The Third Man (1949), Night and the City (1950), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Odd Man Out (1947), The Hidden Room (1949), Across the Bridge (1957), It Always Rains on Sunday (1947), I Became a Criminal (1947) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best British Noir movies.
Storyline: A prominent neurosurgeon relates to his students in medical school a story about an affair he had with a married woman and how, after the affair was over, the woman one day fell out a window and died. The surgeon, suspecting that she was murdered, set out to find her killer--but, instead of turning the suspect over to the police, he planned to take his own revenge on the murderer.—frankfob2@yahoo.com
Plot Keywords: mansion, blindness, surgery, operation, sick child, murder, united kingdom ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Chas, a violent and psychotic East London gangster needs a place to lie low after a hit that should never have been carried out. He finds the perfect cover in the form of guest house run by the mysterious Mr. Turner, a one-time rock superstar, who is looking for the right spark to rekindle his faded talent.—Brad Jackson
Plot Keywords: basement, sex, acid, shared bath, whipping, nudity, male female relationship ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: We follow the daily activities of two London bobbies, veteran Police Constable George Dixon (Jack Warner) and rookie Police Constable Andy Mitchell (Jimmy Hanley). Meanwhile, young hoods Tom (Sir Dirk Bogarde) and Spud (Patric Doonan) plan a series of robberies with Tom's girl Diana (Peggy Evans), a discontented beauty, as an inside worker. But in their second crime, one of our heroes is shot, setting off a citywide manhunt. The killer is clever, but will he outsmart himself?—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: police officer killed, crying woman, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, husband wife relationship, missing dog, runaway, pointing a gun on someone ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Oliver Bramwell, an insurance inspector, arrives at Lewis Manor where he is to investigate a fire that broke out there on Christmas Eve. He rings the bell and to his amazement he finds himself face to face with Sarah, the woman he once loved in Hong Kong and who, one day, disappeared from his life without apparent reason. Love resurfaces and when Tracey, the owner of the manor and Sarah's husband, dies in a second fire, the couple is reunited. Nevertheless, Oliver suspects Sarah of having tricked him and murdered Tracey with a view to attaining her ends. Fortunately his suspicions are allayed and he can marry Sarah. They are first very happy, until a blackmailer starts preying on them...—Guy Bellinger
Plot Keywords: british noir, based on novel, cousin, mother son relationship, christmas eve, secretary, literature on screen ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Mystery writer Janet Frobisher lives alone in a dark English country house, when she's not philandering with her secretary's fiancée. At an extremely awkward moment, she has an unwelcome visitor: George Bates, who claims to be the partner in crime of Janet's estranged husband. George insinuates himself into Janet's home and life despite her efforts to get rid of him; the tangled relationships develop into a macabre, murderous cat-and-mouse game.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: cool, poison, murder, older woman younger man relationship, domestic violence, british noir, horse ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Olivia Harwood, missionary's widow, meets charming Mark Bellis, artist and rogue, on the ship taking them both back to 1890s London. When Olivia opens a lodging house Mark becomes her lodger, then her lover. Olivia falls so completely under amoral Mark's spell that he's able to overcome her scruples, and soon she's his willing tool in an ambitious scheme of theft and blackmail...maybe too ambitious.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: artist, british noir, love letter, period piece, moral corruption, blackmail, based on novel ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: When John North, a budding author, pulls the communication cord of a late night train that is taking him away on a weekend with his publisher's wife, he sets in motion a series of events that lead to a train crash, a murder, and a police manhunt, but all is not what it seems.—<mike.wilson6@btinternet.com>
Plot Keywords: train, united kingdom, dream, collision, adulterer, revolver, pond ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Paul Gregory (George Nader) is sprung from jail in London by his accomplice after getting a stretch as expected for robbing a woman who falls for his charms. Only he knows how to get to the money, but his partner is getting greedy, and as things turn sour, Gregory finds that home in Canada is a long way away.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
Plot Keywords: british noir, bank vault, safe deposit box, loot, manhunt, police inspector, wales ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Alec Graham (Alec McCowen) is sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend Jennie Cole (Christina Lubicz), with whom he was spending the night at the flat of the parents of his friend Brian Stanford (Paul Daneman). Alec's father, David Graham (Sir Michael Redgrave), a not-so-successful writer and alcoholic who has neglected his son in the past, flies in the day before the planned execution from Canada to visit his son on death row. Alec is resigned to his fate and not amenable to his father's attempts for a final reconciliation. David Graham, convinced of his son's innocence and, despite his preoccupation with himself and his own alcoholism, mounts a last-ditch effort to find the true murderer in the twenty-four hours remaining until the planned execution. Graham encounters the wealthy and famous car manufacturer Robert Stanford (Leo McKern), tyrant at home and in the office, and an apparent womanizer, Stanford's young, curiously troubled wife Honor (Ann Todd), their ill-at- ease adopted son Brian, himself disturbed by his parents' relationship, and Vickie Harker (Lois Maxwell), a young, brazen secretary at Stanford's factory who received a promotion following Alec's conviction.—freddy-11
Plot Keywords: race car, capital punishment, england, dysfunctional family, frame up, father son relationship, adultery ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A dramatization of the Great Train Robbery. While not a 'how to', it is very detail dependent, showing the care and planning that took place to pull it off.—John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
Plot Keywords: criminal gang, driver, electrician, heist, jewel theft, london england, new york city ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A great murder mystery. The only clue to a mad killer's identity is his shoes! The crime's only witness saw them while she was bent over picking something up. Duryea is fantastic as the "nice guy next door" who just happens to be a homicidal maniac. A great twist ending. A gem...highly recommended. From 16mm.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: england, undercover cop, poisoning, pistol, tv broadcast, disguise, anonymous telephone call ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Pretty Molly Lucian (Barbara White) enlists the reluctant aid of psychologist Felix Milne (Burgess Meredith) in treating her potentially homicidal husband Adam (Kieron Moore), who refuses to see a "real" psychiatrist. Traumatized in a Japanese prison camp, Adam proves to be on the verge of severe schizophrenia. In his risky struggle to help Adam, Felix finds his none-too-functional home life deteriorating, and is unable to help himself as he helps others. The situation rushes headlong to a suspenseful climax.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: ptsd post traumatic stress disorder, psychology, post world war two, british, british noir, ladder, prisoner of war ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Descius Heiss is a French expatriate, and former Devil's Island prisoner, with two passions; driving shrewd bargains in antiques at his Sly Corner Shop, and the care of his Beautiful violin-playing daughter, Margaret. But, his comfortable wealth comes more from being a fence for stolen goods than it does buying-and-selling antiques. His secret is discovered by his shop assistant Archie Fellowes (Kenneth Griffith), a nasty, sniveling young scroat, who keeps blackmailing Heiss until he goes to far. The film ends in a London concert-hall where Margaret is playing the Mendelssohm Violin Concerto.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
Plot Keywords: 1940s, pistol, criminal, fistfight, british noir, heart attack, antique shop ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: When well-off aircraft designer Denning finds his daughter's current boyfriend is a nasty character he tries to buy him off, ending up hitting him and causing his death when he falls. Instead of calling the police he dumps the body in a lonely spot on the road to the North, making it look like a hit-and-run accident. Weeks later there is still no report of the body being found, and Denning starts to go to pieces. When he lets his wife into his secret the two start making enquiries, possibly making things worse.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
Plot Keywords: british noir, father daughter relationship, ring, 1950s, police inspector, inquest, england ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: One dark summer night, Francesca Cunningham, a once world famed pianist, escapes from her hospital room and tries to commit suicide by jumping off a local bridge. She is rescued and taken back to the hospital and undergoes psychological treatment by Dr. Larsen. Larsen, desperately wants to know the events and persons who drove her to this state and help her. He makes Francesca talk about her past - a past with a controlling guardian, Nicholas, no friends, kept apart from the man she loved and forced to practice the piano 5-6 hours a day.—Kelly
Plot Keywords: british noir, portrait, car accident, car crash, orchestra, swing music, cane ...
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