Polanski has a go at the film noir detective thriller, very bleak, very twisted and very menacing it is to. Nicholson plays a private-eye in pre-war LA who is hired to pursue an adultery case, but finds himself embroiled in a complicated murder investigation. find out more...

Phyllis Dietrichson is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man who inspires in her nothing but contempt, but rather than leave him Phyllis decides to kill him and collect on the insurance policy she's had set up with the help of her lover, and naive partner in crime, insurance salesman Walter Neff. The only flaws in their plan are the company's reluctance to pay out so much, the diligence of Neff's increasingly suspicious colleague, (and his 'little man'), and the exemplary ruthlessness of Ph find out more...

The film that catapulted Mitchum to stardom; after Kathie shoots her admirer and runs off with his 40 grand he, naturally, hires a private dick to find her. Although the dick finds Katie in Mexico, they decide to tell Sterling that he couldn't find her. find out more...

The original and best version of the detective thriller classic. Philip Marlowe is hired to investigate the gambling debts of a rich man's daughter, but is plunged into a twilight world of intrigue, blackmail and violence. Stylish and gripping. find out more...

Tense mystery thriller with Gene Hackman as an ace surveillance expert who begins to question the morality of his own work. Listening in on a young couple during an apparently routine job, he realises he's involved in something far more sinister than he thought. Gripping and thought provoking. find out more...

Treachery and deception in this classic film noir as various groups of low life characters try to lay their mits on the ancient treasure. Sam Spade is the honest fall guy. One of the best Hollywood films ever and certainly one of the best of its type. Initiated the move away from gangster movies. find out more...

Classic film noir from the pen and director's chair of Orson Welles. Set in a seedy Mexican border town the local police chief is corrupt and bigoted, his only enemy a crusading Mexican narcotics investigator, determined to bring the policeman to book and expose his murderous scams. Touch of Evil has all the stunning trade mark cinematography of an Orson Welles picture and is a superbly dark and brooding movie with some fine subsidiary characters. Kafkaesque. find out more...