FILM-NOIR Watchlist: 1942
Films I need to and want to watch soon.
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- DirectorD. Ross LedermanStarsRegis ToomeyAdele LongmireHoward Da SilvaGangster Frank Dillon abducts Dr. Steven Bishop to treat wounded Joe Madison. Dillon also takes Joe's nurse sister. Dillon threatens Bishop's life if Joe dies, but Bishop knows Dillon will kill him anyway.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsMacdonald CareyJean PhillipsJ. Carrol NaishNew York City physician, Dr. Timothy Kane, knows Broadway, the Great White Way and all of its characters thoroughly, as does his receptionist, Connie Madigan. A man Kane had sent to prison is now dying, and asks Kane to locate a daughter and give her his fortune. However, others think they have a claim on it, and are out to ensure their claim, usually by foul means.
- DirectorCurtis BernhardtStarsAnn SheridanRonald ReaganRichard WhorfDanny and Steve are migrant farm workers who wind up in Cat Tail, Florida. Cat Tail is run by Madden Packing and Danny works for Madden while Steve works for the underdog farmer named Nick. After the Tomato crop is destroyed by Madden, Steve takes Nick, Lola and the next crop to Atlanta where they sell it for big money. Danny is going up with Madden and thinks Steve is a sucker for working in the dirt. Lola stays in Atlanta while Nick and Steve go back to Cat Tail and the real trouble begins.
- DirectorJean YarbroughStarsFrank AlbertsonJoan WoodburyDick ElliottCrime reporter Larry Doyle, who contributes to the capture of the Padroni gang, is later framed for murder by the gang leader.
- DirectorArthur DreifussStarsJohn LitelFlorence RiceH.B. WarnerA criminal plot to control produce and dairy products during the wartime emergency is foiled by a courageous undercover city market official.
- DirectorWallace FoxStarsBela LugosiJohn ArcherWanda McKayKindly soup kitchen operator and professor of criminology Bela Lugosi uses his soup kitchen as a front for a criminal gang who commit a series of daring robberies and murders.
- DirectorJean YarbroughStarsRobert LoweryEdith FellowsJohn MiljanA reporter investigates the murder of a showgirl, who was the widow of a millionaire.
- DirectorD. Ross LedermanStarsRichard TravisJulie BishopJackie GleasonEx-con Red O'Hara becomes a daring news photographer, but his old ways get him into trouble.
- DirectorEdwin L. MarinStarsBrian DonlevyMiriam HopkinsPreston FosterA greedy woman turns in her husband, a jewel thief, for the reward. Her husband's friend, a detective, adopts the couple's child and raises her as his own. Eighteen years later the husband, still in prison, finds out that his ex-wife is now attempting to blackmail their daughter. He vows to break out and put a stop to her once and for all.
- DirectorLance ComfortStarsRobert NewtonJames MasonDeborah KerrJames Brodie (Robert Newton) is the only hatter in a small area in Scotland. Ruthless in business as well as at home, he is a tyrant to his family and intimidating to everyone he knows. But, when his mistress convinces him to give her "step-brother" Denis (former boyfriend) a job at the hat shop, tragedy starts creeping towards all involved with Brodie.
- DirectorSam WhiteStarsChester MorrisJean ParkerElisabeth RisdonEddie Nelson is wrongly accused of murder, and journalist Jeff Morrell and Nelson's sister, Susan Richards, fight to prove his innocence.
- DirectorD. Ross LedermanStarsTod AndrewsJulie BishopRegis ToomeyA newspaperman out to get the goods on a crooked politician winds up in jail, framed for a killing he didn't commit. He and another prisoner attempt an escape, but although the newspaperman gets away, his colleague is caught and returned to jail. Years later, the convict gets out of prison and winds up in the same town where his former cellmate is now a respected citizen and attempts to blackmail him.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsSpencer TracyKatharine HepburnRichard WhorfJournalist Steve O'Malley (Spencer Tracy) wants to write a biography of a national hero who died when his car ran off a bridge. Steve receives conflicting reports and tales that make him question what the truth about the hero is.
- DirectorB. Reeves EasonStarsFaye EmersonVan JohnsonGeorge MeekerA Death Row inmate vows to reveal damaging information about corrupt politicians on the day of his electric chair execution but he is found dead in his cell, prompting an investigation by a local reporter.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsConrad VeidtAnn AyarsFrank ReicherA story of German-born identical twins (both played by Conrad Veidt), one a loyal American, and the other, a Nazi official.
- DirectorLeslie ArlissStarsJames MasonWilfrid LawsonMary ClareA pair of young teachers look into the disappearance of their friend in the Yorkshire Moors. They soon run across the man they suspect is the murderer, and have to sit out a storm with him.
- DirectorWilliam ClemensStarsPreston FosterPatricia MorisonAlbert DekkerPolice Lieutenant Steve Abbott is engrossed in a baffling murder case. As Steve pieces the clues together, he comes to the sobering conclusion that his own wife Ethel might be intimately involved in the murder. It even gets worse: soon Steve himself is accused of the crime.
- DirectorHarold YoungStarsRicardo CortezRochelle HudsonWilliam HenryGilin, is just released from prison and now that the government has clamped down on the sale of tires, decides to enter the tire-stealing-for-resell racket. Driving home, he has a car wreck with defense workers Bill Barry and Mary Dale. His girlfriend Nikki persuades the gangster to settle Bill's claim by giving him the old car belonging to his Chinese servant Tom, who is about to enter the army. Gilin sets up auto lots all over town where he sells cars and tires stolen by his gang. He also sells faulty synthetic tires and Mary's brother Freddy is killed when one of those blows out. Bill and a group of defense workers try to trace the tire by its treads and finally locate one of Gilin's car lots as the place where it was sold. Gilin orders Nikki to set a trap for Bill so he can be eliminated. But Nikki warns Bill through Mary. Bill, feeling that Nikki knows the source of the "hot rubber" goes to see her at Gilin's apartment, where Gilin knocks him out. Tom, in his newly-issued Army uniform, pleas with his old boss to give up this unpatriotic racket and is shot by Gilin.
- DirectorGeorge WaggnerStarsWilliam GarganJune ClydeJohn LitelA detective begins to suspect that a man may be in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
- DirectorBenjamin StoloffStarsCraig StevensFaye EmersonJohn RidgelyA lawyer becomes a government secret agent after an agent-friend of his is murdered, and discovers a nest of German spies operating out of a former client's hotel.
- DirectorJoseph H. LewisStarsOtto KrugerTina ThayerRick VallinA free-spirited college girl insists on carrying on her romance with a young mobster, scandalizing the town and going against the wishes of her father, the town's most prominent attorney--and who has his own reasons for not wanting to attract too much attention to him and his family.
- DirectorLawrence HuntingtonStarsClifford EvansPatricia RocDavid FarrarThe mastermind behind money stolen from an American bank takes it to London. He is then pursued by the gangsters he tried to cheat and have convicted Stateside, as well as by the Met Police.
- DirectorOliver DrakeGeorge M. MerrickStarsWalter Woolf KingMona BarrieWilliam FarnumHenry Courtney, a wealthy importer is found murdered and the famous DeNormand necklace has been stolen. The false testimony of two witnesses, Rand and Hobbs, puts Jim O'Brien in the shadow of the hangman's noose.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsRicardo CortezJean ParkerEmmett LynnJulie is wooed by gangster Martin. She knows that her 'Pop' is in cahoots with Martin and, too avoid complications, refuses to marry her sweetheart Bob. But when Martin thinks Pop has double-crossed him, he flips out in a murderous rage.
- DirectorWilliam NighStarsBilly HalopPaul KellyHelen ParrishThe 'Little Tough Guys' are working as collectors for a finance company, when they discover the company's illegal activities.
- DirectorJoseph SantleyStarsJohn HowardMargaret LindsayRoscoe KarnsThis Republic murder mystery starts with a radio broadcast by Greg Sherman who solves cases on the air that the local police cannot solve. As he names the perpetrator of a recent murder we see the criminal, who is listening to the show, become alarmed and start to make his escape. The scene shifts to the police department where the chief, fearing for his job, assigns officers to get something, anything, on Sherman and get him off the air. Meanwhile, Greg and his pretty wife Beth are parting company. He's going to a party and she's going to visit her pregnant sister in the hospital. The next morning Greg wakes up and nudges his sleeping wife. When she doesn't respond, he pulls off the covers and finds not his wife but a strange woman, dead and with the murder knife still sticking up out of her back. While he's still recovering from the shock, Beth walks into the bedroom. Thinking that she has discovered her husband with another woman, she leaves and calls the police. The police are delighted of course, but Greg escapes as they are arresting him. Now he must solve the mystery by himself...
- DirectorHarold FrenchStarsRichard GreeneValerie HobsonBasil RadfordA journalist investigates a network of German fifth columnists operating in the midst of the Blitz.
- DirectorAlberto CavalcantiStarsLeslie BanksC.V. FranceValerie TaylorAn English village is occupied by disguised German paratroopers as an advance post for a planned invasion.
- DirectorGeorge ShermanStarsDick PurcellHelen ParrishNeil HamiltonIn 1942, rubber is a valuable commodity during WWII. Eddie Delaney is a second lieutenant in the Army, but also a private detective. Eddie swings into action, when his father, police-sergeant Timothy J. Delaney, is gunned down by rubber racketeers. With the help of his brave friend and radio disc-jockey Linda Ward and police-lieutenant William 'Bill' Decker, Eddie goes after the racketeers. During their search, Eddie, Linda, and Bill must deal with various criminals, like Marty Clark and unscrupulous businessman John J. Underwood, who owns the nightclub "The One Spot."