Notorious (1946)

A spy movie at its essence - with a focus entirely on the spying. The deceit, lying and skulking around with little assurance of your own safety. There are no flashy action sequences here, in fact, most of the action takes place off screen. The information uncovered while sleuthing is sent to those who need it, while never being quite enough.

Starting slow, with a lot of bulky relationship building, the payoff comes in the second half when all of the performers revel in the depth of their subtlety, weaving their performanced nuances to create a gripping tapestry of fear and intrigue.

Sunset Blvd. (1950)

For some reason people seem to have a bad relationship with black and white films. There are many explanations as for the root cause of this, but the result is - it's a damn shame. A movie as solidly good as this should not be missed by anyone, for any reason.

At times crushingly sad, at times intriguingly honest, Sunset, for me, spoke less about the Hollywood system than just about companionship itself. Throughout the film that's all anyone yearns for - their individual goals for attaining this are different, but their lofty end goal is the same wholly relatable experience. Highly recommended.

The Apartment (1960)

What could have been another missable farce completely redeems itself by injecting, at just the right moment, a huge dose of reality into itself. There's no other way to describe it - it feels like the filmmakers asked themselves this: "What would happen in a screwball comedy if the character's actions actually had consequences?" And for that, I thank them.

This is a supremely warm, funny film and, the characters - even while the gravitas of their situation sinks in - they carry on with a forced smile, daring themselves to keep things light - and they, in a totally endering way, succeed. Highly recommended.