Regarding the noir debate, it's generally considered that Huston's The Maltese Falcon (1941) was the first true noir, and Welles' Touch of Evil (1958) was the last. Any before or since are coincidental in their elements. And in fact, the whole "genre" of noir is vague itself, since at the time, the directors were making uncategorizable thrillers. Only the French critics coined the term at the end of the war, when these dark, American femmes fatales and sun-baked venetian blinds came flooding onto their screens.

Regarding A Clockwork Orange (1971), it is a witty, meticulous social metaphor. Terrific and terrifying, this verges many times on both farce and horror, with brilliant directorial touches throughout. Burgess' novel is even better.

Mick