1949 – Stream On Demand

John Wayne storms the ‘Sands of Iwo Jima’ on Paramount+

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, DVD, Free, Hollywood Classic, Kanopy, Paramount+, SVOD, war 07/31/2023 Sean Axmaker

Wayne shows a darker side playing a hard-bitten Marine Sergeant, a damaged man who sacrificed almost everything for the service, in this mix of patriotic drama and grueling war thriller.

‘Manon’ – Lust in a time of war on MUBI and Arrow

!Featured, Arrow, based on a novel, Blu-ray, drama, International Classics, international noir, literary adaptation, MUBI, SVOD 05/24/2023 Sean Axmaker

The heat of war collides with the heat of desire in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s adaptation of “Manon Lescaut,” moved from 18th century Paris to Nazi-occupied France.

Leaving soon: Richard Conte drives the ‘Thieves’ Highway’ on Criterion Channel

!Featured, based on a novel, Classic Movie, Crime, Criterion Channel, drama, DVD, film noir, Hollywood Classic, SVOD 01/21/2023 Sean Axmaker

Jules Dassin directs this film noir drama set in the cutthroat world of long haul trucking, independent drivers, and the San Francisco produce market run by a crime boss.

Orson Welles is Harry Lime on Carol Reed's classic

Continental noir: ‘The Third Man’ on Criterion Channel

!Featured, Academy Award, Blu-ray, Cannes winner, Classic Movie, Crime, Criterion, Criterion Channel, DVD, Essential Viewing, film noir, international noir, Mystery, Sight & Sound 100 Greatest Films of All Time, suspense, SVOD, thriller 01/16/2023 Sean Axmaker

Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles star in Carol Reed’s continental film noir set in the rubble of post-war Vienna. It placed in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll of the greatest films ever made.

Leaving soon: ‘Caught’ – Cinderella noir on Criterion Channel

!Featured, based on a novel, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, Criterion Channel, drama, DVD, film noir, socially aware cinema, SVOD 12/25/2022 Sean Axmaker

Melodrama and social commentary meet film noir in this drama of romance, wealth, and power from Max Ophuls, starring James Mason (in his American film debut), Barbara Bel Geddes, and Robert Ryan.

‘Twelve O’Clock High’ – Gregory Peck faces the pressure of command on Criterion Channel

!Featured, Academy Award, based on a novel, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, Criterion Channel, drama, DVD, Hollywood Classic, National Film Registry, psychological drama, SVOD, war 07/20/2022 Sean Axmaker

Henry King directs this smart World War II drama about the psychological toll of command under pressure and Dean Jagger won an Oscar for his supporting performance.

‘The Set-Up’ – Robert Ryan in the great boxing noir on Criterion Channel

!Featured, BritBox, Classic Movie, Criterion Channel, drama, DVD, film noir, Hollywood Classic, sports, SVOD 07/12/2022 Sean Axmaker

Director Robert Wise brings a touch of grace to this intimate boxing drama seeped in the film noir world of corruption, betrayal, and brutality.

It’s ‘Too Late for Tears’ for Lizabeth Scott free on Kanopy

!Featured, American Independent Cinema, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, Crime, DVD, film noir, Flicker Alley, Free, Hollywood Classic, Kanopy, SVOD 11/24/2021 Sean Axmaker

Scott plays one of the most ruthless heroines in film noir in this minor classic costarring Arthur Kennedy and Dan Duryea.

Toshiro Mifune in Akira Kurosawa's 'Drunken Angel,' co-starring Takashi Shimura

‘Drunken Angel’ and ‘Stray Dog’ – Kurosawa Noir on Criterion Channel

!Featured, Classic Movie, Criterion, Criterion Channel, Have You Seen...?, International Classics, international noir, SVOD 04/01/2020 Sean Axmaker

Toshiro Mifune stars as a hoodlum in one and a rookie in the other of this double feature of post-war crime dramas from Akira Kurosawa, which costar Takashi Shimura.

James Cagney stars in the gangster classic from Raoul Walsh

‘White Heat’ – James Cagney on top of the world on The Criterion Channel

!Featured, Academy Award nominee, Action, Blu-ray, Classic Movie, Criterion Channel, Cult Movies, DVD, film noir, gangsters, Hollywood Classic, SVOD, thriller 05/13/2019 Sean Axmaker

“Made it, ma. Top of the world!” One of the greatest gangster classics of all time, White Heat (1949) stars James Cagney in an explosive performance as psychotic career criminal Cody Jarrett, driven over the edge by blinding headaches and murderous rages that only his mother can calm. Until, that is, she’s murdered while he’s […]