Godard's hugely influential debut went on to inspire a new wave of French cinema and this is the film which epitomised the iconoclasm of the early Nouvelle Vague. Belmondo is the hip gangster, modelled on Bogart, whose escapades, including shooting a cop, leave him and his girlfriend on the run from both the cops and his enemies. The insolent casual style and cool moods make this the ultimate film noir.

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Nothing more can be said about this classic melodrama from the peak of the Hollywood studio-film era. Hardened cynic Bogart softens when he meets old flame Bergman who is now a refugee in neutral wartime Casablanca. Together they outwit the Germans... and of course there's that famous song. Watch this classic or some day you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow... find out more...

Phyllis Dietrichson is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man who inspires in her nothing but contempt, but rather than leave him Phyllis decides to kill him and collect on the insurance policy she's had set up with the help of her lover, and naive partner in crime, insurance salesman Walter Neff. The only flaws in their plan are the company's reluctance to pay out so much, the diligence of Neff's increasingly suspicious colleague, (and his 'little man'), and the exemplary ruthlessness of Ph find out more...

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. find out more...

All time classic wonderfully filmed by Wilder, featuring great performances from Holden, as a bankrupt screenwriter seeking refuge, and Swanson, a faded star in a crumbling mansion, who pins her hopeless hopes of a comeback on the writer. Deliriously dark and nightmarish masterpiece. find out more...

Film Noir from the Ealing funny man! Mackendrick's US debut is a rat-trap of a movie in which a vile NY gossip hustler (Tony Curtis) grovels for his 'Mr Big' (Burt Lancaster). Lancaster plays JJ Hunsecker, a monstrous, amoral and incestuous news columnist obsessed with wrecking his kid sister's romance. The dark streets stink of corruption and fear. Amoral and awesome with a great jazz soundtrack. find out more...

The Graham Greene story of black-marketeer Harry Lime, who "dies" and then apparently comes back to life. A totally compelling thriller, set against a backdrop of shattered post-war Vienna and haunted by an evocative zither score. find out more...

Classic film noir from the pen and director's chair of Orson Welles. Set in a seedy Mexican border town the local police chief is corrupt and bigoted, his only enemy a crusading Mexican narcotics investigator, determined to bring the policeman to book and expose his murderous scams. Touch of Evil has all the stunning trade mark cinematography of an Orson Welles picture and is a superbly dark and brooding movie with some fine subsidiary characters. Kafkaesque. find out more...