This Gun for Hire - (Frank Tuttle;1942;USA)
A hitman with a soft side for cats and children goes to L.A. to kill his employers who paid him with hot money.
Not only is this an influential film but this also manages to be an excellent character study for it's time. It's not as structured as Le Samourai, but it's still an excellent film for it's own reasons. It was made at a time when psychological character development wasn't very prominent, and Alan Ladd proves to have a powerful presence, as well as Veronica Lake. Fans of Le Samourai should see this. Almost better then Double Indemnity. Oddly enough, a few moments reminded me of North By Northwest.