“London is filled with iniquity. A vile and wicked city. You will be in danger!” This warning from a creepy, old philosopher on a train begins the tale of The Green Cockatoo, an English proto-noir with an artsy, occasionally dreamy tone and a densely-packed couple-on-the-run story that brings together the talents of acclaimed art director William Cameron Menzies (serving here as director), famed British novelist Graham Greene, legendary composer Miklós Rózsa, and a baby-faced John Mills at the dawn of his career. Mills plays Jim Connor, brother to the hapless, double-crossing Dave Connor (Robert Newton) whose murder by the London underworld is pegged on a young ingenue named Eileen (Rène Raye) just minutes after her arrival in London to begin a new life. Eileen tracks down Jim at the nightclub where he performs, The Green Cockatoo, which were also Dave’s last words, and the two of them are soon running not only from the police but from the gangsters looking for the loot Dave swiped from their last hit. It’s an early noir adventure with an exceptional cast, a gorgeous B&W visual palette (shadowed trappings, oblique angles, deep focus), and a compact story (the film lasts barely an hour). Don’t sweat the occasional logical problems or the somewhat anti-climactic ending; just enjoy the earnest storytelling and wholesome characters that defined the very earliest specimens of the noir cycle.