5 more noirs from the 40's

Here are more picks from the 1940's.  As always in film noir-land, we don't rank one above the other. There's only favorites...

Brute Force (1947)-Directed by Jules Dassin and written by Richard Brooks, an excellent screenwriter and director in his own right, Burt Lancaster plays a won't-bend prisoner pitted against Hume Cronyn's power-mad chief prison guard.  This is as tough a treatise on prison corruption and cruelty as you'll find, and a great definition of what 40's noir was all about...

High Sierra (1941)- Written by John Huston and W.R. Burnett, and directed by Raoul Walsh, Humphrey Bogart is Roy "Mad Dog" Earle, a thief who was broken out of prison by his old boss to help execute a robbery with less experienced criminals.  The one and only Ida Lupino plays Marie, the crippled girl who loves Roy.  This is noir at it's best-great script, great acting and top-notch direction. 

Detour (1945)-Caught by chance and circumstances beyond his control, a hitchhiker gets entrapped in a web that he can't escape from.  Tom Neal is the hitchhiker and Ann Savage plays Vera, who turns in a "bad girl" performance that is still written about.  Shot by B-movie director Edgar Ulmer in only a few days, and on a budget of a mere thirty grand, it all comes together in this quintessential noir movie that's greater than the sum of its parts...  

Mildred Pierce (1945)-I'm not Joan Crawford's biggest fan, but she ultra-nails it in this one and even wins the Oscar for it.  Mildred does whatever it takes to get ahead, though she can never win the approval of her spoiled daughter, played by Ann Blythe.  The great Eve Arden plays her smart and wise-cracking friend, and Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) directed this from the book by James M. Cain. This movie was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress (Joan Crawford), Best Supporting Actress (both Eve Arden and Ann Blythe were nominated), Best Cinematography (Ernest Haller) and Best Screenplay (Ranald MacDougall)...

The Killers (1946)-This film is as dark as it gets.  Burt Lancaster plays the Swede in this taut, tense and fatalistic tale of robbery and murder.  Ava Gardner is part of the grand prize, and film noir mainstay Edmond O'Brien plays the insurance investigator who uncovers the truth in this tale of money, lust and treachery.  Directed by esteemed noir filmmaker Robert Siodmak...

Leave Her To Heaven (1945)- The only color picture of the bunch, but don't worry-it plays plenty dark.  The magnificent Gene Tierney was nominated for a Best Actress award for her part as the socialite who marries, and obsessively loves, handsome writer Cornell Wilde. Jeanne Crain is terrific as her (gorgeous) faithful sister, and Leon Shamroy won an Oscar for his Technicolor cinematography...