Detective Kelley is called to investigate a murder and we discover his wife Delia, a dance-hall hostess, has been murdered. We learn Kelley's past invovement with Delia and what happened via a very convoluted point-of-view. The story ends in true hard-boiled fashion. Oldman delivers a bravura performance--a must-see. He gives evidence that he's one of cinemas finest actors.
Eve Cressy is a gangster's moll who awaits the return of her lover from prison. She meets Tony Reseck, the hotel dick, whose attempt to protect her end in violence.
In the 1940's and 1950's some members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) had more interests than their slogan suggests: to protect and to serve. In this episode sadistic Streeter and brutal Creighton are corrupt cops whose antics lead to a nasty and tragic end when a shakedown plan goes awry.
We meet our anti-hero, grifter Mitch Allison, disheveled and walking by the side of the road. He tells us in a flash back narrative how he stole $25,000 from his con-artist wife Bette and jumped on a train hoping to double the money in a scam. He meets sultry Babe and gets involved in more than he bargained for. The twists and turns never stop in this fast paced tale.
Annie, in true noir fashion, fatalistically falls in love with a millionaire who is quite bewitched by another lover and is not afraid to show it. In flashback narrative Annie explains that she met Dwight six weeks earlier and soon we understand Dwight's total obsession with ""the other woman."" How far will Dwight go to win and keep the love of his adored Bernette? What must Annie do to win Dwight's love?
In this comic noir, fixer-bag-man Buzz Meeks is hired by both of his bosses--the multi-talented Howard Hughes and the gangster Mickey Cohen--to find, oops, the same girl whom they have both fallen madly in love with. This quite hilarious episode, narrated by ""Buzz"" in flashback, is peppered with many tales about the characters that made Los Angeles in the 1950's so incredibly interesting. Please suspend your disbelief in this episode and enjoy the ride.
A dissatisfied boxer's wife leaves her husband for another man. But she wants to give the marriage another chance. However, fate touches Matt Cordell when he is framed for a murder.
Johnny Lamb is an elevator man by day and a hit man by night. He's very good at his job; he's a professional. The Boss sends him on a job that makes Lamb confront his conscience, maybe for the first time. The episode has interesting male relationships seldom touched in hard-boiled novels nor found in film noir.
A police detective investigates the untimely death of a nightclub dancer but the investigation is called off by the brass. The problem: the killer is still loose.
In the noir world you never know how certain people can change your life forever. A woman is transformed when she falls for a wise guy.
In pure noir fashion, where fatalism plays it's untimely hand, Hollywood actor Rich Thurber gets off the bus and enters a bar to take drink. The bar is then abruptly taken over by bank thieves. The hoods mistake Rich for a local politician and take him and Carol, the daughter of Los Angeles' top cop, for a ride they won't soon forget. Look for a surprising and riveting end.
It's the nature of noir never to know who your friends are. A mobster is hiding out in a hotel room and one by one his thug friends abandon him.
A well known socialite is missing and the famed shamus, the Continental Op, is on the trail in this story that takes place in 1929. The case takes the Continental Op to blackmail and murder.
Famed Los Angeles private dick Marlowe investigates a series of murders in noir fashion.
In a tale that takes place in south-central Los Angeles, Fearless Jones and Paris Minton become involved with a femme fatale nightclub jazz singer. They try to help out Deletha by planning to steal her singing contract from the nightclub manager. Not all go as the wily sleuths planned.