Nell Forbes (Marilyn Monroe) is a young woman looking for any way to make a few dollars. Her uncle (Elisha Cook Jr.) manages to get her a temporary job, as a babysitter to a wealthy tourist couple currently staying at the hotel in which he works as an elevator operator. The mild-mannered Nell seems like…

By the time Orson Welles made Touch of Evil, the film noir genre was in its final stages – the peak wasn’t quite over yet, but it was gradually becoming clear that the genre that had ruled over much of Hollywood for roughly two decades was slowly going out of fashion, especially with the spectre…

Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) is a low-level gambler and petty criminal who has been living hand-to-mouth for a while, having found his way to Buenos Aires, where he engages in any illicit games that can put a few pesos in his pocket. A chance encounter with a mysterious man (George Macready), who saves him from…

Ray Cutler (Max Showalter) and Polly (Jean Peters) are on their way across the Canadian border to finally get around to a long-delayed honeymoon. He is a well-regarded marketing executive, and she is his willful wife who is happy to finally be spending some time with him. They have decided to have a few days…

The Great Depression impacted countless lives and lead people to go to extraordinary measures to try and survive – and in 1932, just over a hundred couples descend on a shabby California ballroom, where they will be taking part in the infamous Mammoth Marathon, a dance competition where the last couple standing will receive a…

Despite the past few decades seeing many filmmakers appropriating some elements of it, the film noir genre has all but faded away, at least in its most distilled form. The neo-noir has replaced it and given audiences some of the most enthralling films in the genre, but the traditional noir has entirely disappeared, becoming a…

If someone were to make a film that occurs at the precise intersection between film noir and gothic horror, it would probably look very much like Joseph H. Lewis’ masterful mystery, My Name Is Julia Ross. A tight and economical thriller that features a bevy of remarkable performances, a very simple story that is executed…

Gumshoe is the kind of film that had so much potential and squandered nearly all of it. The directorial debut of Stephen Frears, this muddled and convoluted attempt at satire failed almost entirely, never quite finding the right balance between the genres it was trying to work in, nor managing to live up to the…

Phillip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) is patiently waiting inside a hotel room. The famous detective is now older, more grizzled and has a certain world-weariness that only comes with decades of dealing with the most sordid and deplorable of individuals, being a servant to the deviants and an ally to the law enforcement. He is approached…