BODY AND SOUL (1947)

United Artists, 106m 9s

Director Robert Rossen's pessimistic critique of the boxing world influenced almost every boxing film that came after it, and reinforced the dominant themes of the noir films that populated the late 1940s. The primarily urban locales of most film noirs are replete with cheap hotels, smoke-infested night clubs, and rainy streets, so the violence and corruption of the boxing venue furnishes an appropriate setting. The boxing ring of BODY AND SOUL is both actual and allegorical, a battleground that links a brutal profession to an intense social struggle.

Charley Davis (John Garfield) is the scarred protagonist of BODY AND SOUL

The prime examples of film noir often feature a key moment of existential recognition, during which the protagonist realizes he has gotten himself into a real fix, and there is no easy way out. That moment comes early in BODY AND SOUL, when 35-year-old Jewish prizefighter Charley Davis (John Garfield) laments, "All gone down the drain, everything down the drain..." He's been instructed to lose his next title defense, either by decision or quicker if he can live with that. In respect to the lead protagonist's existential awareness, the majority of the storyline plays out in flashback form, tracing the career trajectory of Davis from promising past to problematic present.

Having grown up in a tough ethnic community, the young Davis thinks prizefighting earnings will help his family, but boxing starts to destroy the Davis household even before his first pro fight. Davis's father (Art Smith) is killed almost immediately after providing funding for his son's boxing gear. The somber family matriarch Anna Davis (Anne Revere, FALLEN ANGEL [1945]) persistently suggests schooling as the means for her son to get ahead. She blames the NYC milieu for interfering with her son's potential, "...we live in a jungle, so he can only be a wild animal." Tellingly, Davis becomes committed to professional fighting after seeing his mother being subjected to humiliating questions while seeking financial assistance. So Davis fights for the downtrodden, guided by the assumption that increased cash flow will solve all problems of the have-nots. Davis builds a solid reputation as an up-and-coming pugilist working with neighborhood pal Shorty Polaski (Joseph Pevney, THE STREET WITH NO NAME [1948], THIEVES' HIGHWAY [1949]) and local promoter Quinn (William Conrad, DIAL 1119 [1950], THE RACKET [1951]).

Charley Davis (John Garfield) and Peg Born (Lilli Palmer)

The prospect finds himself trapped in moral quicksand when he makes an agreement with eminently corrupt, big-time promoter Roberts (Lloyd Gough [AKA Goff], TENSION [1949], SUNSET BOULEVARD [1950]). Roberts embodies the darkest corner of the boxing ring, and, by inference, a socialist's worst fears about capitalism. To Roberts, a fighter like Davis represents a revenue stream, nothing more. Roberts is accustomed to getting full cooperation from everyone he works with, particularly when the outcome of his promotion is predetermined. Throwing a fight is just good business as far as the numbers-obsessed Roberts is concerned ("Everything is addition or subtraction."). He understands all businesses have a life and death, and he feels the same way about people, who he callously discards after the end of their useful lives. "Everybody dies" is his catch phrase. On another level, Roberts appears to be one of classic Hollywood's "evil" gay characters. Surely a man of his social status would have a beautiful woman on his arm, unless he had no interest. Then there is the omnipresence of his mysterious silent associate (Peter Virgo, THE NARROW MARGIN [1952]).

A portrait reminds Charley Davis (John Garfield) of a happier past

Davis puts his career ahead of his fiancée and talented artist Peg Born (Lilli Palmer, CLOAK AND DAGGER [1946]), and eventually his spending leads to financial instability that conflicts with his instincts as a professional athlete. He alienates Peg in favor of Alice (Hazel Brooks in her first credited role), a greedy young beauty whose only interest in Davis involves money, and lots of it. Heavily indebted to Roberts, Davis can get back in the black by betting on himself to lose his title to snarky contender Jackie Marlowe (Artie Dorrell, uncredited). But for the sake of financial gain, Davis also must turn his back on the "whole neighborhood" betting on him to win the toughest defense of his championship. The final fight does not disappoint. Cinematographer James Wong Howe, a former pro boxer himself, inventively captured some of the fight footage with a handheld camera while wearing roller skates. Davis makes the ultimate existential statement when he mocks Roberts at the film's conclusion, and the position of the filmmakers regarding capitalistic greed is confirmed.

Alice (Hazel Brooks) maintains her appearance

After his contract with Warner Brothers ended, in 1946 Garfield co-founded the independent production company Enterprise Productions (AKA The Enterprise Studios) along with producers David L. Loew and Charles Einfeld. BODY AND SOUL was the company's third film. The original boxing film concept conceived by Garfield was a biopic based on the life of boxer Barney Ross (birth name Dov-Ber Rasofsky), a world champion of three weight classes who compiled a record of 74 wins, 4 defeats, and 3 draws. The intent was to cover the area of Ross's life that included drug addiction, a topic that did not fit well into Production Code parameters. Instead, screenwriter Abraham Polonsky devised a fictional boxing narrative that echoes some of the true Ross story.

A box office success, BODY AND SOUL is taut and technically solid as directed by Rossen (JOHNNY O'CLOCK [1947], THE HUSTLER [1961]). Robert Aldrich (KISS ME DEADLY [1955]), THE BIG KNIFE [1955]) served as assistant director. The viewer is likely to recall sequences long after some of the plot points become hazy, always the sign of a great noir film. One of the most sympathetic of all noir characters is Ben Chaplin (real-life prizefighter Canada Lee), a former champion reduced to waterboy status for his successor. Physically Chaplin is a ticking time bomb with a blood clot in his brain. His death sequence, in which he lapses into a bizarre reenactment of his last fight, is among the saddest of noir downfalls.

In 1948 Francis D. Lyon and Robert Parrish won an Academy Award for "Best Film Editing," Garfield and Polonsky both received nominations for their work. Unfortunately, many of the folks involved with this liberal film, including Garfield, Rossen, Polonsky, Revere, Gough, and Lee, would be blacklisted due to the overzealous investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Garfield was only 49 at the time of his death in 1952.

The single-layered, Region "A" Blu-ray disc currently available from Olive Films offers the best presentation of BODY AND SOUL to date. The seminal boxing film was the basis for remakes in 1981 and 1998.

SCARLET STREET (1945)

Universal Pictures, 101m 54s

Absolutely one of the finest of all film noirs, Fritz Lang's SCARLET STREET is a remake of Jean Renoir's La Chienne (1931, literal translation, "The Bitch"). The two films share essentially the same structure as well as a deceitful bitch, but differ radically in tone.

Perhaps the most horrific of film noir icons

Based on a novel by Georges de La Fouchardière and a play co-written by André Girard and André Mouézy-Éon, the Renoir film unfolds as a tragicomedy. 42-year-old cashier Maurice Legrand (Michel Simon) is not taken seriously by his co-workers, and has it no better at home, where his wife Adèle (Magdeleine Bérubet) constantly belittles him. One evening on the street, Andre “Dédé” Govain (Georges Flamant) is slapping around Lucienne “Lulu” Pelletier (Janie Marèse), and Legrand puts a stop to the assault. Oblivious to the workings of a pimp-and-ho system, Legrand sets up Lulu with a new place, one that doubles as a retreat for the unhappily married cashier, whose hobby is painting. Legrand fails to realize he is merely Lulu's part-time lover and full-time benefactor, in effect also providing for Dédé, who continues his relationship with Lulu. Another complication is added with the emergence of Adèle's husband Alexis Godard (Roger Gaillard), a supposedly departed war hero. When Legrand’s funds start to run low, his paintings provide an unexpected source of income.

Those familiar with SCARLET STREET are sure to recognize the above storyline, but overt differences in presentation clearly distinguish one work from the other. Banned in the US until 1975(!), La Chienne is up front about sexual situations and character types, whereas SCARLET STREET was bound by the shackles of the Motion Picture Production Code that was enforced from 1930 to 1968. Despite the more restrictive environment in which it was produced, SCARLET STREET is the more bleak of the two films, and many of the details that differentiate remake from original define the Lang film as one of the preeminent examples of film noir. The limits of the Production Code notwithstanding, SCARLET STREET serves up one of the most unsettling noir stories on record of deception, betrayal, and eternal damnation. Adapted by screenwriter Dudley Nichols (MAN HUNT [1941]), it reunites the immensely talented stars of Lang's THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1944). Katharine “Kitty” March (Joan Bennett) and her no-good, small-timer boyfriend Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea) easily rank among the most reprehensible of noir underworld couples, and Lang really emphasizes the squalor of Kitty's seedy tenement apartment to build that case. The couple’s pimp/whore relationship may be obscured by the Production Code, but it’s there.

Kitty (Joan Bennett) puts up with a lot from the abusive Johnny (Dan Duryea), who brings out her worst qualities

In regard to the poisonous female consistently patrolling the noir web, SCARLET STREET first establishes the submissive weakness of the man who digs his own grave in devotion to her. The film begins with a celebration of the 25-year service of Chris Cross (a sympathetic portrayal by Edward G. Robinson), who receives a commemorative gold watch for his ongoing loyalty to J.J. Hogarth & Co as a cashier. His reward back home in Brooklyn is his wife Adele (Rosalind Ivan), an insufferable nag who constantly bullies her milquetoast husband. A repressed personality, Cross has grown to accept the dynamic of his marriage, and even willingly wears an emasculating apron when banished to the kitchen. His only escape is through painting on Sundays, and Adele hates the smell of paint so much Cross must pursue his beloved hobby in the bathroom. Given his drab job and incomplete personal life, his sudden interest in the physically attractive Kitty is understandable, especially considering her provocative introduction in transparent rainwear.

A temptress in plastic

Unfortunately for Mr. Cross, as his wife calls him, his pursuit of Kitty only emphasizes his powerlessness in the presence of another dominant female. This theme gains momentum the more involved Cross becomes with Kitty, which eventually leads to him telling her things are "...just like we were married, only I take your name." Unlike La Chienne's Legrand, Cross is not allowed any meaningful physical connection with the woman he supports financially. Kitty expresses repulsion to his touch ("...there's a limit.") at her nice Greenwich Village apartment that he provides. All Cross gets from Kitty is a lot of petulant body language and snippy talk—sex is never on the table. Cross reaches a low point in his extramarital activity when Kitty allows him to paint her toe nails as a special treat. The only viable means of intimacy with Kitty's icy heart proves to be an ice pick. Art critic David Janeway (Jess Barker) is more accurate than he is aware when he comments, "Sometimes it seems as if she were two people.”

“Paint me, Chris.”

The motif of the idealized, framed image that contrasts with reality is a noir staple. Given the lead character’s painting hobby, this theme takes on special significance in SCARLET STREET. Through the recurrence of framed imagery, the profound difference between perceived reality and actuality permeates the SCARLET STREET narrative. Homer Higgins (Charles Kemper) is introduced as a heroic dead man who lives on in a large portrait his wife Adele reverently refers to, but in truth, he is a lowlife, and very much alive. A pattern of misunderstood identities and inaccurate assumptions confuses perspective, especially the perspective of Cross, who admits he always has struggled in that area of painting. His escapist paintings represent a distortion of what is real, just as the film’s characters misinterpret information in front of them. Ignoring her initial (correct) impression, Kitty mistakes Cross for an accomplished, wealthy artist who could never steal, he assumes her for a talented but struggling actress. Later Kitty is mistaken for an important painter, but in truth she lays around like a lazy feline ("Kitty") and achieves nothing of merit. Nonetheless she emerges as a noteworthy new artist, and even uses the actual artist's own words about how her art was created. Adele wrongly believes Cross has been imitating the great Katharine March all along. Kitty's self-portrait—a falsity in terms of both image and artist credited—cruelly becomes Cross’s most valuable painting, but one that brings him no compensation. The self-portrait ultimately grants the fallen seductress a horrifyingly unfair immortality, forever mocking the implosion of Cross, and as far removed from reality as the flower Cross paints to commemorate his first encounter with Kitty.

The framed man observes a hopeless marriage

The respective conclusions of La Chienne and SCARLET STREET are dramatically different and reflect the remake’s migration to the film noir movement of the mid 1940s. In the Renoir film, Legrand gets away with the murder of Lulu, and Dédé takes the fall. Many years later, Legrand has been reduced to bum status, having lost his job after stealing to provide for Lulu. He runs into Godard, and the two exchange pleasantries. Legrand even recognizes the dark humor in his painting being driven away as a prized possession. Where Renoir sees the humor in the absurdity of Legrand's downfall and reconnection with Godard, no such suggestion plays out at the end of the Lang version of the story, which dives headfirst into a deeply noir city of flashing lights, creeping shadows, and taunting voices. Lang’s main protagonist is left to aimlessly wander the streets, agonizingly defeated. And unlike THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, which concludes by explaining everything as a dream, SCARLET STREET seems grounded in its eternal nightmare, with Cross condemned to anonymity, haunted by past events understood only by him. Perhaps he would be better off in Prince's shoes than his own. In either case, involvement with Kitty condemns the foolish male who could not steer clear of the dangers associated with her. The only consolation comes from Cross's boss Hogarth (Russell Hicks), a man noted for stepping out on his wife. Hogarth realizes it had to have been a woman to blame for turning Cross into a thief. Cross loses his job, but Hogarth shows some compassion when he calls off the authorities.

Kitty (Joan Bennett) shows her true self

A roster of film noir all-stars collaborated on SCARLET STREET, managed by director Fritz Lang (M [1931], HOUSE BY THE RIVER [1950], THE BLUE GARDENIA [1953], THE BIG HEAT [1953]). Lang also helmed HUMAN DESIRE (1954), another reboot of a Jean Renoir film (La bête humaine [1938]). Cinematographer Milton R. Krasner shot THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1944), THE DARK MIRROR (1946), HOUSE OF STRANGERS (1949) and NO WAY OUT (1950). The major players appeared in an impressive lineup of noir movies. Edward G. Robinson starred in DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944), my favorite of all film noirs, as well as THE STRANGER (1946), KEY LARGO (1948), HOUSE OF STRANGERS (1949) and the little-known but compelling ILLEGAL (1955). Joan Bennett starred in THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH (1947) and played against type in THE RECKLESS MOMENT (1949). Dan Duryea proved one of the most durable of all noir icons, having appeared in CRISS CROSS (1949), TOO LATE FOR TEARS (1949), THE UNDERWORLD STORY (1950), and CHICAGO CALLING (1951). Duryea really plays his slimy part in SCARLET STREET for all it’s worth—his character’s earnest attempts to feign respectability whenever he encounters Cross always make me cringe. The Diana Production Company (co-owned by Lang, Bennett, and Nichols) would produce only one other feature, the disappointing SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR... (1947), again starring Bennett. The memorable paintings featured in SCARLET STREET were by John Decker.

"It's only blackmail, baby, when you're dumb enough to get caught."

Mastered in HD from a 35mm Library of Congress negative, the Kino Classics Blu-ray released in 2012 offers the best presentation of SCARLET STREET I have witnessed (and there have been plenty of inferior public domain versions). Supplements were ported from the 2005 Kino DVD, most importantly the well-prepared audio commentary track by David Kalat, author of THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. MABUSE: A STUDY OF THE TWELVE FILMS AND FIVE NOVELS. Kalat cites SCARLET STREET as Lang’s favorite of his American productions, and the author makes a good case for a “composite identity” reading of SCARLET STREET. A photo gallery includes stills from several deleted scenes.

Sadly, the fictitious love triangle of La Chienne would come to pass in the real world. Michel Simon was interested in Janie Marèse, who preferred Georges Flamant. After filming was finished, Marèse was killed as a passenger in a car crashed by Flamant. She was 23.

Film Noir 235

Shining some light on essential American film noirs. How many have you seen?

Rank:	Title:	Year:	Director:
1	Double Indemnity	1944	Billy Wilder
2	Scarlet Street	1945	Fritz Lang
3	Gun Crazy	1950	Joseph H. Lewis
4	The Big Heat	1953	Fritz Lang
5	Sunset Boulevard	1950	Billy Wilder
6	The Maltese Falcon	1941	John Huston
7	In a Lonely Place	1950	Nicholas Ray
8	Mildred Pierce	1945	Michael Curtiz
9	Touch of Evil	1958	Orson Welles
10	Ace in the Hole	1951	Billy Wilder
11	Shadow of a Doubt	1943	Alfred Hitchcock
12	The Night of the Hunter	1955	Charles Laughton
13	Strangers on a Train	1951	Alfred Hitchcock
14	Night and the City	1950	Jules Dassin
15	Notorious	1946	Alfred Hitchcock
16	The Asphalt Jungle	1950	John Huston
17	Nightmare Alley	1947	Edmund Goulding
18	Where the Sidewalk Ends	1950	Otto Preminger
19	The Stranger	1946	Orson Welles
20	The Big Sleep	1946	Howard Hawks
21	Gilda	1946	Charles Vidor
22	Kiss Me Deadly	1955	Robert Aldrich
23	White Heat	1949	Raoul Walsh
24	The Killing	1956	Stanley Kubrick
25	Murder, My Sweet	1944	Edward Dmytryk
26	Pickup on South Street	1953	Samuel Fuller
27	Out of the Past	1947	Jacques Tourneur
28	The Window	1949	Ted Tetzlaff
29	Sweet Smell of Success	1957	Alexander Mackendrick
30	The Prowler	1951	Joseph Losey
31	On Dangerous Ground	1952	Nicholas Ray
32	The Lineup	1958	Don Siegel
33	The Sniper	1952	Edward Dmytryk
34	The Big Combo	1955	Joseph H. Lewis
35	Body and Soul	1947	Robert Rossen
36	Key Largo	1948	John Huston
37	Laura	1944	Otto Preminger
38	The Lady from Shanghai	1947	Orson Welles
39	Sudden Fear	1952	David Miller
40	Panic in the Streets	1950	Elia Kazan
41	The Big Clock	1948	John Farrow
42	The Killers	1946	Robert Siodmak
43	This Gun for Hire	1942	Frank Tuttle
44	Brute Force	1947	Jules Dassin
45	Whirlpool	1949	Otto Preminger
46	Nightfall	1957	Jacques Tourneur
47	Angel Face	1952	Otto Preminger
48	The Strange Love of Martha Ivers	1946	Lewis Milestone
49	Sorry, Wrong Number	1948	Anatole Litvak
50	Criss Cross	1949	Robert Siodmak
51	Phantom Lady	1944	Robert Siodmak
52	Detour	1945	Edgar G. Ulmer
53	T-Men	1947	Anthony Mann
54	The Glass Key	1942	Stuart Heisler
55	Border Incident	1949	Anthony Mann
56	Crossfire	1947	Edward Dmytryk
57	No Way Out	1950	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
58	Illegal	1955	Lewis Allen
59	New York Confidential	1955	Russell Rouse
60	Ride the Pink Horse	1947	Robert Montgomery
61	Odds Against Tomorrow	1959	Robert Wise
62	Nora Prentiss	1947	Vincent Sherman
63	Kiss of Death	1947	Henry Hathaway
64	High Sierra	1941	Raoul Walsh
65	City of Fear	1959	Irving Lerner
66	Cat People	1942	Jacques Tourneur
67	I Walked with a Zombie	1943	Jacques Tourneur
68	The Turning Point	1952	William Dieterle
69	They Won't Believe Me	1947	Irving Pichel
70	Pushover	1954	Richard Quine
71	Walk Softly, Stranger	1950	Robert Stevenson
72	Act of Violence	1948	Fred Zinnemann
73	The Racket	1951	John Cromwell
74	Hell's Half Acre	1954	John H. Auer
75	Chicago Calling	1951	John Reinhardt
76	Mystery Street	1950	John Sturges
77	Caged	1950	John Cromwell
78	Kansas City Confidential	1952	Phil Karlson
79	D.O.A.	1950	Rudolph Maté
80	Road House	1948	Jean Negulesco
81	Too Late for Tears	1949	Byron Haskin
82	The Narrow Margin	1952	Richard Fleischer
83	The Devil Thumbs a Ride	1947	Felix E. Feist
84	Thieves' Highway	1949	Jules Dassin
85	The Chase	1946	Arthur Ripley
86	Cape Fear	1962	J. Lee Thompson
87	The Blue Dahlia	1946	George Marshall
88	Scandal Sheet	1952	Phil Karlson
89	Suddenly	1954	Lewis Allen
90	The Blue Gardenia	1953	Fritz Lang
91	Fallen Angel	1945	Otto Preminger
92	Alias Nick Beal	1949	John Farrow
93	Conflict	1945	Curtis Bernhardt
94	City That Never Sleeps	1953	John H. Auer
95	Shock	1946	Alfred L. Werker
96	99 River Street	1953	Phil Karlson
97	They Live by Night	1948	Nicholas Ray
98	The Seventh Victim	1943	Mark Robson
99	Cry of the City	1948	Robert Siodmak
100	High Wall	1947	Curtis Bernhardt
101	The Phenix City Story	1955	Phil Karlson
102	The File on Thelma Jordon	1950	Robert Siodmak
103	Roadblock	1951	Harold Daniels
104	The Set-Up	1949	Robert Wise
105	Leave Her to Heaven	1945	John M. Stahl
106	The Postman Always Rings Twice	1946	Tay Garnett
107	711 Ocean Drive	1950	Joseph M. Newman
108	Without Warning!	1952	Arnold Laven
109	He Walked by Night	1948	Alfred L. Werker
110	Possessed	1947	Curtis Bernhardt
111	The Woman in the Window	1944	Fritz Lang
112	Raw Deal	1948	Anthony Mann
113	Kiss the Blood Off My Hands	1948	Norman Foster
114	Tomorrow Is Another Day	1951	Felix E. Feist
115	Try and Get Me!	1950	Cy Endfield
116	So Evil My Love	1948	Lewis Allen
117	The Dark Corner	1946	Henry Hathaway
118	All My Sons	1948	Irving Reis
119	The Threat	1949	Felix E. Feist
120	He Ran All the Way	1951	John Berry
121	The Enforcer	1951	Bretaigne Windust
122	Impact	1949	Arthur Lubin
123	The Hitch-Hiker	1953	Ida Lupino
124	Born to Kill	1947	Robert Wise
125	Dark City	1950	William Dieterle
126	The Locket	1946	John Brahm
127	Cornered	1945	Edward Dmytryk
128	The Underworld Story	1950	Cy Endfield
129	Hoodlum Empire	1952	Joseph Kane
130	Union Station	1950	Rudolph Maté
131	Cry Vengeance	1954	Mark Stevens
132	Hollow Triumph	1948	Steve Sekely
133	Pitfall	1948	André De Toth
134	The Naked City	1948	Jules Dassin
135	Blast of Silence	1961	Allen Baron
136	Among the Living	1941	Stuart Heisler
137	Woman in Hiding	1950	Michael Gordon
138	Desperate	1947	Anthony Mann
139	Cry Danger	1951	Robert Parrish
140	Beyond a Reasonable Doubt	1956	Fritz Lang
141	Bodyguard	1948	Richard Fleischer
142	The Reckless Moment	1949	Max Ophüls
143	Johnny O'Clock	1947	Robert Rossen
144	My Name Is Julia Ross	1945	Joseph H. Lewis
145	The Suspect	1944	Robert Siodmak
146	Night Has a Thousand Eyes	1948	John Farrow
147	The Man Who Cheated Himself	1950	Felix E. Feist
148	Flamingo Road	1949	Michael Curtiz
149	Moonrise	1948	Frank Borzage
150	Hangover Square	1945	John Brahm
151	A Kiss Before Dying	1956	Gerd Oswald
152	Cause for Alarm!	1951	Tay Garnett
153	Side Street	1949	Anthony Mann
154	Appointment with Danger	1951	Lewis Allen
155	Caught	1949	Max Ophüls
156	Crime Wave	1954	André De Toth
157	Ministry of Fear	1944	Fritz Lang
158	Human Desire	1954	Fritz Lang
159	The Damned Don't Cry	1950	Vincent Sherman
160	Detective Story	1951	William Wyler
161	High Tide	1947	John Reinhardt
162	The Brothers Rico	1957	Phil Karlson
163	Tension	1949	John Berry
164	The Killer Is Loose	1956	Budd Boetticher
165	The Dark Mirror	1946	Robert Siodmak
166	Hell Bound	1957	William J. Hole Jr.
167	Quicksand	1950	Irving Pichel
168	I Walk Alone	1947	Byron Haskin
169	The Killer That Stalked New York	1950	Earl McEvoy
170	The Web	1947	Michael Gordon
171	The Street with No Name	1948	William Keighley
172	Female on the Beach	1955	Joseph Pevney
173	The Woman on the Beach	1947	Jean Renoir
174	The Las Vegas Story	1952	Robert Stevenson
175	The Desperate Hours	1955	William Wyler
176	Repeat Performance	1947	Alfred L. Werker
177	Split Second	1953	Dick Powell
178	Storm Fear	1955	Cornel Wilde
179	Pursued	1947	Raoul Walsh
180	Decoy	1946	Jack Bernhard
181	Night Editor	1946	Henry Levin
182	Trapped	1949	Richard Fleischer
183	Where Danger Lives	1950	John Farrow
184	Railroaded!	1947	Anthony Mann
185	Follow Me Quietly	1949	Richard Fleischer
186	Destiny	1944	Reginald Le Borg
187	Strange Impersonation	1946	Anthony Mann
188	Woman on the Run	1950	Norman Foster
189	Private Hell 36	1954	Don Siegel
190	Armored Car Robbery	1950	Richard Fleischer
191	Shack Out on 101	1955	Edward Dein
192	The Crooked Way	1949	Robert Florey
193	The Accused	1949	William Dieterle
194	The Lady Gambles	1949	Michael Gordon
195	I Want to Live!	1958	Robert Wise
196	Murder by Contract	1958	Irving Lerner
197	Danger Signal	1945	Robert Florey
198	The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry	1945	Robert Siodmak
199	Big House, U.S.A.	1955	Howard W. Koch
200	Flesh and Fantasy	1943	Julien Duvivier
201	Strangers in the Night	1944	Anthony Mann
202	Abandoned	1949	Joseph M. Newman
203	Killer's Kiss	1955	Stanley Kubrick
204	Shield for Murder	1954	Howard W. Koch, Edmond O'Brien
205	Clash by Night	1952	Fritz Lang
206	Southside 1-1000	1950	Boris Ingster
207	The Price of Fear	1956	Abner Biberman
208	Deported	1950	Robert Siodmak
209	Murder Is My Beat	1955	Edgar G. Ulmer
210	Dark Passage	1947	Delmer Daves
211	When Strangers Marry	1944	William Castle
212	Dial 1119	1950	Gerald Mayer
213	Portrait of Jennie	1948	William Dieterle
214	Deadline - U.S.A.	1952	Richard Brooks
215	5 Against the House	1955	Phil Karlson
216	Smooth as Silk	1946	Charles Barton
217	Boomerang!	1947	Elia Kazan
218	Black Angel	1946	Roy William Neill
219	New Orleans Uncensored	1955	William Castle
220	Hollywood Story	1951	William Castle
221	I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes	1948	William Nigh
222	Step by Step	1946	Phil Rosen
223	M	1951	Joseph Losey
224	A Woman's Secret	1949	Nicholas Ray
225	The Tattooed Stranger	1950	Edward Montagne
226	The Sleeping City	1950	George Sherman
227	The Guilty	1947	John Reinhardt
228	So Dark the Night	1946	Joseph H. Lewis
229	His Kind of Woman	1951	John Farrow
230	Hidden Fear	1957	André De Toth
231	Fall Guy	1947	Reginald Le Borg
232	Born to Be Bad	1950	Nicholas Ray
233	The Big Steal	1949	Don Siegel
234	Blonde Ice	1948	Jack Bernhard
235	Lady in the Lake	1947	Robert Montgomery