I Love Trouble (1948) on IMDb

One of the best-represented, critically acclaimed genres in the Internet Archive’s Feature Films collection is film noir, and this is the first example on this list. (Or the last example, if you’re reading 1 to 100.) Franchot Tone plays LA detective Stuart Bailey, the same character who would be the hero of the 1958 TV series 77 Sunset Strip.

In I Love Trouble, Bailey is hired by a wealthy man to investigate his missing wife’s background. Bailey pulls at the threads of information until he gets tangled up in at least one murder. It’s noir, which means that no one can be trusted, and I’ll leave it at that. The quality of the print starts out rough but quickly improves enough to keep this movie in the IA Top 100.

 The Light of Western Stars (1930) on IMDb

The Internet Archive’s Feature Film collection includes a lot of relatively short westerns from the first couple of decades of talking pictures. Winning the West, also known as The Light of Western Stars, is the best-rated of that multitude, so it’s the lone representative in the IA Top 100.

Richard Arlen stars as an embittered ranch foreman who wants revenge against the bad guys who killed his buddy. The dead buddy’s wife arrives to take over the ranch, Arlen makes a bad first impression, and everything sorts itself out quickly, since the movie is less than 70 minutes long. If you like this one, there are hundreds more from the genre available in the same place.

 Sidewalks of London (1938) on IMDb

St. Martin’s Lane, also known as Sidewalks of London, stars Charles Laughton as a busker who teams up with a pretty, young pickpocket (Vivien Leigh). Rex Harrison plays a theater patron who is impressed by the pickpocket’s dancing and brings her into their theatrical troupe, launching her career.

In Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide, he calls out 26 memorable performances from A to Z, and the V is Vivien Leigh’s work in Sidewalks of London. It was her last movie before she starred in Gone With the Wind, and it’s worthy of inclusion in the Internet Archive Top 100.

 The Adventures of Tartu (1943) on IMDb

In this period spy drama, British Captain Terence Stevenson (Robert Donat) is parachuted into Romania and pretends to work for the enemy so he can steal the formula of a new Nazi poison gas and blow up the chemical plant where it is being manufactured.

This film, calledĀ Sabotage Agent in the UK, was the first MGM-British production in two years, with an American director but an all-British cast, and it featured a captured bomber with Luftwaffe markings. Donat’s riveting performance propels The Adventures of Tartu into the Internet Archive Top 100.

 Dressed to Kill (1946) on IMDb

Another staple of the old movie repackagers was the Sherlock Holmes movies set in the present-day 1940s and starring Basil Rathbone. It turns out that only a handful slipped into the public domain, and the best-reviewed of those isĀ Dressed to Kill. Holmes has to discover why thieves are desperate for a particular set of music boxes.

I confess that watching these on TV as a child, I came to believe that Doctor Watson (as played by Nigel Bruce) was a bumbling sidekick. Upon reading the stories, I discovered that the original Watson was a very competent assistant, all the better to illustrate Holmes’ superiority. Every other adaptation recognizes this, but I guess Hollywood in the 40s still demanded comic relief and Bruce was the only one available to supply it. At any rate, I’m happy to help nudge this fast-paced movie into the Internet Archive Top 100.