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Because the 1940s and 1950s are universally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir, films released prior to 1940 are listed under the caption "Precursors / early noir-like films". Films released after 1959 should generally only be listed in the list of neo-noir titles.
This is a complete list of all the titles listed in the book "Film Noir Guide - 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940-1959" by Michael F. Keaney. This book is by far one of the most useful and well thought out book in the subject of Film Noir ever published.
4 days ago · For the sake of this list, we’ve highlighted the top-reviewed films from the classic film noir era, roughly defined as starting in 1940 and ending in 1959. On this list you’ll find some of...
Where Danger Lives (1950) Not Rated | 82 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller. A young doctor falls in love with a disturbed young woman, becomes involved in her husband's death, and must flee with her to the Mexican border. Director: John Farrow | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Claude Rains, Faith Domergue, Maureen O'Sullivan.
- 15 Nightmare Alley
- 14 Kiss Me, Deadly
- 13 Out of The Past
- 12 Sweet Smell of Success
- 11 The Big Sleep
- 10 Touch of Evil
- 9 Double Indemnity
- 8 The Night of The Hunter
- 7 The Maltese Falcon
- 6 The Killing
Nightmare Alleyis the circus noir movie that inspired the recent Guillermo Del Toro film of the same name. Tyrone Power stars as Stan, a con man who is part of a circus and wants to learn from Mademoiselle Zeena’s "mental powers". After killing her husband (maybe involuntarily), Stan leaves with his lover and goes to Chicago to start his own scheme...
A tough private eye named Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) picks up an almost naked mysterious hitchhiker (Cloris Leachman in one of her first roles ever). When she ends up dead, and he ends up in the hospital after some bad guys get to them, Hammer decides to solve the mystery. That’s the start of Kiss Me, Deadly,one of the weirdest noir movies as what ...
Out of the Pastis as exemplary noir film as they come. Robert Mitchum plays the tough detective, that drinks too much and gives voice-over exposition and whose past comes to get him one last time. Kirk Douglas plays the mobster who knows all his secrets and makes him get dirtier, and Jane Greer plays the femme fatale. The movie is dark, sad, violen...
Taking the realm of noir and moving it to the world of journalism to show how the game can be played by dirty, seedy men without morals was a fascinating ride. With a towering Burt Lancaster performance as the man behind the curtain, calling the shots, and a desperate Tony Curtis battling it out to move up in the world, The Sweet Smell of Successis...
The Big Sleep is one of the best Raymond Chandler books and one of his best adaptations, as Humphrey Bogart becomes Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall is the femme fatale. As with many Chandler stories, the mystery resolution is the least important part. Howard Hawkes’ direction, the incredible Chandler dialogue, and the absolutely incredible chemist...
Touch of Evil was one of the last classical film noirs ever made as the genre concluded in 1959. It was also one the best possible ways to end the genre as the film has all the characteristics of a great noir film with some modern touches by director Orson Welles. The film is still known as one of the best movie beginnings ever, with a unique three...
One of Billy Wilder’s strongest assets as a director is his ability to find bursts of comic joy and playfulness amidst films ripe with cynicism. Double Indemnityisn’t just a mysterious noir with a multilayered plot scheme that at times confuses its audience. It's also an anti-capitalist dig and the dangers of getting lost in your work. With a stack...
The multi-faceted, layered, and haunting noir from Charles Laughton was much maligned by critics upon its release but, in recent years it has come back to retain its status as a seminal work from the longtime actor whose only chance to direct was The Night of The Hunter. Dark for its subject matter at the time, Robert Mitchum plays the killer preac...
The reliable cool of Humphrey Bogart is itself, a staple of noir. In John Huston’s powerful debut as a filmmaker, he directed one of the greatest noir mysteries of all time, The Maltese Falcon. Packed with eloquently hard-boiled dialogue where no line is spared, slowly moving the tightly wound and mysterious plot with double-crosses and murders abo...
The lone noir in Stanley Kubrick’s historic filmography is a slaughterhouse of nihilism where every player is liable to kill or be killed. With a steely Sterling Hayden in the center, he rallies a troop of desperate criminals to perform a daring heist at the horse track. Kubrick opts for an approach only he would take, by focusing on the build-up b...
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1. The Third Man (1949) Approved | 93 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller. 8.1. Rate. 97 Metascore. 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.
May 23, 2014 · This then is a list of the 15 essential films that one must be familiar with in order to understand the early, ‘classic’ period of film noir that thrived from 1940 to 1949. 15. White Heat (1949) White Heat is part film noir, part gangster film, with James Cagney as criminal ringleader Cody Jarrett.
