Von Scerscen.- Diario di un'indagine

After the war, Matt Gordon returns to Singapore to retrieve a fortune in smuggled pearls. Arrived, he reminisces in flashback about his prewar fiancée, alluring Linda, and her disappearance during the Japanese attack. But now Linda resurfaces...with amnesia and married to rich planter Van Leyden. Meanwhile, sinister fence Mauribus schemes to get Matt's pearls.

Film Noir burrows into the mind; it's disorienting, intriguing and enthralling. Noir brings us into a gritty underworld of lush morbidity, providing intimate peeks at its tough, scheming dames, mischievous misfits and flawed men - all caught in the wicked web of a twisted fate.

Film noir, which enjoyed particular success in the 1930s and 1940s, is probably the most profound genre of classic Hollywood cinema. Eckhart Schmidt tries to show the background and developments and speaks, among others, with directors such as Richard Fleischer and Robert Wise as well as with "femme fatale" actresses. Filmmakers of the following generations explain how the style and themes of noir continue to shape cinema today.

A group of con artists stake their claim on a bogus uranium mine.

After emerging victorious from the horrors of World War II, the U.S. eagerly pushed into a new era of optimism, hope, and success. But the shadowy and cigarette-stained B-side to the bright, shiny America emerged: the film noir. Made for cheap, these dark tales scratched at a different society, filled with twisted psyches and sinister motives. Filmmaker Tom Thurman teams up with film critic and narrator David Thomson to weave together a hypnotic collage of a dark world that influences our national identity to this day.

A private detective foils the plans of villains attempting to take over Panamanian oil fields while he searches for a valuable map hidden in plain sight.

An artist suffering from mental problems from his experiences during the war goes to Acapulco on his honeymoon. Soon young women are turning up dead in the area, and the ex-GI comes to believe he might be responsible, as he has long stretches where he can't remember anything.

An oil engineer surrounded by foul play helps an heiress bring in a well.

A Martinique charter boat skipper gets mixed up with the underground French resistance operatives during WWII.

Nick 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?

Spain. 1978. Year of the first democratic elections following the dictatorship, and of the birth cine quinqui (delinquent movies): films that rapidly became a big commercial success, showing things that were banned by the censorship not too long before.

A San Francisco lawyer uses a woman to lure a merchant seaman worth a legendary fortune.

Baby Boy of House

A meddlesome reporter sporting a young bride takes on a gang of modern day cattle rustlers. Donald "Red" Barry plays Dan Reilly, a newspaper reporter just returned to LA with his wife, photographer Margie (Marjorie Steele). Margie insists on taking pictures of everywhere they go, and so as she's walking into a butcher shop she poses for Dan - while at the same time three thugs make their way quickly out after beating up the proprietors. Soon Margie and Dan are involved in investigating an illegal meat operation that rustles cattle and forces butchers to buy it - or else. Dan gets beaten up a couple of times, but is undaunted in pursuing the great story - and hey, he's only got 64 minutes to do so, he'd best get cracking!

A federal agent joins forces with a British lawman to foil a spy ring.

A documentary about film noir films made in Los Angeles.

A man on the run from the Chicago Mob gets sidetracked.

Film critics, actors, film historians and other personalities share their experiences and curious stories on the acclaimed Billy Wilder's masterpiece "Sunset Blvd."; its cultural importance by being one of the most iconic and revolutionary films ever made and a picture that still stands the test of time.

Short documentary on the film noir, Tension.

Documentary on the film noir Side Street with director Oliver Stone and critic Richard Schickel.