Now playing on the Criterion Channel: https://www.criterionchannel.com/1950-peak-noir

The nihilistic shadow that hung over post-war Hollywood was at its darkest in 1950, the year that saw the greatest number of noir films released. In these films, ranging from canonical classics to hidden gems, directors like Nicholas Ray, Billy Wilder, and John Huston took noir beyond hard-boiled detective stories and hybridized it with other genres: films about social problems that tackle racism (NO WAY OUT) and mafia. violence (TRY AND GET ME!), melodrama and 'women's photographs' (CAGED, THE DAMNED DON'T CRY), robberies (THE ASPHALT JUNGLE), road movies (GUN CRAZY) and even cynical self-portraits of Hollywood itself (SUNSET BOULEVARD, OP ONE LONELY PLACE). Examples of a move towards realism in Hollywood – many include location shooting; true crime sources; a grittier, less glamorous visual palette; and bleaker endings – these films exemplify the studio system at its height, as well as the radical changes that await the films and the country itself.

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