noir's

Late last year, Sony issued a five-disc set promisingly titled "Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics Volume I," and this month sees the release of "Bad Girls of Film Noir," two volumes totaling eight films (four pictures in each two-disc set) from American film noir's heyday.

Bad Girls of Film Noir David Mermelstein 2010

The Postman Always Rings Twice may be implausible and overdone and occasionally silly, but it's also one of the best and purest explorations of the complicated sexual dynamics of the film noir, the relationships between sex and power, sex and greed, sex and guilt that drive noir's anti-heroes and femme fatales.

The Postman Always Rings Twice Ed Howard 2009

Film noir's roots in pulp fiction, its exploration of existential themes, of the seamy underbelly of American society, and of the corruption of the monied classes not only pushed the envelope of the Production Code, but also reflected the political ethos of the Popular Front generation.

Caught in the Crossfire: Adrian Scott and the Politics of Americanism in 1940s Hollywood 2007

Night and the City may be the perfect distillation of noir's mood, but without the staples.

Night and The City Ed Gorman 2008

But his career wasn't all about hassling little old ladies, he also helped create some of film noir's most immortal characters including, in my mind, two ultimate existential noir anti-hero icons in two ultimate film noir masterpieces -- Skip McCoy in Samuel Fuller's Pickup on South Street, and Harry Fabian in Jules Dassin's Night and the City.

Kim Morgan: Richard Widmark: 1914-2008 2008

Night and the City may be the perfect distillation of noir's mood, but without the staples.

Archive 2008-03-01 Ed Gorman 2008

The primary struggle changed demure into scrappy, the royal carriage became a flag-draped pickup, and the scene shifted abruptly from Jane Austen to Jane Greer and film noir's tough-talking chorus: Audrey Totter, Marie Windsor, Gloria Grahame.

Martin Nolan: Casting Hillary: The Movie 2008

Early on, the central couple and some friends go to see Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity, one of the archetypal masterpieces of the genre and one of the best examples of noir's twisty plotlines, multiple betrayals, and moralistic overtones.

Archive 2008-06-01 Ed Howard 2008

Early on, the central couple and some friends go to see Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity, one of the archetypal masterpieces of the genre and one of the best examples of noir's twisty plotlines, multiple betrayals, and moralistic overtones.

Manhattan Murder Mystery Ed Howard 2008

Master sommelier Madeline Triffon, for instance, has compared pinot noir's sensual warmth to sex in a glass — "chock full of incredible texture and hedonistic pleasures."

Perfecting Pinot 2007