Watch Lists: Classic Film Noir on Kanopy
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The Stranger
Filmmaker: Orson Welles
1945
Runtime: 95 Minutes
"Having directed two undisputed masterpieces - Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons - Orson Welles delved into the suspense film, crafting a baroque postwar thriller that drew upon the style of his previous work, while laying the groundwork for his later film noir classics The Lady from Shanghai and Touch of Evil. Edward G. Robinson stars as Wilson, a government agent who tracks down a high-ranking Nazi officer (Welles) who has managed to craft a new identity for himself in a quaint Connecticut town, marrying the daughter (Loretta Young) of a local judge."
Woman on the Run
Filmmaker: Norman Foster
1950
Runtime: 72 Minutes
"A lost gem rediscovered! Thanks to the efforts of the Film Noir Foundation, this terrific 1950 film noir, the only American print of which was burned in a 2008 fire, has been rescued and restored to its original luster. Join the wild chase around San Francisco as a man goes into hiding after witnessing a gangland execution."
M
Filmmaker: Fritz Lang
1931
Runtime: 110 Minutes
"A simple, haunting musical phrase whistled offscreen tells us that a young girl will be killed. "Who Is the Murderer?" pleads a nearby placard as serial killer Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) closes in on little Elsie Beckmann . . .
In his harrowing masterwork, Fritz Lang merges trenchant social commentary with chilling suspense, creating a panorama of private madness and public hysteria that to this day remains the blueprint for the psychological thriller."
Breathless (French)
Filmmaker: Jean-Luc Godard
1960
Runtime: 91 Minutes
"There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with this jazzy, free-form, and sexy homage to the American film genres that inspired him as a writer for Cahiers du cinema. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, anything-goes crime narrative, and effervescent young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, Breathless helped launch the French New Wave and ensured that cinema would never be the same."
They Made Me A Fugitive
Filmmaker: Alberto Cavalcanti
1947
Runtime: 98 Minutes
"Quintessential post-war British Noir. Ex-RAF pilot Trevor Howard is double-crossed by his black -marketeer boss. Once he breaks out of Dartmoor Prison, he seeks revenge. No holds barred in terms of brutality."
The Hitch-Hiker
Filmmaker: Ida Lupino
1951
Runtime: 71 Minutes
"In this thrilling film noir from trailblazing director Ida Lupino, friends Ray (Edmond O'Brien) and Gilbert's (Frank Lovejoy) fishing trip takes a terrifying turn when the hitchhiker (William Talman) they pick up turns out to be a sociopath on the run from the law. He's killed before, and he lets the two know that as soon as they're no longer useful, he'll kill again."