A cast of incredible characters led by Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade join in the famous hunt for an ancient bejeweled object of precious art, the Maltese Falcon. Much of the material was taken directly from the Dashiell Hammett novel.

Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck together in the best movie that either one of them ever made.

Hitchcock's brilliant, brooding masterpiece from Daphne DuMaurier's timeless novel. A woman who is never even seen in the film dominates the entire movie and the lives of everyone she has left behind.

Kathleen Turner sizzles, and William Hurt falls for her in the heat, in this Noir thriller. The scorching temperature on screen just keeps rising. I have yet to meet anyone who didn't like this film.

Nefarious doings and goings-on in New Orleans.

DePalma demonstrates that seeing might be believing, but it is not necessarily being.

The ultimate shower scene of all time. 'A boy's best friend is his mother.' Hitchcock would bring a more conventional sense of menace in America to 'North by Northwest.'

A classic Hitchcock film about obsession and fear of heights with the lovely Kim Novak and the skilled James Stewart. In addition to 'Rear Window' and 'Vertigo,' Stewart would, also, appear in 'The Man Who Knew Too Much.'

A sparkling, polished gem that needs to be brought out on DVD so that anyone interested in mysteries and detective stories can see it. This movie glitters with wit. 'And as for you, Joan of Arc ... .'

A Hollywood director invites those he knows onto his yacht for a series of twisted party games that lead to dire repercussions. Along with 'Gumshoe' and 'Apartment Zero,' it belongs to the group of favourite movies of mine that many other people have never even heard of.

Detective Donald Strachey returns to deal with lies, dishonesty, self-delusion and murder. 'On The Other Hand, Death' and 'Ice Blues' are the next films to be released in the series."

Guy Pearce is an ambitious young law officer who discovers that not all in L. A. is sunshine and glamour.

Robert Mitchum does a great job as Philip Marlowe, perhaps even better than Bogart, in this remake of the classic from a Raymond Chandler novel, and Joan Collins shows that she, too, can act.

A man pushes both his wife and his mistress too far in this French thriller starring Simone Signoret. It was remade in a later American version with Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani.

A newly-blind Mia Farrow experiences danger and menace in the English countryside. You'll never quite look at getting into the bath the same way again.

How far would one go to have a hit play and live financially happily ever after? In this film, Christopher Reeve revealed that he could be quite a good actor.

Frances's salute to voyeurism. A sad, little man in a humdrum life spies on his neighbour and is drawn into her troubled life.

Angelica Houston and John Cusack play a mother-son team of scam artists.

This is the one television item on the list. It's an HBO series based on the Philip Marlowe short stories by Raymond Chandler.

Not truly a detective movie at all; however, it explores the world of California and Hollywood that spawned Film Noir, and is it ever dark. And a gun does go off.