Dave Tompkins :: DVD Library :: 2-Genre Table :: Film-Noir :: Thriller


(text-only version)

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

A priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.

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The Big Heat (1953)

Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.

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The Big Sleep (1946)

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.

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Bob le Flambeur (1956)

Bob, a old gangster and gambler is almost broke, so he decides in spite of the warnings of a friend...

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D.O.A. (1950)

Frank Bigelow, told he's been poisoned and has only a few days to live, tries to find out who killed him and why.

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Diabolique (1955)

The wife of a cruel headmaster and his mistress conspire to kill him, but after the murder is committed, his body disappears, and strange events begin to plague the two women.

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Double Indemnity (1944)

An insurance rep lets himself be talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses an insurance investigator's suspicions.

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Drunken Angel (1948)

A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.

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Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

A self-assured business man murders his employer, the husband of his adulterer, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.

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Gaslight (1944)

Years after her aunt was murdered in her home, a young woman moves back into the house with her new husband. However, he has a secret which he will do anything to protect, even if that means driving his wife insane.

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Gilda (1946)

The sinister boss of a South American casino finds that his right-hand man Johnny and his sensuous new wife Gilda already know each other.

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Gun Crazy (1950)

A well meaning crack shot husband is pressured by his beautiful marksman wife to go on an interstate robbery spree, where he finds out just how depraved and deadly she really is.

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He Walked by Night (1948)

This film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop.

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The Hitchhiker (1953)

Two fishermen pick up a psychotic escaped convict who tells them that he intends to murder them when the ride is over.

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In a Lonely Place (1950)

A potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. But she begins to have doubts...

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Le Jour se Leve (1939)

After committing a murder, a man locks himself in the murdered man's apartment and recollects the events the led him to the killing.

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Key Largo (1948)

A man visits his old friend's hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other.

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The Killing (1956)

Crooks plan and execute a daring racetrack robbery.

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Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

A doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious ''great whatsit.''

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The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

Fascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot.

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The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

A man and his wife receive a clue to an imminent assassination attempt, only to learn that their daughter has been kidnapped to keep them quiet.

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Mr. Arkadin (1955)

An American adventurer investigates the past of mysterious tycoon Arkadin...placing himself in grave danger.

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Murder, My Sweet (1944)

This adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel 'Farewell, My Lovely', renamed for the American...

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The Naked City (1948)

Amid a semi-documentary portrait of New York and its people, Jean Dexter, an attractive blonde model...

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The Narrow Margin (1952)

A woman planning to testify against the mob must be protected against their assassins on the train trip from Chicago to Los Angeles.

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Night and the City (1950)

Harry Fabian is a London hustler with ambitious plans that never work out. One day, when he encounters the most famous Greco-Roman wrestler in the world...

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The Night of the Hunter (1955)

A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.

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Notorious (1946)

A woman is asked to spy on a group of Nazi friends in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?

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Out of the Past (1947)

Jeff Bailey, small-town gas pumper, has his mysterious past catch up with him one day when he's ordered to meet with gambler Whit Sterling...

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Pickup on South Street (1953)

A pickpocket unwittingly lifts a message destined for enemy agents and becomes a target for a Communist spy ring.

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Port of Shadows (1938)

A military deserter finds love and trouble (and a small dog) in a smoky French port city.

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The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband... but even once the deed is done, they must live with the consequences of their actions.

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The Raven (1943)

French village doctor becomes target of poison-pen letters sent to village leaders, accusing him of affairs and practicing abortion.

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Rififi (1955)

Four men plan a technically perfect crime, but the human element intervenes...

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The Roaring Twenties (1939)

Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.

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Scarface (1932)

An ambitious and near insanely violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.

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Spellbound (1945)

A female psychiatrist protects the identity of an amnesia patient accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory.

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The Stranger (1946)

An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi.

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Strangers on a Train (1951)

A psychotic socialite confronts a pro tennis star with a theory on how two complete strangers can get away with murder...a theory that he plans to implement.

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Stray Dog (1949)

During a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective tries to track down his stolen Colt pistol.

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Suddenly (1954)

In the city of Suddenly, three gangsters trap the Benson family in their own house, on the top of a hill nearby the railroad station, with the intention of killing the president of the USA.

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Suspicion (1941)

A shy young English woman marries a charming gentleman, then begins to suspect him of trying to kill her.

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Thieves' Highway (1949)

A war-veteran-turned-truck driver attempts to avenge the crippling and robbing of his father at the hands of an amoral produce scofflaw.

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The Third Man (1949)

Arriving in Vienna, Holly Martins learns that his friend Harry Lime, who has invited him, recently died in a car accident.

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Too Late for Tears (1949)

Through a fluke circumstance a ruthless woman stumbles across a suitcase filled with $60,000, and she is determined to hold onto it even it if means murder.

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Touch of Evil (1958)

Stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in Mexican border town.

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Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954)

An aging, world-weary gangster is double-crossed and forced out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped and their stash of eight stolen gold bars demanded as ransom.

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White Heat (1949)

A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. Shortly after the plan takes place, events take a crazy turn

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