1946 B-Noir, directed by Roy William Neill and based on a Cornell Woolrich novel. Woolrich apparently disliked the film, and the script veers quite a bit from the novel, save the atmospheric twist ending. While it is not among the very greatest noirs, it comes smack in the middle of the classic 40's cycle and so doesn't present the rehashed feel that some early 50s noirs do, for me anyway. I must say I like the 40's noirs the best, as they are visually more stylish: more shadows, hulking cars, more walk-up tenements. Black Angel is not very stylized in this way, however; cinematographer Paul Ivano does a competent job, and there are several close-ups, especially of Dan Duryea while drunk or hallucinating that are very well done. In my opinion, the payoff of an evening spent watching Black Angel has to be the ensemble cast."
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