Melville's masterful take on the American crime thriller perfectly combines the Hollywood gangster film with his uniquely French style. Alain Delon as a master thief, Yves Montand as an alcoholic ex-cop and Gian-Maria Volonte as an escaped criminal plot a daring heist of an upmarket Parisian jewellery store against impossible odds.
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LE CORBEAU (1942)
CertificationPG Our Rating
The studied peace of a small provincial town is slowly unravelled when a series of poison pen letters signed "The Raven" begin to circulate amongst the residents. What began as an uncomfortable embarrassment for the more prominent members of society begins to take on ever-darker tones as the mysterious revelations begin to tear the town apart. Banned upon its release, in 1943, Clouzot's dark thriller is a gripping study of fear and suspicion, and also a fascinating observation of a battered, une
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LE JOUR SE LEVE (1939)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Sympathetic Francois, a factory worker, holed up in his furnished room and surrounded by police, reflects in flashback how he, hounded into jealousy and murder by the cynical seducer of his amour, ended up in this predicament. One of the original film noirs, poetic and with both beautiful and dark moments.
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LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD (1957)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Ronet is the disgruntled war vet who plots to kill his boss and elope with his wife. Meanwhile, other events implicate him in a murder elsewhere, whilst he remains stuck in an immobile lift. Tense, clever plot with cool, minimalist direction by Malle and a great Miles Davis score.
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MILDRED PIERCE/POSSESSED (1945)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Murder, mystery and obsession combine to produce a much studied noir classic. Please note that the DVD only contains 'Mildred Pierce'.
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MISSISSIPPI MERMAID (1969)
Certification12 Our Rating
Truffaut's sexy, amoral thriller is a great example of his affection for Hitchcock. The ever-watchable Paul Belmondo plays a simple tobacco farmer, Louis, whose lonely life on Reuninon Island leads him to enter into a correspondence with a mail-order-bride type agency. Unfortunately, the woman who he sends for falls victim to a femme fatale, played by the ultimate knee-quaker, Catherine Deneuve, and she decides to play him for the sucker he is. Often slagged off as Truffaut off-form, this remain
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NIAGARA (1953)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Marilyn departs from her usual fluffy image in this noirish thriller to play a cold-hearted manipulator with the face and body of an angel. Against the stunning background of the Niagara falls her murderous plotting and merciless seduction of all around her can only end in tragedy. Gripping stuff.
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NIGHT AND THE CITY (1950)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Two-bit hustler Harry Fabian aches for a life of ease and plenty. Trailed by an inglorious history of go-nowhere schemes, he stumbles upon a chance of a lifetime in the form of legendary wrestler Gregorius the Great. But there is no easy money in this grotesque underworld of shifting alliances, bottomless graft and pummelled flesh and soon Fabian learns the horrible price of his ambition. Luminously shot in the streets of London, Jules Dassin's 'Night and the City' is film noir of the first orde
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OUT OF THE PAST (1947)
CertificationPG Our Rating
The film that catapulted Mitchum to stardom; after Kathie shoots her admirer and runs off with his 40 grand he, naturally, hires a private dick to find her. Although the dick finds Katie in Mexico, they decide to tell Sterling that he couldn't find her.
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PANIC IN THE STREETS (1950)
CertificationPG Our Rating
A medical examiner discovers that an innocent shooting victim in a robbery died of bubonic plague. With only 48 hours to find the killer, who is now a ticking time bomb threatening the entire city, a grisly manhunt through the seamy underworld of the New Orleans Waterfront is underway. A dark and gritty thriller.
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