The 1940s was a decade that began on January 1, 1940, and ended on December 31, 1949.
Max Jacob was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.
Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler, and exemplifying the hardboiled crime fiction genre. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep, published in 1939. Chandler's early short stories, published in pulp magazines such as Black Mask and Dime Detective, featured similar characters with names like "Carmady" and "John Dalmas" starting in 1933.
Jean Yanne was a French actor, screenwriter, producer, director and composer. In 1972, he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film We Won't Grow Old Together.
A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.
Paul Ramadier was a politician and a French statesman.
Escape to Victory is a 1981 American-British-Italian sports war film directed by John Huston and starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Max von Sydow and Pelé. The film is about Allied prisoners of war who are interned in a German prison camp during the Second World War who play an exhibition match of football against a German team.
André Hunebelle was a French maître verrier and film director.
This Land Is Mine is a 1943 American war drama film directed by Jean Renoir and written and produced by Dudley Nichols. Starring Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara and George Sanders, the film is set in the midst of World War II in an unspecified place in German-occupied Europe that appears similar to France. Laughton plays Albert Lory, a cowardly school teacher in a town "somewhere in Europe" who is drawn into advocating resistance through his love of his country and of his fellow teacher Louise Martin, portrayed by O'Hara.
Is Paris Burning? is a 1966 epic black-and-white war film about the liberation of Paris in August 1944 by the French Resistance and the Free French Forces during World War II. A French-American co-production, it was directed by French filmmaker René Clément, with a screenplay by Gore Vidal, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost and Claude Brulé, adapted from the 1965 book of the same title by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. The film stars an international ensemble cast that includes French, American and German stars.
Black Dragons is a 1942 American film directed by William Nigh and starring Bela Lugosi, Joan Barclay, and George Pembroke. The cast includes Clayton Moore, who plays a handsome detective. The Black Dragon Society also appears in Let's Get Tough! a 1942 East Side Kids film made by the same team of writer Harvey Gates and producer Sam Katzman.
Philip Dorn, sometimes billed as Frits van Dongen, was a Dutch American actor who had a career in Hollywood. He was best known for portraying the father in the film I Remember Mama (1948).
Paranoid fiction is a term sometimes used to describe works of literature that explore the subjective nature of reality and how it can be manipulated by forces in power. These forces can be external, such as a totalitarian government, or they can be internal, such as a character's mental illness or refusal to accept the harshness of the world they are in.
Footsteps in the Dark is a light-hearted 1941 mystery film, starring Errol Flynn as an amateur detective investigating a murder.
Douglas Henderson was an American film and television actor.
From Hell to Victory is a 1979 Euro War film directed by Umberto Lenzi and produced by Edmondo Amati. The international cast stars George Peppard, George Hamilton, Horst Buchholz, Anny Duperey, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Ray Lovelock, Sam Wanamaker, and Capucine. The screenplay by frequent Lenzi collaborators Gianfranco Clerici and José Luis Martínez Mollá is based on a story co-authored by the director. The film was a co-production between Italy, Spain, and France.
Enemy Agent is a 1940 American spy thriller film directed by Lew Landers and starring Richard Cromwell, Helen Vinson, and Robert Armstrong. The supporting cast includes Jack La Rue, Jack Carson, Philip Dorn and Milburn Stone. It was produced and distributed by Universal Studios
Secrets of Scotland Yard is a 1944 American thriller film directed by George Blair and starring Edgar Barrier, Stephanie Bachelor and C. Aubrey Smith. The screenplay was by Denison Clift, adapting one of his own stories "Room 40, O.B." from Blue Book Magazine. It concerns a British police detective who goes undercover to root out a Nazi spy in Britain's decoding organization.
Love Under Fire is a 1937 American drama film based upon the play by Walter C. Hackett. It was directed by George Marshall and stars Loretta Young, Don Ameche and Frances Drake. The film's sets were designed by the art director Rudolph Sternad.
