Out of the Past (1947)

"Jacques Tourneur’s riveting 1947 film noir, usually ranked as one of the best of the genre, was adapted from Daniel Mainwaring’s evocatively titled novel Build My Gallows High (published under the name Geoffrey Homes by Mainwaring, later blacklisted). Late in the film, world-weary gumshoe Jeff Markham (Robert Mitchum) quotes this phrase to Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer), one of the most fatale of cinema’s femmes. When he realizes she’s behind a series of murderous maneuvers that have smashed any chance of hope or happiness in his life, he looks at her and quietly remarks, 'You built my gallows high, baby.' As grimly appropriate as the original title is, the changed version has its own resonance. It’s the past’s death-grip on the present that dominates this film and its doomed characters, threatening the lives of Jeff, Kathie, and the third member of what becomes a lethal triangle, wealthy gambler Whit Stirling (Kirk Douglas)."
Bright Lights Film, filmsite, amazon, YouTube, Noir of the Week

Pickup on South Street (1953)

"Petty crook Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) has his eyes fixed on the big score. When the cocky three-time convict picks the pocketbook of unsuspecting Candy (Jean Peters), he finds a haul bigger than he could have imagined: a strip of microfilm bearing confidential U.S. secrets. Tailed by manipulative Feds and the unwitting courier’s Communist puppeteers, Skip and Candy find themselves in a precarious gambit that pits greed against redemption, Right versus Red, and passion against self-preservation. With its dazzling cast and director Samuel Fuller’s signature raw energy and hardboiled repartee, Pickup on South Street is a true film noir classic by one of America’s most passionate cinematic craftsmen."
Criterion, Wikipedia, YouTube - Pickup On South Street, 10 Shades of Noir, amazon, senses of cinema, Fcourt, Noir of the Week, Peter's Picture of the Week

Act of Violence (1948)

"Act of Violence has one of the all-time great openings, which director Fred Zinnemann amazingly manages to stretch it out over the first half-hour: a wild-eyed man (Robert Ryan) retrieves a gun from his hotel room and hops a cross-country train to a small town in California. When he arrives, he circles a name in a phone book: Frank R. Enley. He discovers that Enley (Van Heflin) owns a construction firm and is dedicating a monument to his fellow soldiers who fought in World War II. He's a war hero, and everybody in town loves him. So why does this guy want to kill him? Zinnemann's not telling, at least not for a while."
goatdog, Wikipedia, Noir of the Weeks, YouTube, The Night Editor, Goodfella's Movies

Mystery Street (1950)

"Vivian Holden (Jan Sterling) is having some problems. She’s dead broke, owes her landlady two weeks worth of rent and the mysterious Hyannis 3633 man she keeps trying to reach on the phone is giving her the run around. In desperation, Vivian takes advantage of innocent-bystander Henry Shanway (Marshall Thompson), a sad man drinking away his sorrows in attempt to forget his sick wife current hospital stay. Vivian drives Henry’s yellow Ford down to Hyannis from Boston, abandoning Henry along the way. When Vivian finally confronts the Hyannis man that has been eluding her, she finds herself face-to-face with the barrel of his gun."
Noir of the Weeks, Wikipedia, amazon, Turner Classic Movies

The Naked City (1948)

"Voice over in film has always been a particular point of interest for me; so much that I have even considered authoring a book on the topic as it pertains to movies made prior to 1970. The narrator, as he is employed in The Naked City, embodies amongst one of the most compelling manifestations of the voice-over. Narrating Naked City is producer Mark Hellinger, speaking as himself, which is the unusual aspect of his role. Typically a narrator is simply an omniscient unidentified voice. Is it supposed to represent 'god'? A collective human psyche? That it is up for us to debate."
Noir of the Week, amazon, Wikipedia, YouTube, Shooting in the Dark, Criterion

Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Wikipedia - "Murder, My Sweet is a 1944 American film noir directed by Edward Dmytryk, and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, and Anne Shirley. The film was released in the United Kingdom under the title Farewell, My Lovely, which is the title of the 1940 Raymond Chandler novel it is based on, and also the film's original American title."
Wikipedia, amazon, YouTube, Bernards Chopen, Goodfell'a Movies, William Ahearn

Crossfire (1947)

"In 1947 World War II was fresh in the mind of every American. The life of the soldier was commonplace in most American homes. The difference between World War II and subsequent wars or military actions that our country decided to get involved with is very simple: a self-proclaimed dictator was exterminating persons of distinct racial groups and our country was of one mind in combating this atrocity. This unified front could only serve as the perfect cover for individuals with their own personal bias’, hatred, and persecutions. Crossfire tells one such story. Written by Richard Brooks (who later became a director of some note) and John Paxton, Crossfire is the story of a bigot who murders a Jewish-American and tries to pin it on the least likely member of his unit."
Film Monthly, Wikipedia, IMDb, amazon, The Roadshow Version, YouTube, 1

Road House (1948)

"Road House, the fifth and last of the noirs directed by Jean Negulesco is unquestionably his best effort in the genre. That is, if we are in fact comfortable with the film itself taking a spot upon the shelves with other more hard-boiled offerings. So the first question for this reviewer is; is Road House film noir or your typical love triangle drama?"
Noir of the Week, Wikipedia, YouTube, amazon, Examiner

Fallen Angel (1945)

Wikipedia - "Fallen Angel is a 1945 black-and-white film noir directed by Otto Preminger, with cinematography by Joseph LaShelle, who also worked with Preminger on the film Laura a year before. The film features Alice Faye, Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Charles Bickford, among others. The film is famous for being the last film Faye made as a major Hollywood superstar."
Wikipedia, Dennis Grunes, YouTube, senses of cinema, amazon, Noir of the Week