Best Film Noir 1950 - 1954 part II: 1951

[Steve-O]

what is your favorite from 1951?

[eubiecat]

Truly a tough decision, 1951! I went with ACE IN THE HOLE because, as Billy Wilder's most cynical movie, it's also the most cynical of all films noir. It way way overdoes the cynicism, but somehow it works. Just for the line "Kneeling bags my nylons!" it gets my vote.

CRY DANGER, TRY AND GET ME and STRANGERS ON A TRAIN are also strong, strong films. I haven't seen Joseph Losey's M or TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY, but all the other selections in the poll are first-rate noirs.

[Richard]

Fine and memorable noirs, each film in the list.
Did CRY DANGER and THE PROWLER get a repertory screening recently?
For me, the choice is between STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and ACE IN THE HOLE.
How do I choose between these two masterpieces?
With a coin toss, that's how, and ACE IN THE HOLE won.

Richard

[noirguru]

I voted for Strangers On A Train, but I have a feeling Ace In The Hole, will get the most votes! M is a poor remake of Lang's M, wonder why Losey agreed to direct it?

[Hard-Boiled-Rick]

Strangers gets my vote. Hitchcock, Highsmith, and Chandler = powerful storytellers.

[Christina Delassalle]

Strangers on a Train Hitchcock was such a master at blending murder and black humor.

[Bob]

Ace in the Hole is a uniquely cynical and vicious film, so it has my vote. However, the last 10 minutes of Try and Get Me (didn't that come out in 1950?) still acts for me as a semi-documentary-like “kick in the stomach", and He Ran All the Way, is a fitting testament to Garfield's great, and all too short career. The brilliance of the entire group effort of HRATW is best seen on the big screen. Had he lived, I think Garfield could have been a Don Corleone of tragic proportions.

[Richard]

Had he lived, I think Garfield could have been a Don Corleone of tragic proportions.

Yeah. You said it.


Richard

[Movie Memories]

A late vote for this poll, but Strangers gets my vote also. Robert Walker was a story himself, with this role expected to make him a star. And it would have had he not accidently died (age 32) from an injection by his own psychiatrist for an anxiety attack. He turned out to be allergic to the medicine.