Where Film Noir Comes From
Gangster films , Prison movies , Boxing movies , Warner Brothers , Social pictures , Pre Code , Melodrama , Universal Horror , German Expressionism , Poetic Realism
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136 titles
- DirectorHoward HawksRichard RossonStarsPaul MuniAnn DvorakKaren MorleyAn ambitious and nearly insane violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsJames CagneyJean HarlowEdward WoodsAn Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsEdward G. RobinsonDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Glenda FarrellA small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergArthur RossonStarsGeorge BancroftClive BrookEvelyn BrentBoisterous gangster kingpin Bull Weed rehabilitates his former lawyer from his alcoholic haze, but complications arise when he falls for Weed's girlfriend.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsGeorge BancroftFay WrayRichard ArlenA criminal known as Thunderbolt is imprisoned and facing execution. Into the next cell is placed Bob Moran, an innocent man who has been framed and who is in love with Thunderbolt's girl. Thunderbolt hopes to stave off the execution long enough to kill young Moran for romancing his girl.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsThomas MeighanLouis WolheimMarie PrevostAn honest police captain vows to bring down a powerful bootlegger who is protected by corrupt politicians and judges.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsWallace BeeryFlorence VidorWarner OlandSociety woman Joan Fry falls in love with Chuck Riley, the white leader of a powerful gang in Chinatown, and he quickly drags her down into the depths with him. But seeing her so much in love with him causes him to realize that he is in love with her, and he determines to lift her up again. "Boston" Charley, the rival gang-leader, has other plans.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsClaudette ColbertDavid NewellNellie SavageMrs. Ramsey sent Jean Oliver to prison on a false charge. To get even, Jean (disguised as Madame Mystera) plans to kidnap her daughter and turn her into a thief. Love entanglements with a gangster known as "The Fox" and newspaperman Grant complicate her plans.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsLew AyresJames CagneyDorothy MathewsDespite his efforts to go straight, a young gangster keeps falling back into crime.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsMary NolanEdward G. RobinsonOwen MooreFingers is planning a half-million-dollar bank robbery in gang boss Cobra Collins' territory. Fingers' moll Connie tries to bluff Cobra into thinking the hit won't be for another week when the call comes through saying it's now.
- DirectorHobart HenleyStarsHelen MorganCharles RugglesFred KohlerA boozing newsman (Charles Ruggles) woos a singer (Helen Morgan) while spying on her bootlegger boyfriend (Fred Kohler).
- DirectorHarry Joe BrownStarsJack HoltDorothy RevierDavey LeeA gangster's wife, fearful that he is about to be murdered by his rivals, tips off the police to his whereabouts in order to save his life. Her husband, however, believes her reason was that she wanted him out of the way so she could have his best friend.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineStarsAlice WhiteEdward G. RobinsonNeil HamiltonVice lord Dominic has brought Swifty Dorgan east to do a job for him. When Swifty appears to have died falling from a train, detective Henderson impersonates him hoping to get into the mob. When he's killed his sister Polly poses as Swifty's widow and gets a singing job at Dominic's nightclub. Then the real Swifty shows up.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsFrank AlbertsonJoyce ComptonSharon LynnThe son of a wealthy politician falls in with a notorious gangster planning to rob a night club.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsHelen TwelvetreesRicardo CortezJohn GarrickRicardo Cortez plays a ruthless, near-psychotic gangster who withal follows his own code of honor. Helen Twelvetrees co-stars as a trusting young woman who marries mob lawyer John Garrick, never dreaming that both her husband and her brother Frank Conroy are involved in the rackets. When she does learn the horrible truth, it is she who determines to "cleanse" her family of the tinge of crime by dealing directly with Cortez--and she means directly.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsGary CooperSylvia SidneyPaul LukasMan joins a gang to free his girlfriend from prison.
- DirectorRowland BrownStarsSpencer TracyMarguerite ChurchillSally EilersTruck driver Bugs Raymond organizes the trucking associations and takes protection money. Now rich, he decides to marry socialite Dorothy Stone. She rejects him for another, so he plots to kidnap her on her wedding day.
- DirectorGeorge W. HillStarsWallace BeeryLewis StoneJohnny Mack BrownAfter rising bootlegger Slaughterhouse Scorpio eliminates his gangland competition, two reporters and a cabal of six businessmen work to expose him.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsEric LindenSidney FoxTully MarshallCorrupt politicians resort to murder and blackmail when a young boy accidentally witnesses them taking payoffs.
- DirectorCharles BrabinStarsWalter HustonJean HarlowWallace FordPolice Chief Jim Fitzpatrick ruthlessly goes after organized crime and is prepared to use brutal and violent methods to fight it.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsEdward G. RobinsonLoretta YoungDudley DiggesA hatchet man is ordered to kill his close friend for the sake of Tong.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniGlenda FarrellHelen VinsonWrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
- DirectorJames FloodElliott NugentStarsWarren WilliamSidney FoxAline MacMahonProsecutor becomes a defense attorney after an innocent man is sent to an electric chair.
- DirectorHobart HenleyStarsLew AyresMae ClarkeBoris KarloffStory of the goings-on at a Prohibition-era nightclub.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsLew AyresMaureen O'SullivanLouis CalhernA gossip columnist's rise to fame, closely based on the real life of Walter Winchell.