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Secret Beyond the Door (1948, USA, Lang)

Joan Bennett finally finds a nice guy to marry, but realizes that Something Is Wrong.  Watched it all.  Further proof that psychoanalytical bullshit can be a good plot device.  Favorite scene: The tour of the husband’s collection of historical murder rooms, above, (which, yes, is one of the signs that Something Is Wrong).

Blood on the Moon (1948, USA, Wise)

The scene where Robert Mitchum and Barbare Bel Geddes flirt by playfully shooting each other’s hats off etc. is maybe the stupidest scene in all of western history.  I mean, these are not very accurate guns.  And they don’t seem to be aiming them very carefully either.  Watched: 12 minutes.

Hollow Triumph (1948, USA, Sekely)

Tip: When you’re hiding from the gangsters you robbed for a fortune, don’t just kill your twin brother who has a scar and take his place.  That’s stupid.  Trick the gangsters into killing him, then take his place.  Just saying.  Watched it all.  On the other hand: Faking the scar of your murdered twin, and realizing that nobody notices that it’s on the wrong side of your face?  Pretty brilliant.

The Iron Curtain (1948, USA, Wellman)

Ooh, communist spies!  It’s about time.  Watched: 8 minutes.  I don’t want to downplay the anti-communist paranoia of this time, which reached ridiculous heights, but the Soviet spies really did arrive years before the fear of them.  While they were learning how to build nuclear bombs, Hollywood was portraying Stalin as the benevolent grandfather of Russia.