Film Noir: Private Detectives
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- DirectorRobert MontgomeryStarsRobert MontgomeryAudrey TotterLloyd NolanThe lady editor of a crime magazine hires Phillip Marlowe to find the wife of her boss. The private detective soon finds himself involved in murder.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartMary AstorGladys GeorgeSan Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.
- DirectorBudd BoetticherStarsLucille BremerRichard CarlsonDouglas FowleyA well-known judge has become a fugitive from the police, with a large reward on his head. A reporter believes that the judge is hiding in a private sanitarium, so she seeks out a private investigator and asks him to pretend to be insane, so that he can get inside the sanitarium and look for the judge. The investigator is admitted to the asylum, and encounters many dangers while trying to prove that the judge is there.
- DirectorLesley SelanderStarsWilliam MarshallAdele MaraRicardo CortezA private detective is approached by a wealthy entertainment executive to stop a blackmail scheme against him. Although he hasn't decided to take the job, the blackmailers believe that he already has, and he is marked for murder.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsHumphrey BogartLauren BacallJohn RidgelyPrivate detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail and what might be love.
- DirectorHarry EssexStarsBiff ElliotPreston FosterPeggie CastleDectective Mike Hammer is determined to catch and kill the person who shot his close friend dead, so he follows clues that lead to a beautiful, seductive woman.
- DirectorHerbert I. LeedsStarsLloyd NolanHeather AngelDoris MerrickOne of the "Michael Shayne" detective series, Time to Kill was based on The High Window, by Raymond Chandler. Private dick Mike Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) is hired by wealthy Mrs. Murdock (Ethel Gryffies) to retrieve a stolen rare coin she is convinced her daughter-in-law has stolen. Shayne uncovers a gang of counterfeiters and a surfeit of coins as he stumbles his way into and out of evidence and gangsters, and romance.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsDick PowellClaire TrevorAnne ShirleyAfter being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsRalph MeekerAlbert DekkerPaul StewartA doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious "great whatsit".
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsRobert MitchumJane GreerKirk DouglasA private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses, and duplicitous dames.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsLucille BallClifton WebbWilliam BendixA secretary tries to help her boss who's been framed for murder.
- DirectorEugene FordeStarsLloyd NolanMary Beth HughesSheila RyanDetective Michael Shayne and his girlfriend Joanne are on their way to be married when a scream from a nearby hotel room draws his attention to a pair of theatrical murders.
- DirectorD. Ross LedermanStarsMichael DuaneLenore AubertRichard LaneOn the eve of his marriage, a young man's fiance disappears. He hires a private detective to help him track her down, but soon finds himself entangled in a web of lies, intrigue and murder revolving around his fiance's dead ex-husband and his wealthy, corrupt family.
- DirectorTed TetzlaffStarsPat O'BrienWalter SlezakAnne JeffreysA plane takes off from Peru (in a long, no-dialogue scene) in a storm with two passengers; it lands in Panama with one. The missing man had valuable oil location maps; everyone who is after them must deal with Dan Hammer - combination private eye, agent and con man who can fix anything for a fee. Nightclub singer Maxine is on Dan's side... or is she? The rest is lighthearted, white-suited tropical intrigue.
- DirectorPhilip FordStarsAdele MaraWarren DouglasWilliam FrawleyA private detective finds himself with a perfect new secretary. But after a notorious gossip columnist turns up murdered, she may prove too good to be true.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsJ. Scott SmartJulie LondonRock HudsonA dentist's murder is investigated by hefty sleuth Brad Runyan.
- DirectorJohn BrahmStarsGeorge MontgomeryNancy GuildConrad JanisDetective Philip Marlowe encounters a variety of characters while checking on why Leslie Murdock stole a rare doubloon from his mother.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsDick PowellLizabeth ScottJane WyattMarried insurance adjuster John Forbes falls for femme fatale Mona Stevens while her boyfriend is in jail and all suffer serious consequences as a result.
- DirectorJohn ReinhardtStarsLee TracyDon CastleJulie BishopA fast-moving automobile fails to make a sharp turn of the highway from Malibu to Los Angeles. It overturns and its occupants, Tim Slade, Newspaper man turned private investigator, and Hugh Fresney, managing editor of the Los Angeles Currier, are pinned underneath. Both are seriously injured and are unable to move. As they wait for the tide to come in and cover them, Fresney recounts that his boss, Clint VAughn has been killed, presumably by gangsters in the pay of Nick Dyke, who Fresney has fought against through his newspaper columns. Slade had been hired to avenge Fresney if Dyke's gang killed him in retaliation, Slade, one-time sweetheart of Vaughn's dipsomaniac wife Julie Vaughn, believed she still loved him, but he had fallen for Dana Jons, Vaughn's beautiful secretary. Police Detective O'Haffey investigated Vaughn's death and unearthed several suspects, including Slade, Julie, Dykes and Dana, but Slade was not satisfied and looked elsewhere.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsDan DuryeaGene LockhartPatric KnowlesIn Singapore, a private detective and the British authorities are on the trail of a crime syndicate that kidnaps a nuclear physicist with the aim of selling him to the highest bidder.
- DirectorS. Sylvan SimonStarsFranchot ToneJanet BlairJanis CarterP.I. Stuart Bailey is hired to investigate the past of Ralph Johnson's wife who has gone missing. He finds that the wife left her home town with an actor, went to college using a stolen identity and purloined $40,000 from a night club.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsWilliam PowellMargaret LindsayRuth DonnellyA down-and-out private eye falls for a woman he has been hired to frame.
- DirectorCharles SaundersStarsRobert AdairDelphi LawrenceDerrick De MarneyDisreputable Private Detective Slim Callaghan is hired to investigate a murder and a will change in London.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsRichard DixBarton MacLaneNina ValeAmid murders and kidnappings, a private detective is hired to find a missing girl whose family inheritance contains two rare collectible song recordings worth a lot of money.