Archives Worth a Look

If there is a first or “proto” film noir, this is it - 1931 German Expressionist thriller directed by Fritz Lang. The screen role established Peter Lorre. Shortly after M, the rise of Nazis forced both artists to flee Europe for Hollywood. Some of the most talented writers and directors of German cinema were in that migration. It will be an important part of the foundation for what we today call film noir. Fritz Lang would go on to direct some of the greatest American noirs.

Directed by a young Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? ) and now regarded as a classic. Tough-as-nails P.I. Mike Hammer gets ensnarled with a mysterious and lethal “Great Whatsit” box - a mad chase saturated in Cold War paranoia with people literally dying to possess it. Watch Cloris Leachman in a riveting first screen role, plus extended looks at two iconic sports cars: the 1954 Chevrolet Corvette C1, one of the earliest screen appearances for

Some say this is not a true film noir. Nevertheless, it’s as downright cynical and pessimistic as you could want. If you know Andy Griffith only as a good ole boy single-dad Sheriff, this movie will shock you. It shocked him, too. Griffith - in his first screen performance - found the role of amoral, narcissistic charlatan “Lonesome” Rhodes so personally distasteful he declared never to play such a character again. In 1960, he moved permanently to Mayberry. Co-starring Pa