Film Noir: Escaping The Past.
Movies featuring characters who are tormented by the secrets, traumas, criminality or relationships of their pasts.
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- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsRobert RyanLaraine DayJohn AgarSuccessful, newly married Brad Collins once belonged to the Communist Party of the USA, and now the Party will stop at nothing to use him.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsEdward G. RobinsonLon McCallisterJudith AndersonAn old man and his sister are concealing a terrible secret from their adopted teen daughter, concerning a hidden abandoned farmhouse, located deep in the woods.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsBurt LancasterAva GardnerEdmond O'BrienHit men arrive in a small New Jersey town to kill an unresisting victim, and insurance investigator Reardon uncovers his past involvement with beautiful, deadly Kitty Collins.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsCharles BoyerIngrid BergmanJoseph CottenTen years after her aunt was murdered in their London home, a woman returns from Italy in the 1880s to resume residence with her new husband. His obsessive interest in the home rises from a secret that may require driving his wife insane.
- 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.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsDana AndrewsGene TierneyGary MerrillDet. Sgt. Mark Dixon wants to be something his old man wasn't: a guy on the right side of the law. Will Dixon's vicious nature get the better of him?
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsBarbara StanwyckVan HeflinLizabeth ScottA man is reunited with his childhood friend and her husband who believes he knows the truth about the death of her rich aunt years earlier.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsBette DavisPaul HenreidClaude RainsAfter marrying her long-lost love, a musician finds the relationship threatened by a wealthy composer who is besotted with her.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsVan HeflinRobert RyanJanet LeighAn embittered, vengeful POW stalks his former commanding officer who betrayed his men's planned escape attempt from a Nazi prison camp.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsDane ClarkGail RussellEthel BarrymoreDanny is despised by his schoolmates because his father was accused of killing another man and sentenced to death.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsJane RussellVictor MatureVincent PriceThe arrival in Las Vegas of a businessman and his glamorous wife creates a complex web of murder and deceit.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsJoseph CottenAlida ValliSpring ByingtonAn ex-hood hopes to start a new life under an assumed name in a small town but his past catches up with him when an old crime-buddy asks him to help with a casino heist.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsLaurence OlivierJoan FontaineGeorge SandersA self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsJohn HodiakNancy GuildLloyd NolanGeorge Taylor returns from WWII with amnesia. Back home in Los Angeles, while trying to track down his old identity, he stumbles onto a 3-year old murder case and a hunt for a missing $2 million.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsKirk DouglasEleanor ParkerWilliam BendixOn one day in the 21st Precinct squad room, assorted characters form a backdrop for the troubles of hard-nosed Detective Jim McLeod.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel GeddesA former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsJohn PayneSonny TuftsEllen DrewWar hero recovers from amnesia and is confronted by his criminal past.
- DirectorWilliam BerkeStarsCesar RomeroGeorge BrentAudrey TotterA governor planning to run for U.S. Senate has a secret past that could prove damaging to his political aspirations: he's a convicted murderer, and that will come to light if the FBI does an investigative check on him. He goes to a local crime boss for help. The racketeer arranges for a low-level FBI employee to take the incriminating file from FBI headquarters, but then she is conveniently murdered. Two FBI agents investigating her murder begin to think that something isn't quite kosher.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsRita HayworthGlenn FordGeorge MacreadyA small-time gambler hired to work in a Buenos Aires casino discovers his employer's new wife is his former lover.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsAlan LaddVeronica LakeWilliam BendixAn ex-bomber pilot is suspected of murdering his unfaithful wife.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesPeter van EyckMichael RedgraveAn elusive billionaire hires an American smuggler to investigate his past, leading to a dizzying descent into a cold-war European landscape.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsKatharine HepburnRobert TaylorRobert MitchumMiddle-aged bride Ann Hamilton soon begins to suspect that her charming husband is really a psychotic who plans to murder her.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJoan BennettRobert RyanCharles BickfordA Coast Guardsman suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder becomes involved with a beautiful and enigmatic seductress married to a blind painter.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergMel FerrerNicholas RayStarsRobert MitchumJane RussellWilliam BendixNick Cochran, an American in exile in Macao, has a chance to restore his name by helping capture an international crime lord. Undercover, can he mislead the bad guys and still woo the attractive singer/petty crook, Julie Benson?
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsRobert TaylorCyd CharisseLee J. CobbLawyer Tommy Farrell is a defender of crooks. Vicki Gaye encourages him to go straight, but mob king Rico Angelo insists otherwise.