D.O.A.
Dir: Rudolph Maté
1950
****
An impressive film noir with a brilliant idea:

Homicide Detective: Can I help you?
Frank Bigelow: I'd like to see the man in charge.
Homicide Detective: In here...
Frank Bigelow: I want to report a murder.
Homicide Captain: Sit down. Where was this murder committed?
Frank Bigelow: San Francisco, last night.
Homicide Captain: Who was murdered?
Frank Bigelow: I was.

What an opener! The story does live up to the high expectation that that first line creates too, filmed in beautiful black and white and with a killer script. Unlike many films of the era though, the ending is not sugarcoated and it's all the better for it! An overlooked Noir worth investigating, the 1988 remake should be avoided at all costs!