Ministry of Fear (1944)

Graham Greene's novel The Ministry of Fear is an 'entertainment' rather than one of his more literary thrillers (like his novels heavy with Catholicism and imbued with authentic world detail from the author's real-life as a wartime spy) and Fritz Lang delivers his adaptation as just that - a shallow and quite ridiculous - but fun - film noir entertainment like a John Buchan thriller, with spies operating country fair fortune-teller booths and with forces for good and bad both chasing a cake that survives despite being wrested from the arms of multiple owners, partially eaten, involved in a bombing, and despite spending time in a bird's nest!

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Dial M For Murder (1954)

Generally, I'm not mad on murder mysteries or thrillers that hinge on logistical matters like times and places, alibis, who was where when, and so I don't get excited about the logic problem of keys and doors at the heart of this classic Hitchcock, but watching the visciously cool Ray Milland pitting wits with John Williams' Inspector Hubbard is thrilling, and especially enjoyable if you are lucky enough to see this in a cinema in its intended 3D.

★★★★★

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS