1.
Hangmen Also Die! (1943) Direction: Fritz Lang
A decent WW2 anti-Nazi propaganda crime thriller from
the Maestro Fritz Lang, but i don't classify this as a Film Noir.
The film is about the Czechian people's resistance against Nazi Germany
during the ockupation and it takes place in Prague.
Reinhard Heydrich rules the country with an Iron Fist and in the intro
we get to see a man being chased by policemen and
soldiers and he manages to escape due to a woman, Mascha Novotny (Anna
Lee) giving the hunters false information
about the direction the man was running. The man is part of the resistance,
his name is Dr. Franticek Svoboda (Brian Donleavy)
and he has just assassinated Reinhard Heydrich. The Germans is angry
and starts to execute a lot of innocent Czechs.
OK, i have to admit that war propaganda movies bores
me, they're so .... idiotic. War is stupid and the many, many movies
about them is mostly stupid and boring too, but hey, i hate fantasy
movies too and all the nerds seems to like them, so ....
All of the Hollywood directors had to make some childish propaganda
movies i guess and Fritz Lang show some skill i guess.
Some of the small part actors, as resistance fighters, spews a lot of
elevated anti-Nazi propaganda, and YES i know that the
Nazis were the Bad Guys but still, it's propaganda which do NOT make
for good filmmaking.
Instead, the best roles in the film belongs to the Bad
Guys, as the Czech brewery tycoon and quisling Emil Czaka played by
Gene Lockheart, and as the true star of the film - Alexander
Granach as the Czech Gestapo crime-inspector Alois Gruber,
a drunkard but a smart sniff-dog and he emotes power, arrogance and
intelligence. An actor that acted in silents as Nosferato
and in Pabst movies as in Ernst Lubitsch Ninotchka. He had to flee from
Hitler and died in 1945 only 51 years old.
The film was presented in 4: fullscreen original ratio,
black & white, english mono audio and no extras
2. Behind Locked Doors (1948) Direction: Oscar
Boetticher
This is a genuine B movie, made by a Powerty Row Studio
and who cleverly hides it's zero budget and actually manages to
be an entertaining crime thriller.
A sight to behold, the Z grade Turkey Film actor Tor
Johnson, famous for his role in Plan 9 From Outer Space by
Ed Wood, Jr.
some 10 years later can be seen here in an uncredited role as an anonymous
mental patient, OK well, he's called Champ
actually and he can be seen on the sleeve and possibly a poster in it's
time?
Tor was an american-swedish wrestler, i think (i'm too lazy to look
it up on Wiki) and he's pretty "effective" here in a role
without
any lines, portraying a dangerous mental case and ex-boxer. Effective
? Yes, he surely couldn't act in the normal sense but his
impressive physical presence instills respect and his heavyweight boxing
moves looks pretty authentic, even though wrestling
grips were his specialty as can be seen towards the end.
Private detective Ross Stewart (Richard Carlson) has
been hired by journalist (Lucille Bremer) to infiltrate a private mental
clinic
and to sleuth around after the wanted criminal Judge. There's a big
reward for his capture and their plan is to split the reward if
and when Judge is caught, and Ross manages to fake a mano-depression
and to be accepted as a patient.
Will he find any clues about the whereabouts of Judge, and will he survive
a meeting with Champ?
The film was presented in 4: fullscreen original ratio,
black & white, english mono audio and no extras
3. The Long Night (1947) Direction: Anatole Litvak
- Read my text about this great crime melodrama on my
Film Noir page, and i thought this one to be so good as to sneak into
my Top Ten Film Noir page
4. Sudden Fear (1952) Direction: David Miller - Read
more about this film on my Film Noir page
5. Railroaded (1947) Direction: Anthony Mann - Read
more about this film on my Film Noir page
