Devil in a Blue Dress

[SuperDanX]

Saw this for the first time last night, great, great noir, probably one of the most underrated films of the last 20 years, looks gorgeous, the mise en scene and cinematography is comparable to thee greatest neo noir of all (Chinatown) looks stunning. Worthy of a noir of the week Steve-O.

Synopsis copied from imdb because I'm extremely er, busy (lazy)

It is 1948 in LA and Ezikeal "Easy" Rawlins, an African-American World War II veteran, is looking for work. At his friend's bar, he is introduced to a white man, DeWitt Albright, who is looking for someone to help him find a missing white woman assumed to be hiding somewhere in LA's Black community. This woman, Daphane Monet, happens to be the fiancée of a wealthy "blue blood," Todd Carter, who is currently the favorite in the city's mayoralty race. Daphane Monet is known to frequent the Black jazz clubs in LA. Easy, innocently, accepts Albright's offer; however, he quickly finds himself amidst murder, crooked cops, ruthless politicians, and brutalizing hoodlums. This is a Chandler-esque "who-done-it" with an African-American theme.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112857/

Only bettered in recent times by LA Confedential IMO.

Trailer-

[Adam Lounsbery]

I agree about Devil in a Blue Dress. Maybe it's just because I saw it before reading the book, but I think the film is better.

The director, Carl Franklin, also made the excellent crime film One False Move, which just recently became available on Netflix Streaming.