Road House

Jean Negulesco's noir stays almost entirely inside a roadhouse on the edge of town. Ida Lupino plays the singer the owner hires, Cornel Wilde the man who actually runs the place, and Richard Widmark the owner whose jealousy is the fuse. Lupino does her own singing, and the untrained voice is the point: it belongs in that room. The song Again was introduced here and went on to become a standard. Coming shortly after Kiss of Death, Widmark again weaponises his grin. The last act moves into the woods and abandons the urban furniture the genre usually leans on. Who it is for: viewers who like the strand of noir built on jealousy and place rather than a murder puzzle. Who it is not for: anyone who wants plot velocity, since this sits a long time with four people in one room.