Lang's Newspaper Noir Trio | The Blue Gardenia - While the City Sleeps - Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

The Blue Gardenia is a 1953 black-and-white film noir directed by Fritz Lang. The first of Lang's "newspaper noir" movie trio -- with While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt -- The Blue Gardenia criticizes newspaper coverage of a sensational murder case. Nat King Cole sings the title song and appears in the movie. The theme song was written by Nelson Riddle. Film director and writer Peter Bogdanovich called the film "A particularly venomous picture of American life." DVD Available »

While the City Sleeps is the next newspaper film noir directed by Fritz Lang. The newspaper drama, written by Casey Robinson was based on The Bloody Spur by Charles Einstein. The film features Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Howard Duff, and others. The film weaves together two stories: a serial killer hunt and the competition for a newspaper's editorship.

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt was last of the trio directed by Fritz Lang. It was written by Douglas Morrow. The film, considered film noir, was the last American film directed by Lang. A newspaper publisher, wanting to prove a point about the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence, talks his possible son-in-law Tom Garrett into a hoax in an attempt to expose the alleged ineptitude of the city's hard-line district attorney. In 2008, it was announced that Peter Hyams will helm a remake of the film starring Michael Douglas, Amber Tamblyn, and Jesse Metcalfe.