Ultimate Film Noir Collection, The

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Film noir - literally "black film" - is Hollywood's moody vision of a dark, shadowy, smoky underworld populated by beautiful-but-deadly dames and the regular Joes who fall for them. These films are literally black in that they often take place at night or in the shadows - or both. But they are black in other ways, too: Shady characters with no redeeming or "light" qualities; likeable people who mean well but are pulled into the dark world of murder and mayhem; and plots that focus primarily on the darker aspects of man's nature. Although films noir continue to be produced today, the heyday of these low-budget, high-tension pictures was from the early 1940's to the mid-1950's. Here are ten classic films noir that set the tone for countless "black films" that followed in their echoing, unsettling footsteps. "Scarlet Street" - A mild-mannered, henpecked bank cashier and amateur painter falls for a pretty face who figures he's a rich and famous artist, leading to his being taken advantage of by her greedy and scheming boyfriend. "Detour" - A Manhattan night-club piano player hitchhikes to Hollywood to meet up with his girl friend. Along the way, he's picked up by a driver who winds up dead. The hitchhiker assumes the dead driver's identity but winds up being blackmailed by a sexy - and scheming - female hitchhiker who knows his secret. "The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers" - A gambler with a dark past returns to his hometown to find that his wealthy ex-fiancee is now married to an alcoholic district attorney in his film debut). The D.A. is worried that he and his wife are going to be blackmailed (since she's also a murderess), so he tries to use the gambler's sultry new friend to get rid of him. "Whistle Stop" - A sexy woman of ill repute returns to her hometown looking for money and rekindles her relationship with her old love, an alcoholic gambler.