When noir packed its bags and left the big city its new ‘peaceful’ home was anything but.
Many American films noir of the early 1940s were anchored to big cities — Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York. So were a number of returning World War II GIs. As veterans arrived home to civilian life and began migrating away from urban centers to newly developing byways of suburbia, noir followed.
Away from shadowy alleyways and dark tenements, the outer boroughs provided sunshine and protection from urban crime, or at least, that was the perception. So who would guess those fleeing big cities would land in neighborhoods that were at least as treacherous as the ones they abandoned?
In “Murder by Contract” (1958), the urge to flee the city and move to a suburban utopia motivates a hired killer, simply known as Claude (Vince Edwards), to commit vicious crimes. Claude's contract killings finance the down payment on a suburban bungalow. He plans to blend into a community that no doubt touts its citizens’ wholesome lifestyles and the area’s low crime rate. “Murder by Contract” suggests the notion of squeaky clean suburban neighborhoods inhabited by upright citizens is a myth. Some residents may have resorted to more extreme measures than their neighbors could imagine to secure their spot in paradise.
Read more at: https://crimeonfilm.com/the-suburban-jungle-when-noir-bled-out-of-the-city/