Loophole (1954) Harold D. Schuster

You’re accused of stealing from the bank where you work. And Charles McGraw is after you. Which is worse? It doesn’t matter; you have to deal with both problems in the film noir gem Loophole, reviewed here.

Noirvember 2018, Episode 29: The House Across the Lake (1954)

Is Alex Nicol going to fall for femme fatale Hillary Brooke? The odds are good, or bad, as the case may be… Read more.

Noirvember 2018, Episode 24: Bang! You’re Dead (1954)

Wow, a powerful little B picture from Great Britain… Seek it out! Read more here.

Noirvember 2018, Episode 11: Murder by Proxy (1954)

Another Brit noir in which Dane Clark drinks too much and pays for it in more ways than one. Read more about it here.

Noirvember 2017, Episode 25: Rogue Cop (1954)

Rogue Cop (1954) Roy Rowland
TCM (1:32)

Ah, we’ve seen it all before, haven’t we? Two brothers, both cops: one upstanding, the other crooked. In this case we have the upstanding Officer Eddie Kelvaney (Steve Forrest) and his corrupt brother Detective Sergeant Christopher Kelvaney (Robert Taylor).

Noirvember 2017, Episode 13: Cry Vengeance (1954)

Cry Vengeance (1954) Mark Stevens
Olive Blu-ray (1:23)

San Francisco Detective Vic Barron (Mark Stevens) was so close to bringing down a gang connected to organized crime… In fact, he was too close: the mob bombed his car in an attempt to make him disappear. Barron survived with a disfigured face, but his wife and child were killed in the blast.

Now, after serving three years in prison, a set-up for a crime he didn’t commit, Barron follows a lead to Ketchikan, Alaska, out to find the man who bombed his family. Along the way, Barron encounters a psycho mob footman named Roxey (Skip Homeier) and maybe more problems than he can handle.

Noirvember 2017, Episode 11: Drive a Crooked Road (1954)

Drive a Crooked Road (1954) Richard Quine
Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics III DVD (1:23)

Eddie Shannon (Mickey Rooney) is both a great mechanic and race car driver, but he’s socially awkward around women and not much more at ease around men, especially the guys he works with at a Los Angeles garage. Eddie can’t believe it when a woman named Barbara (Dianne Foster) brings her car into the shop and asks specifically for him, even telling Eddie which beach she’ll be at later. When he finds Barbara at the beach, she’s with a good-looking guy named Steve (Kevin McCarthy in only his second credited film), a guy Barbara claims is only a friend. Something’s going on here….

Noirvember 2016, Episode 26: Crime Wave (1954)

Crime Wave (1954) André de Toth (2x)
(1:13)
Warner Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 4 DVD

LAPD Detective Lieutenant Sims (Sterling Hayden, above) is having a tough time trying to quit smoking, but that’s nothing compared to the problem of finding a cop killer. Sims is sure about one thing, though: once a bad apple, always a bad apple. So when ex-con Steve Lacey (Gene Nelson, below center) comes up as a possible accomplice in the murder and maybe also a bank robbery, Sims is clearly looking in Lacey’s direction.

Noirvember 2016, Episode 17: Black Widow (1954)

Black Widow (1954) Nunnally Johnson
(1:35)
Fox Film Noir DVD – library

Famous Broadway producer Peter Denver (Van Heflin, right) attends a party thrown by another famous Broadway personality, actress Lottie Marin (Ginger Rogers) and her wallflower husband Brian Mullen (Reginald Gardiner). While at the party, Denver meets Nancy (Peggy Ann Garner, left), a young woman trying to establish herself as a writer in New York. Nancy persuades Denver to allow her to use his apartment as place to write during the day, even though Denver’s wife Iris (Gene Tierney) is out of town. Denver tells Nancy that that’s all there will be to it, no extracurricular activities. When Denver returns from the airport after picking up his wife, he discovers Nancy has hung herself in his bathroom. Soon the cops – including Detective Lieutenant Bruce (George Raft, below left) – come knocking.

Noirvember 2016, Episode 7: Pushover (1954)

Pushover (1954) Richard Quine
(1:28)
Columbia Film Noir Classics Vol. II DVD

Paul Sheridan (Fred MacMurray, left) is a straight-laced cop who’s on a stakeout to find out if Lona McLane (Kim Novak, right) knows anything about a $200,000 bank haul that her boyfriend Wheeler (Paul Richards) was involved in. Only one problem: Sheridan starts falling for Lona, who wants Sheridan to knock off Wheeler so she and Sheridan can make off with the cash.