journey into noir
by blue_sock_monkey | created - 18 May 2013 | updated - 17 Mar 2022 | PublicJoin me in exploring the world of noir--movies whose characters are as grey as the shadows with which they're filmed.
I like my Scotch neat, my fashions retro, and my noir dark, drawing me into a world that follows its own dreamy logic. The movies should have a flawed hero whose integrity will be tested & found wanting, a beautiful dame with a secret, an intriguing plot with a MacGuffin or two, a gritty urban landscape that itself becomes a character--plus actors and a director who know what depth & ambiguity are.
This list includes my personal ratings & pocket-size reviews. Come with me for a walk on the noir side.
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1. Blackmail (1929)
Not Rated | 85 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After killing a man in self-defense, a young woman is blackmailed by a witness to the killing.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anny Ondra, John Longden, Sara Allgood, Charles Paton
Votes: 11,941
7.5/10
I call this early-sound classic a proto-noir for its themes, its ambiguous characters, its high expressionistic style. (It also includes one of my favourite Hitchcock cameos.)
Hitchcock filmed in Germany in the mid-1920s, with the opportunity to observe FW Murnau directing first-hand. Many of Hitch's later films (The 39 Steps, Foreign Correspondent, Shadow of a Doubt, Strangers on a Train, Stage Fright, Vertigo, Psycho), though not true noirs, made fantastic use of what he learned there to create a cinematic style that was both influential & highly personal.
2. M (1931)
Passed | 99 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke
Votes: 168,248 | Gross: $0.03M
9/10 One of the great films, however you classify it.
3. The Letter (1940)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter written in her own hand may prove her undoing.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort
Votes: 14,572
8/10 Unforgettable performances from Bette Davis & James Stephenson, plus an intriguing story atmospherically filmed. The settings--especially the rubber plantation--are extremely effective.
4. Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
Approved | 64 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An aspiring reporter is the key witness at the murder trial of a young man accused of cutting a café owner's throat and is soon accused of a similar crime himself.
Director: Boris Ingster | Stars: Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet, Charles Waldron
Votes: 4,602
6.5/10
An early true noir, complete with voiceovers, flashbacks, grubby settings, & lotsa diagonal shadows. There's a wildly lighted dream sequence that resembles a 1950s production number choreographed by Gene Kelly. Lorre's face--alternately jovial and ominously blank--is creepier even than that, & we're not surprised when he orders his hamburgers raw.
Cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca later shot several noiresque films at RKO for producer Val Lewton, as well as the noir classic Out Of the Past 1947.
5. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
San Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre
Votes: 166,446 | Gross: $2.11M
10/10
The stuff dreams are made of, with pungent & colloquial dialogue to die for. Compelling cinematography by Arthur (Frankenstein 1931, Casablanca 1942) Edeson.
The same novel had been filmed twice previously, in radically different styles: The Maltese Falcon 1931 and Satan Met a Lady 1936 (which was also shot by Edeson). Watch those to understand the sheer brilliance of the work that made the 1941 version indelible.
6. Johnny Eager (1941)
Passed | 107 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
The step-daughter of a district attorney falls in love with a gangster on parole who her father originally imprisoned.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, Edward Arnold, Van Heflin
Votes: 3,414
6/10 If this weren't listed as noir, I would never have guessed from the film's script & cinematography that it was. I had a tough time taking the story seriously. Van Heflin is very good here, though.
7. The Leopard Man (1943)
Approved | 66 min | Film-Noir, Horror, Thriller
A seemingly-tame leopard used for a publicity stunt escapes and kills a young girl, spreading panic throughout a sleepy New Mexico town.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Dennis O'Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell
Votes: 5,951
7/10 One of Val Lewton's RKO films of the 1940s, this contains many noirish elements. It also contains three of the most disturbing killing sequences you'll ever see on film.
8. The Seventh Victim (1943)
Approved | 71 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A woman in search of her missing sister uncovers a Satanic cult in New York's Greenwich Village and finds that they could have something to do with her sibling's random disappearance.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Kim Hunter, Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell
Votes: 7,560
7.5/10 Another of Val Lewton's shadowy urban dreams. The story doesn't matter nearly as much as the pervasive despair, & the excellent use made of the cityscape.
9. Double Indemnity (1944)
Passed | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A Los Angeles insurance representative lets an alluring housewife seduce him into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, an insurance investigator.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Byron Barr
Votes: 167,256 | Gross: $5.72M
9/10
Stanwyck & MacMurray are a dynamite package. But it's Edward G. Robinson's performance that sticks with me. The detailing is brilliant too: the ankle bracelet, the furnishings, that balcony overlooking the office workers.
Don't miss the 1973 parody "Double Calamity" from The Carol Burnett Show: [link]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0536657/[/link]
10. Laura (1944)
Passed | 88 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.
Directors: Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price
Votes: 51,347 | Gross: $4.36M
8/10 The mystery isn't all that mysterious. It's the mood, built from lighting, angles, and music, that makes this so great.
11. Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Approved | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger
Votes: 14,690
6.5/10 The singularly uncompelling Powell plays tough guy Marlowe in a typically Chandleresque farrago of a tale. Not great, but it does have its moments.
12. My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
Not Rated | 65 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Julia Ross secures employment through a rather nosy employment agency, with a wealthy widow, Mrs. Hughes, and goes to live at her house. 2 days later, she awakens - in a different house, in... See full summary »
Director: Joseph H. Lewis | Stars: Nina Foch, May Whitty, George Macready, Roland Varno
Votes: 3,724
7/10 A most unusual noir, where the main character is female, the setting not urban or USA.
13. The Woman in the Window (1944)
Passed | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
When a conservative middle aged professor engages in a relationship with a femme fatale, he's plunged into a nightmarish world of blackmail and murder.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, Edmund Breon
Votes: 17,735
8.5/10 Stylish, subtle & intense noir with a controversial finale, that keeps its focus on characterization--most importantly, how Robinson's character views himself. Robinson & Bennett are excellent in an exciting yet oh-so-psychologically-plausible tale. Beautifully filmed by Milton Krasner & not to be missed.
14. Detour (1945)
Passed | 66 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer | Stars: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald
Votes: 19,676 | Gross: $0.02M
7.5/10 Engrossing, surreal--and utterly unique, with distinctive direction from Edgar (The Black Cat 1934) Ulmer. Savage is a wildcat, the most evil femme fatale ever. Don't miss this one.
15. Cornered (1945)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
Canadian flyer Laurence Gerard finds that his wife has been murdered by a French collaborator. His quest for justice leads him to Switzerland and Argentina.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Micheline Cheirel, Nina Vale
Votes: 2,463
7/10 Noir with a dollop of espionage--it's quite exciting, with an adult attitude that still feels modern. The story takes one or two too many loops, but it's fast-paced & full of tension. Slezak is the stand-out in a good cast.
16. Conflict (1945)
Passed | 86 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
An engineer trapped in an unhappy marriage murders his wife in the hope of marrying her younger sister.
Director: Curtis Bernhardt | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet, Rose Hobart
Votes: 4,588
6.5/10
Not one of Bogie's best; the plotting is not very complex, & there's no chemistry between him & Alexis Smith (who barely registered on me). However, it has some good moments, with nice atmosphere courtesy of foggy mountain roads and recurring symbols.
Hitchcock-related spoiler: Vertigo's McKittrick Hotel sequence almost certainly was borrowed from Conflict. Conflict itself owes an obvious debt to Gaslight 1940 (aka Angel Street) & Gaslight 1944.
17. Scarlet Street (1945)
Approved | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, though her fiancé persuades her to con him out of the fortune they mistakenly assume he possesses.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Margaret Lindsay
Votes: 19,124
18. The Big Sleep (1946)
Passed | 114 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail and what might be love.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers
Votes: 90,444 | Gross: $6.54M
7.5/10 One of the most ridiculous plots ever to grace the screen, turned into art by Hawks's direction and some sizzling performances.
19. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Passed | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A married woman and a drifter fall in love and then plot to murder her husband.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn
Votes: 22,832 | Gross: $8.33M
7.5/10
The setting--so banal, so sinister--& cinematography sell this one for me. Overall the cast is strong; Hume Cronyn as the tricky defense attorney & Jeff York as a motorcycle cop with a cat fixation are particularly memorable.
Having said that, I admit this classic has its problems. Turner looks too wonderful, though usually in a suitably trashy way; both Garfield & Kellaway act her into a corner. The blackmail sequence is over the top & could easily have been cut. Worse still, the dialogue in the final scene is all but unactable.
Nonetheless, this is a movie that you must see. It's easy to understand why Postman was the top moneymaker of all the noirs.
20. The Blue Dahlia (1946)
Passed | 96 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
An ex-bomber pilot is suspected of murdering his unfaithful wife.
Director: George Marshall | Stars: Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva
Votes: 9,647 | Gross: $2.70M
6/10 Solid performances, but the plot requires a boatload of cringe-worthy coincidences to function.
21. The Stranger (1946)
Passed | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Philip Merivale
Votes: 28,684
7/10
The small town atmosphere is well-captured & contrasts in a satisfyingly sinister way with the moody cinematography. Yes, the plot is both simple & absurd, Welles chews quite a lot of scenery & Young's character is embarassingly unconvincing, but this is still a noir that kept me entertained all the way through.
It's also very Hitchcockian. There are moments when the film feels too much like Shadow of a Doubt 1943, with a climax reminiscent of both Blackmail 1929 & Saboteur 1942.
22. Gilda (1946)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A small-time gambler hired to work in a Buenos Aires casino discovers his employer's new wife is his former lover.
Director: Charles Vidor | Stars: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready, Joseph Calleia
Votes: 35,213
6.5/10 Too much Gilda, not enough crime. Hayworth is a knockout; Ford is adequate in a thankless role. The cinematography (by Rudolph Maté) is very atmospheric--although the film as a whole lacks any real Argentinean flavour.
23. Nocturne (1946)
Approved | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
In 1940s Los Angeles, when womanizing composer Keith Vincent is found dead, the inquest concludes it was a suicide but police detective Joe Warne isn't so sure.
Director: Edwin L. Marin | Stars: George Raft, Lynn Bari, Virginia Huston, Joseph Pevney
Votes: 1,667
6/10 This script deserved a far better cast. The cinematography is excellent, especially the opening trick shot that appears to zoom from an aerial view of LA through a window & straight into a living room, where a pianist is playing. (To do this for real was impossible until the introduction of the Steadicam in the 1970s. Hitchcock wanted to do a similar shot for the opening of Psycho 1960; he & his long-time associate Joan Harrison--who produced Nocturne-- had long memories.) The biggest problem is Raft, for whom the word "wooden" is insufficient to convey how stilted & shallow his acting is here.
24. Deadline at Dawn (1946)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
After a woman he meets is murdered, a soon-to-ship-out sailor has until dawn to find the killer, aided by a weary dance hall girl.
Directors: Harold Clurman, William Cameron Menzies | Stars: Susan Hayward, Paul Lukas, Bill Williams, Joseph Calleia
Votes: 2,133
25. Out of the Past (1947)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses, and duplicitous dames.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming
Votes: 40,854
8/10 Really strong performances & excellent cinematography, compromised by a screenplay that bumps off too many characters. Essential viewing for noir fans.
26. They Won't Believe Me (1947)
Approved | 95 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable-sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.
Director: Irving Pichel | Stars: Robert Young, Susan Hayward, Jane Greer, Rita Johnson
Votes: 2,961
7.5/10 I liked this immensely: Excellent actors in a strong story that builds slowly from the ordinary to the fantastical--and I didn't guess the startling finale.
27. Crossfire (1947)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of demobilized soldiers he met in a bar. But which one? And why?
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame
Votes: 9,684 | Gross: $1.30M
7/10 I like a noir that challenges its audience to confront their own prejudices & decisions in life.
28. Dark Passage (1947)
Passed | 106 min | Film-Noir, Thriller
A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try to prove his innocence.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett, Agnes Moorehead
Votes: 21,933
6.5/10 Utterly implausible from start to finish. A good POV camera, location shots in San Francisco, & swell sets make up for a lot, though. And who can resist Bogie & Bacall?
29. High Wall (1947)
Approved | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After a brain-damaged man confesses to murder and is committed, Dr. Ann Lorrison tries to prove his innocence.
Director: Curtis Bernhardt | Stars: Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall, Dorothy Patrick
Votes: 1,934
6.5/10 A weak mystery, some pacing problems, plus a stunningly naive belief in 1940s-style psychiatry (sodium pentothal, anyone?)--yet I enjoyed this one, if only because Herbert Marshall is always a treat. Nice if not outstanding cinematography.
30. Kiss of Death (1947)
Approved | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A crook arrested for a jewelry heist initially refuses to give up his accomplices, but he changes his mind once his wife dies under worrying circumstances.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray, Richard Widmark
Votes: 9,552
6/10 This one struck me as too extreme in many ways--too sentimental on the one hand (those adorable children rollerskating), too brutal on the other (the famous staircase scene).
31. Lady in the Lake (1946)
Passed | 105 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
The lady editor of a crime magazine hires Phillip Marlowe to find the wife of her boss. The private detective soon finds himself involved in murder.
Director: Robert Montgomery | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully
Votes: 6,327
5/10
Gimmicky POV camera should make this feel fresh & modern--it doesn't; what we get instead is some of the most stilted dialogue reading I've ever endured. It doesn't help that Montgomery is an utterly charmless Marlowe. I hated the over-the-top a cappella chorale score. And, just like the novel, the plot twist can be seen coming from several miles away.
Skip this & rewatch The Big Sleep.
32. Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
While on the telephone, an invalid woman overhears what she thinks is a murder plot and attempts to prevent it.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey
Votes: 12,534
7.5/10
Stanwyck in a bravura performance.
Here's a link to the Internet Archive's Suspense radio version starring Agnes Moorehead (#31 on the list): [link]http://archive.org/details/SUSPENSE[/link]
33. Key Largo (1948)
Approved | 100 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A man visits his war buddy's family hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore
Votes: 43,927
7.5/10 Fantastic cast in a memorable melodrama. Claire Trevor breaks my heart here.
34. The Third Man (1949)
Approved | 93 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard
Votes: 181,661 | Gross: $0.45M
9/10
In a class by itself.
Cartoon tribute: [link]http://stripgenerator.com/strip/287759/philosophy-101-third-man/#main[/link]
35. The Window (1949)
Approved | 73 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
To avoid the heat of a sweltering summer night a 9-year-old Manhattan boy decides to sleep on the fire escape and witnesses a murder, but no one will believe him.
Director: Ted Tetzlaff | Stars: Bobby Driscoll, Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart
Votes: 4,850
7/10
Very well-made B movie that evokes the claustrophobia & griminess of the city as it really is. The script & acting are merely serviceable--the suspense of the final 30 minutes is something far more special.
It's interesting to compare this movie, adapted from the 1947 short story "The Boy Cried Murder" by Cornell Woolrich, with Rear Window, which was adapted from a 1942 Woolrich story, "It Had To Be Murder."
36. Impact (1949)
Passed | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A unfaithful wife plots with her lover to kill her husband, but the lover is accidentally killed instead. The husband stays in hiding and lets his wife be charged with conspiracy.
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Brian Donlevy, Ella Raines, Charles Coburn, Helen Walker
Votes: 4,708
6.5/10 Missing some noir elements--the cinematography is notably bland, for instance--but with a wonderful femme fatale.
37. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir
A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson
Votes: 236,135
9/10 Is it noir or is it horror? Or perhaps black comedy? Doesn't matter--this is one for the ages.
38. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Passed | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A major heist goes off as planned, but then double crosses, bad luck and solid police work cause everything to unravel.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore
Votes: 29,881
8/10 Extremely grim, with one of the cruelest fade-outs ever. I didn't much care about the story; it was the acting & rich characterization that overwhelmed me.
39. Gun Crazy (1950)
Passed | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Two disturbed young people release their fascination with guns through a crime spree.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis | Stars: John Dall, Peggy Cummins, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky
Votes: 14,788
7.5/10 Truly suspenseful, with an explosive performance from Cummins. The finale is haunting.
40. D.O.A. (1949)
Approved | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Frank Bigelow, told he's been poisoned and has only a few days to live, tries to find out who killed him and why.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton, Luther Adler, Beverly Garland
Votes: 13,065
7.5/10 Moody & exciting (and absurdly convoluted).
41. Caged (1950)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A gentle, naive, pregnant 19-year-old widow is slowly, inexorably ground down by the hardened criminals, sadistic guards, and matron at a woman's prison. Will she be the same person when her sentence is up?
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby, Hope Emerson
Votes: 4,681
7.5/10 Impressive performances all around, especially Parker & Moorehead. From script to lighting, it's unrelentingly grim, but distinctive & real.
42. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Det. Sgt. Mark Dixon wants to be something his old man wasn't: a guy on the right side of the law. Will Dixon's vicious nature get the better of him?
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill, Bert Freed
Votes: 9,932
7/10 One of my favourites, though Tierney's character isn't very interesting. Has some convincingly realistic street scenes & a believable plot.
43. Woman on the Run (1950)
Not Rated | 77 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Frank Johnson becomes an eyewitness to a murder. He's pursued around San Francisco by his wife, the police, and the killer.
Director: Norman Foster | Stars: Ann Sheridan, Dennis O'Keefe, Robert Keith, John Qualen
Votes: 4,827
I'd never much liked Ann Sheridan--until I saw this film.
44. Quicksand (1950)
Approved | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After taking 20 dollars from his employer to go on a date with plans to repay it the next day, an auto mechanic falls into increasingly disastrous circumstances for more and more money which rapidly spirals out of his control.
Director: Irving Pichel | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Jeanne Cagney, Barbara Bates, Peter Lorre
Votes: 2,664
6/10 Andy Hardy--er, Rooney--gets into trouble with the dubious help of a dame. Not bad, really, but also not truly noir with that feel-good finale. Some nice use of Santa Monica locations helps.
45. The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Approved | 71 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Two fishermen pick up a psychopathic escaped convict who tells them that he intends to murder them when the ride is over.
Director: Ida Lupino | Stars: Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman, José Torvay
Votes: 10,496
7.5/10 Well-acted throughout, closely following a true story about a spree killer who kidnaps two average guys. No phoney heroics or childishly clever dialogue--this is extremely believable & suspenseful.
46. Diabolique (1955)
Not Rated | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
The wife and mistress of a loathed school principal plan to murder him with what they believe is the perfect alibi.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel
Votes: 69,301 | Gross: $1.09M
9/10 I don't care if it is French-made & has a few supernatural touches. This is noir as it was meant to be--sordid settings, convoluted plot, complex characters with twisted psyches.
47. Nightfall (1956)
78 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Through a series of bizarre coincidences, an artist finds himself falsely accused of bank robbery and murder and is pursued by the authorities and the real killers.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Aldo Ray, Anne Bancroft, Brian Keith, Jocelyn Brando
Votes: 4,549
7/10 Strikingly filmed, solid story, well-paced. The only flaw is that the characters aren't especially appealing.
48. The Burglar (1957)
Passed | 90 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
Dan Duryea and his cronies rob a fake spiritualist and then take it on the lam to Atlantic City.
Director: Paul Wendkos | Stars: Dan Duryea, Jayne Mansfield, Martha Vickers, Peter Capell
Votes: 1,928
6.5/10 Excessively stylized, which continually distracted me--as did the shifts in tone; it starts as almost comic, moves to caper, and then into one of those balletic, fatalistic finales. I did like the Atlantic City settings.
49. Vertigo (1958)
PG | 128 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore
Votes: 426,320 | Gross: $3.20M
9/10
I see this as the ultimate Hitchcock noir (despite the colour cinematography). Human frailty, a man crushed by his own illusions, the fatal blonde. And the despair, as insinuatingly omnipresent as San Francisco fog.
Watch closely for the sequences deliberately lifted from The Wizard Of Oz 1939 & Conflict 1945--they're important clues.
50. Nowhere to Go (1958)
Approved | 89 min | Crime, Drama
In London, a Canadian serving prison time for grand theft escapes prison and attempts to retrieve his loot, kept in a bank safety deposit box, but his accomplice takes the security key while he only has the pass code.
Directors: Seth Holt, Basil Dearden | Stars: George Nader, Maggie Smith, Bernard Lee, Geoffrey Keen
Votes: 917
7.5/10 Packs an awful lot of perfidy into 97 minutes--it's almost a black comedy of errors, evoked as one of those frustrating dreams where everything possible goes wrong. Yummy cinematography + a young & very lovely Maggie Smith.
51. Touch of Evil (1958)
PG-13 | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping and police corruption in a Mexican border town.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia
Votes: 109,685 | Gross: $2.24M
7/10 Opens with a spectacularly choreographed crane shot that is justifiably famous. But all the cinematographic legerdemain in the world can't rescue a plot whose twists make no psychological sense, nor characters who reach the edge of buffoonery and beyond. Miss Leigh shows off some very pretty lingerie, however.
52. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Not Rated | 161 min | Drama, Mystery
An upstate Michigan lawyer defends a soldier who claims he killed an innkeeper due to temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. What is the truth, and will he win his case?
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell
Votes: 71,241 | Gross: $11.90M
7.5/10 Not a personal favourite of mine, but undeniably memorable. This isn't usually classified as noir, but I'd be happy to argue about that.
53. Chinatown (1974)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
Votes: 349,365
8/10 I can never decide if this one is neo-noir or parody.
54. Body Heat (1981)
R | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
During an extreme heatwave, a beautiful Florida woman and a seedy lawyer engage in an affair while plotting the murder of her rich husband.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan | Stars: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson
Votes: 40,085 | Gross: $24.06M
7.5/10 Sexy & compelling, despite the overly complicated plotline.
55. Dance with a Stranger (1985)
R | 96 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A stormy relationship, complicated by the strictures of 1950s social class and gender roles, ends in death. Based on the life of Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in Britain.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Miranda Richardson, Rupert Everett, Ian Holm, Matthew Carroll
Votes: 2,969 | Gross: $2.17M
8/10 Intensely seamy, steamy evocation of the 1950s, it takes us convincingly into a noir story that just happens to be true. Powerful performances from the three stars.
56. White Mischief (1987)
R | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In 1940s Kenya, a married couple join other affluent British expatriates in a lifestyle of recklessness and excess, but soon find themselves in a troubling situation.
Director: Michael Radford | Stars: Sarah Miles, Joss Ackland, John Hurt, Greta Scacchi
Votes: 3,208 | Gross: $3.11M
7/10 Perverse neo-noir, set in an exotic world filled with bizarre characters & with a true-life noir murder mystery at its core. The music score is wonderful.
57. L.A. Confidential (1997)
R | 138 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
As corruption grows in 1950s Los Angeles, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.
Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger
Votes: 617,009 | Gross: $64.62M
7.5/10 A little too slick, but fun in a warped kind of way.
58. A Fatal Inversion (1992)
171 min | Crime, Drama
After Adam inherits a country house from his great uncle, he and his friend Rufus decide to spend the summer there instead of abroad. An odd assortment of 'house guests' turns up through ... See full summary »
Stars: Douglas Hodge, Jeremy Northam, Rachel Joyce, Patricia Kerrigan
Votes: 273
8/10 A Ruth Rendell tale, made for TV with a distinctly noirish attitude.
59. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
PG | 104 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
When a cartoon rabbit is accused of murder, he enlists the help of a burnt out private investigator to prove his innocence.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy, Charles Fleischer
Votes: 216,556 | Gross: $156.45M
8/10 Gleeful homage to what made noir great.
60. The Band Wagon (1953)
Passed | 112 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A pretentiously artistic director is hired for a new Broadway musical and changes it beyond recognition.
Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray
Votes: 12,556
6.5/10 Included for the wonderful send-up of noir conventions, "The Girl-Hunt Ballet," danced with hardboiled humor by Fred Astaire & Cyd Charisse.
61. Blast of Silence (1961)
Approved | 77 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A hired killer from Cleveland has a job to do on a second-string mob boss in New York, but a special girl from his past and a gun dealer with pet rats get in his way.
Director: Allen Baron | Stars: Allen Baron, Molly McCarthy, Larry Tucker, Peter Clune
Votes: 5,654
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