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100 Greatest Film Noirs

post #1 of 59
2/1/12 at 9:00am
Thread Starter 

Forgive me if a thread already exists for this. I searched and didn't find one.

 

I watched 365 movies last year, and several of them were noir. I love the genre but I just kept discovering new pleasures the more I watched. Even though the fundamental staples of the genre would suggest these movies eventually would become stale and/or stereotypical didn't prevent different layers of creativity and fresh spins on darker material to manifest itself throughout the 40's, 50's and 60's, with directors pushing themselves in all sorts of dark, wild directions. 


So lets list some of the best and explain why they belong here. A few rules:

No neo-noir. Nothing newer than 1965 (that's already a pretty generous year-limit, considering that some people think neo-noir developed as early as the mid-50's).

The definition of film noir can be a complicated one. Just because a movie has guns and some shadowy cinematography doesn't make it fit for noir (the original Scarface, for example, might be an influence on noir, but it's most certainly a gangster movie, not noir). So, make sure the movie warrants inclusion on this list, and if it's questioned, be prepared to defend your selection.


Finally, try to offer an explanation that makes it worth of inclusion. Not just "it was great," but why it was great and/or influential (I only say this because I've been guilty of coming into these threads and getting excited and making long lists of movies as a single post).

I'll start:
 

1. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

To me, Kiss Me Deadly is the film noir; a movie that embodies all of the genres familiar elements, from the inventive black and white photography, to the cynicism and sadism, to the post-WWII social commentary, to the ambitious, shadowy femme fatale and in-over-his-head detective, and then blows it all up, suggesting that the American Dream has led to a Pandora's Box of destruction (quite literally). The movie sucker punches you; teasing you with the familiar (and sleazy appealing) elements of noir and then twisting them up into something much more suggestively darker. A masterpiece that can't be beat, and one that's influence touches several aspects of cinema.

 


Edited by Parker - 2/4/12 at 5:42pm
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post #2 of 59
2/1/12 at 9:56am

2. Detour (1945)

 

Edgar Ulmer's low budget, 68-minute tale about a guy whose dumb luck just seems to get worse and worse. Ann Savage plays one of the great femme fatales. It's public domain, so watch it for free:

 

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post #3 of 59
2/1/12 at 9:59am

Edited the title. Sorry, but misplaced apostrophes bother me.

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post #4 of 59
2/1/12 at 11:34am
Thread Starter 

Doh.

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post #5 of 59
2/1/12 at 11:46am

3. The Third Man (1949).


Style, style, style.  Performances to savour, seediness galore and that Cuckoo Clock speech.

 

It puts you deliberately on edge, deliberately uncomfortable.  I usually don't like canted angles, but when they are used for a reason, well, I have no problems then :)

 

 

edited to add the date.

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post #6 of 59
2/1/12 at 11:50am

4. Double Indemnity (1944)

 

If you asked me what two characters define the noir femme fatale, two spring to mind: Savage in Detour, and Barbara Stanwyck in this. Fred MacMurray plays the consummate shnook. A classic noir that also serves as additional evidence of Billy Wilder's greatness:

 

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post #7 of 59
2/1/12 at 11:57am
Thread Starter 


 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mangy View Post

2. Detour (1945)

 

 

I saw this one last year...and I love the economy of it, and it certainly warrants inclusion. But it just didn't work for me. I liked it enough, for sure, and you praise it for all the right reasons, but by the end I felt very distant and detached. The typical elements that draw me into a noir story just didn't grab me with Detour. 

But that's just me. It's a classic (and certainly influential) park row noir and a list without its inclusion would be suspect.

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post #8 of 59
2/1/12 at 12:01pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mangy View Post

4. Double Indemnity (1944)

 


Now this, I'm with you on 100%. One of the first noirs I saw and still one of the best I've seen. I love Robinson's sad realizations about MacMurray at the end. You really get a sense of his disappointment...and the feeling he conveys that he's losing (or, lost) a friend he thought he could trust. And Stanwyck...good god. Who wouldn't kill for that sultry act? 

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post #9 of 59
2/1/12 at 12:03pm

1. Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955)

2. Detour (Edward G. Ulmer, 1945)

3. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)

4. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)

 

5. Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947)

 

Along with Double Indemnity, this is one of two movies that feature everything you need to know about noir. The man on the run, the obsession with the past, Jane Greer as one of the all time best femme fatales, dialogue so sharp you could cut glass with it. And the smoking! It's best seen late at night, maybe when you're a little tired and/or drunk. It's a movie for big screens and small ones, dinky TVs in hotel waiting rooms. It's sad and longing and mournful and by the end of it, it's hard to shake the thought that you wouldn't do the same for a woman like Jane f'ing Greer if you saw her walking out of the hot sun in that white dress. It's just the best, man.

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post #10 of 59
2/1/12 at 12:11pm
Thread Starter 

Oh man. I get drunk on Out of the Past.


This is a deliriously solid list so far. 95 to go, keep it strong, fellas!

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post #11 of 59
2/1/12 at 1:09pm

No. 6 Strangers on a Train (1951).

 

I remember watching this on TV and it just creeping me out immensely.  The "thought expirement" turning into reality, the stalking scene at the fairground just drips with menace, the voyeuristic sense imparted by watching him murder her reflected in her dropped glasses.  From that initial conversation the film is like a nightmare you can't wake up from.

 

 

 

 

 

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post #12 of 59
2/1/12 at 1:11pm

Christ, I've just watched that again.  That's about as perfect a performance of a charming, but affectless, psychopath as you could get.

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post #13 of 59
2/1/12 at 1:52pm

7. Laura (1944)

 

For two reasons:

 

1) The great dialogue, including pretty much everything that comes out of Clifton Webb's mouth ("In my case, self-absorption is completely justified. I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention.")

2) Holy shit, Gene Tierney.

 

 

 

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post #14 of 59
2/1/12 at 2:26pm

8. The Killers (1946)

 

A star-making debut for Burt Lancaster, and one of the most visually astonishing Noirs, this is a classic too oft overshadowed by its remake. Paraphrasing what Scott Tobias said in his review 'Robert Siodmak's film sings with high tension, sharp dialogue, and grim humor'. Also, Ava Gardner is a sultry, smoking hot femme fatale. One of my alltime favorites.

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post #15 of 59
2/1/12 at 2:38pm

9. The Killing (1956)

 

Kubrick directing and Jim Thompson writing? You know you got something special. Sterling Hayden gives one of his quintessential hard-boiled performance, headling a cast of characters made for the Noir genre. An exhilerating, audacious genre film that surprises you the whole way, and then gut punches you in the end. A B masterpiece.

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post #16 of 59
2/1/12 at 3:55pm
Thread Starter 

Scarlet Street (1945)

After Fritz Lang helped create the film noir genre with The Woman in the Window (which certainly has lots of elements of noir, but is a little to hokey to have a noirish heart) he made this bleak stunner with mostly the same cast (Edward G. Robinson, Dan Duryea and Joan Bennett). While Woman hinted at Lang's influence over the noir genre, Scarlet solidifies it; all of the familiar elements are here, and it features one of the most harrowing depictions of guilt in cinema history. 

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post #17 of 59
2/1/12 at 6:31pm

The Big Sleep (1946)

 

Sure, the plot's so confusing that the director and writer didn't get it, but when the writer & director are Howard Hawks and Raymond Chandler, and the film stars Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, the viewer is still in good hands.

 

Good grief, Lauren Bacall...The chemistry between Bogey and Bacall is immediate and electric. Like the best film noir, the dialogue alone is worth savoring. The fact that it's accompanied by Hawks' sure-handed direction is just a bonus.

 

 

EDIT: Removed an untrue factoid.

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post #18 of 59
2/2/12 at 1:34pm

Let's keep this going...

 

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

 

John Huston's first film, starring an iconic Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade, and of course, the awesome Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet.

 

 

 

Is this scene the origin of Ren's voice on Ren & Stimpy?

 

 

 

 

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post #19 of 59
2/2/12 at 2:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mangy View Post

Let's keep this going...

 

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

 

John Huston's first film, starring an iconic Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade, and of course, the awesome Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet.

 

 

 

Is this scene the origin of Ren's voice on Ren & Stimpy?

 

 

 

 


Peter Lorre?  Yup.  Also, whenever I see The Big Sleep written I can't help but go "The big sleep???  It's DEATH you eediot" in a Ren voice (thankfully only in my head).

 

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post #20 of 59
2/2/12 at 2:37pm

Disqualified, but still great thrillers: North By Northwest, 39 Steps


Edited by Andy Bain - 2/4/12 at 3:39pm
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post #21 of 59
2/2/12 at 2:43pm

Yeah, I knew Lorre was the inspiration, but that "you bloated EEEEdiot" line made me snap to attention.

 

By the way, the '41 Maltese Falcon isn't the first; the original film was made in 1931. I hesitate to add it to the list because I haven't watched it; has anybody here checked it out?

 

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post #22 of 59
2/2/12 at 3:42pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Bain View Post

#13 North by Northwest (1959).

 

Is this noir?  I think so.  It has a real 39 steps vibe to it, everyman thrown into a nightmare world he doesn't understand wheere nearly everyone is trying to kill him.  Apparently Hitch set out to create a noir that shattered all noir concepts.  Oh, and that scene with the Cropduster - not very famous at all. ;p

 

so while we're on it:

 

#14 The 39 Steps (1935). (also a very good 70's version - but that's outwith the scope of this list)

 

Again, everyman thrown into a nightmare world.  Except this guy is literally an everyman as he attempts to stay alive and out of the hands of the law by using various disguises and methods. As taut a thriller as you could hope for.


I really don't think either of these count as film noir, to be honest.

 

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post #23 of 59
2/2/12 at 3:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parker View Post


I really don't think either of these count as film noir, to be honest.

 


expand please.

 

I would say they are because they directly reflect the frailty of human life, and how without warning you can be plunged into a nightmare world beyond your control and understanding.  Finding yourself in the middle of a labyrinthine plot, the existential horror of not knowing where you are going, or feeling in control.  They also expose a seedy underbelly to the "real" world that most people won't see.

 

But as you say in your intro, the definition of "noir" is a loose one that's open to interpretation.  I see noir as a reflection of the times, as technological events and world events started to become so big and all consuming that normal people were lost.  It's easier to put these into a "crime" framework since people are more likely to be caught up in criminal activities than the nefarious affairs of government agencies, but I think it also works with the "spy" (for want of a better word) setting in these films.  It's not just a thriller, it's a direct reflection of the fears of the times, and as such I think they warrant inclusion.

 

But hey, it's your thread :)

 

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post #24 of 59
2/2/12 at 4:06pm

13/15.

crime wave.jpg

dir. Andre De Toth, 1954

 

After a gas station robbery goes bad some hoods look up an old acquaintance for help - an ex-con tryin' hard as hell to stay straight. With his wife threatened, the ex-con is forced to do one last job to help bail out his violent captors. Hot on the trail of the desperate criminals is LA dick Sterling Hayden, appearing in the role that got him hired for a gig a year later to be helmed by some kid named Kubrick. Hayden chews the shit out of every goddamn syllable like it was Big Yum Tobacco, owning every moment with a booming iconic machismo that drowns out anybody unlucky enough to share a scene with him.

 

Stark, beautifully shot, violent, & quietly humanistic, this is a great example of the classic hard-nosed realism Warner Brothers was known for back in the day. The DVD transfer of this is pretty phenomenal for a low budget B-noir.


Edited by Art Decade - 2/2/12 at 4:33pm
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post #25 of 59
2/2/12 at 4:28pm

14/16.

 

d_o_a.jpg

 

A man walks into a police station to report his own murder. After that it's flashback time, as we see how he discovers that he's been incurably poisoned, and must race against the clock to find out who has killed him, and why. It's like Crank, only classy.

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post #26 of 59
2/3/12 at 12:21pm
Thread Starter 


 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Bain View Post


expand please.

 

I would say they are because they directly reflect the frailty of human life, and how without warning you can be plunged into a nightmare world beyond your control and understanding.  Finding yourself in the middle of a labyrinthine plot, the existential horror of not knowing where you are going, or feeling in control.  They also expose a seedy underbelly to the "real" world that most people won't see.

 

But as you say in your intro, the definition of "noir" is a loose one that's open to interpretation.  I see noir as a reflection of the times, as technological events and world events started to become so big and all consuming that normal people were lost.  It's easier to put these into a "crime" framework since people are more likely to be caught up in criminal activities than the nefarious affairs of government agencies, but I think it also works with the "spy" (for want of a better word) setting in these films.  It's not just a thriller, it's a direct reflection of the fears of the times, and as such I think they warrant inclusion.

 

But hey, it's your thread :)

 



For a technical definition, film critics and scholars didn't identify the first examples of American Film Noir until the early 40's, which would disqualify The 39 Steps. I think of it more as a mystery mixed with romantic comedy (another reason that discredits it, in my mind, the lack of a femme fatale --- if anything, the "femme" is your typical love interest). The notion that there's an underlying dangerous conspiracy is an interesting one, but not exactly a noir trope. If it turned out that the two protagonists were morally corruptible and became enveloped into the conspiracy rather than helping to expose it, then I might see it. As it stands, I don't.

In terms of North by Northwest, I just don't see it at all. It's more of a genesis for a James Bond adventure rather than anything like film noir. The movie is just too plain cheery and fun, and yeah, Cary Grant has shades of darkness to him, but not once is he in danger of losing his soul or being corrupted. And Eve Marie Saint seems like she might be a fatale, but she turns out to be the opposite. Like The 39 Steps, there's a conspiracy underling everything, but the conspiracy is secondary to the human beings at the core, and all of the humans (save the bad guys) are iron willed, American patriots.  If Cary Grant shot Eve Marie Saint rather than faking her out because he was legitimately angry with her, you might be on to something. As it stands, it's mere spy games. Like I said before, something you're more likely to find in a James Bond movie than a noir.


On top of it all, neither are filmed like a noir. I wouldn't disqualify North by Northwest on its use of color alone because there were some great film noirs that used color (like Leave Her to Heaven) but neither of these movies suggest the dark psychosis that noir filmmakers exploited through their camera work or shadowy, stark compositions (color or no color).  To me, Hitchcock was a little too cheeky for noir and only made one or two, with Shadow of a Doubt being the one that casts the darkest shadow on the American psyche. 

 

I love both of these movies, don't get me wrong, but I don't think they're noir. I'm not trying to be a jerk, though. What do other people think?


Edited by Parker - 2/3/12 at 3:15pm
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post #27 of 59
2/3/12 at 12:51pm

North by Northwest is one of the great suspense thrillers ever made, but it's not film noir.

 

I haven't seen The 39 Steps.
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post #28 of 59
2/4/12 at 3:52am

NbNW is Hitchcock's most rip roaring fun espionage thriller, of which he's done a few.  Mostly his noirish stuff is heavilly espionage based or involves the nice normal world colliding with the underworld, which puts them on the outskirts of the genre I'd say.

The aforementioned Strangers on a Train is a solid entry.  Maybe Shadow of a Doubt gets in there, but even that's a tweak.

 

What about some foreign stuff like Dassin's Rififi ?  Classic tough guy stuff in there, with the coolest break-in sequence and some longing for redemption for good measure.

 

How about Les Diaboliques too?  Kinda left-field I know,  more famous as a psychological thriller I suppose, but damn that's some serious moral turpitude across the board.

(Sorry, not really helping with numbers at this point)

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post #29 of 59
2/4/12 at 7:13am

15/17.

 

brick.jpg

 

Rian Johnson's brilliant debut transposes the tropes and archetypes of the genre into a high school setting, and he tosses in his own invented brand of slang for flavor. It's like a R-rated version of that cartoon, Recess (can't take credit for that insight).

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post #30 of 59
2/4/12 at 10:23am
Thread Starter 

I feel like I'm going to come off like a dictator of this thread, somewhat. I apologize if that's the case...

 

I love Brick. I think it's a fun neo-noir, but it's not a film noir, and it's definitely made after 1965. 

 

But I yield to everyone else on this. Because I don't want to be a dictator. 

 

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post #31 of 59
2/4/12 at 10:29am

Nah, the rules are pretty clear. Nothing past '65 & no neo-noirs. The challenge of finding gems that fit this criteria is difficult but succeeding is part of the fun.

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post #32 of 59
2/4/12 at 10:44am
Nah, I'm happy with that. I appreciate your considered argument which was well constructed and interesting.

I would question whether a femme fatale has to be part of noir, or indeed the overt style. I like the fact something could be a 'hidden noir'.

I do however like the notion of it needing corruption of the soul, something my examples are lacking indeed. As again that was a fear of the times. As a lot of commentators say, no-one set out to make 'noir', it was just what they filmed at the time.

So I'm happy to concede the point smile.gif

** As an aside I do like how cultural fears come into play in media. I especially appreciate how changing fears are seen in new takes of old stories. Explicitly superhero stuff. Original Spider-man, Hulk for example caused by radiation. "New" ones a result of genetic engineering.

With that in mind are neo-noirs aping the style of the period, or do they also reflect new worries, or just the same existential horror that's always been there?

Maybe we need a neo-noir thread too. Would be interesting to compare.**
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post #33 of 59
2/4/12 at 10:58am

Shit. Sorry. Don't worry, you are a fully benevolent dictator. There won't be any revolutions any time soon. Anyway...

 

15.

 

142705.1020.A.jpg

 

Since a good deal of noir has protagonists burdened with dead dreams and regrets, it's actually a rather natural fit to make one about a has-been movie star and a failed screenwriter. Joe Gillis thinks he can take advantage of Norma Desmond by enabling her desperate efforts to claw her way back into relevance, but he slowly, inexorably gets sucked into her world of delusion and glamour. If The Artist had ended with George Valentin going this route, I'd have forgiven it so much.


Edited by Whiteboy Jones - 2/4/12 at 11:55am
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post #34 of 59
2/4/12 at 11:12am
Thread Starter 


 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Bain View Post

Nah, I'm happy with that. I appreciate your considered argument which was well constructed and interesting.
I would question whether a femme fatale has to be part of noir, or indeed the overt style. I like the fact something could be a 'hidden noir'.
I do however like the notion of it needing corruption of the soul, something my examples are lacking indeed. As again that was a fear of the times. As a lot of commentators say, no-one set out to make 'noir', it was just what they filmed at the time.
So I'm happy to concede the point smile.gif
** As an aside I do like how cultural fears come into play in media. I especially appreciate how changing fears are seen in new takes of old stories. Explicitly superhero stuff. Original Spider-man, Hulk for example caused by radiation. "New" ones a result of genetic engineering.
With that in mind are neo-noirs aping the style of the period, or do they also reflect new worries, or just the same existential horror that's always been there?
Maybe we need a neo-noir thread too. Would be interesting to compare.**

You're right in  that you certainly don't need a femme fatale to qualify as a film noir, but it was the combination of a lot of things that I felt disqualified the two Hitchcock's. That was just part of the whole.

I think neo-noirs are both capable of aping the style of the period they're set in while commenting on issues of the period and modern issues. LA Confidential, for example, shows us a culture of political corruption and media-obsessed consumption that fit right into the OJ Trial era without betraying its period foundation. Brick takes all the noir tropes and uses them to illuminate the "reality" of high school life (the artifice of the tropes obscures some of the message its going for, though, although I think it's so fun that I barely care). 

But I don't think a neo-noir has to depend on period detail or style. One of my favorite neo-noirs is One False Move, and while there are some classic noir tropes used, it's also an original that deviates strongly from any kind of period touchstone. No Country For Old Men is the same (although strangely, I'd say Blood Simple has enough of a throwback feel that it feels like it's calling back an earlier era...although what era, I can't really say). 

I think a neo-noir thread would be a blast, by the way. 
 

 


Edited by Parker - 2/6/12 at 12:42pm
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post #35 of 59
2/4/12 at 11:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Muzman View Post

What about some foreign stuff like Dassin's Rififi ?  Classic tough guy stuff in there, with the coolest break-in sequence and some longing for redemption for good measure.

 

How about Les Diaboliques too?  Kinda left-field I know,  more famous as a psychological thriller I suppose, but damn that's some serious moral turpitude across the board.

(Sorry, not really helping with numbers at this point)


I think of Rififi as more of a crime movie, but I think it could easily be argued as classic film noir example. Les Diaboliques seems more like a horror/thriller, but again, I feel like you could argue it belongs.

 

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post #36 of 59
2/4/12 at 11:38am

Thebigheatmp.jpg

 

 

When his beloved wife is murdered via-car bomb. Crusading cop Dave Bannion vows to find her killers and dismantle the criminal organization that's strangling his city.

 

 

Of course while the plot sounds typical of so many other dozens of films, Fritz Lang instead takes a throughly more twisted route than most. Glenn Ford may be the hero after all, but after all the desctruction left in his wake(including various dead women) it's hard not to think of him and the men he's battling against as two sides of the same coin.

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post #37 of 59
2/4/12 at 2:17pm

16. Stray Dog.

 

Stray%2BDog2.jpg

 

A cop loses his gun and his journey into the underbelly of japanese society begins. Akira Kurosawa masterfully directs this film noir which starts out as a standard police procedural and turns into a harrowing rumination on post-war Japan. the choices of two men and it's effects after returning from the war. Toshiro Mifune is terrific as the young, idealistic cop who finds out he easily could've turned out like the man who took his gun, Takashi Shimura turns up as the mentor to Mifune (he's actually the heart of the film, he gives a wonderful performance). The ending is devastating.

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post #38 of 59
2/4/12 at 2:55pm

17.  The Postman Always Rings Twice, Tay Garnett 1946

 

8xclX.jpg

 

Set on the California coast, The Postman Always Rings Twice is another grim love story by James M. Cain with John Garfield and cool as a cucumber Lana Turner as the gorgeous, scheming and doomed Cora Smith.  This is seminal, quintessential noir.


Edited by yt - 2/4/12 at 6:04pm
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post #39 of 59
2/4/12 at 3:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parker View Post

 

I think a neo-noir thread would be a blast, by the way. 
 

 

 

done
 

 

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post #40 of 59
2/4/12 at 5:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by yt View Post

17.  The Killing, Stanley Kubrick 1956

 

"Eh, what's the difference."

I love this movie (and that nifty poster) but Fat Elvis already mentioned it up top.

The best last line in noir history? Quite possibly.

 

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post #41 of 59
2/4/12 at 5:40pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by LaurenOrtega View Post

Thebigheatmp.jpg

 

 

When his beloved wife is murdered via-car bomb. Crusading cop Dave Bannion vows to find her killers and dismantle the criminal organization that's strangling his city.

 

 

Of course while the plot sounds typical of so many other dozens of films, Fritz Lang instead takes a throughly more twisted route than most. Glenn Ford may be the hero after all, but after all the desctruction left in his wake(including various dead women) it's hard not to think of him and the men he's battling against as two sides of the same coin.



I was actually thinking about mentioning this one next! I got the disc off Netflix on a whim and it totally blew me away with how great it was. I watched a lot of Fritz Lang noirs last year, and while Scarlet Street edged this one out by a hair, it was surely nipping at its heels in quality. Glenn Ford is such an asshole of an antihero...and really, he wouldn't even succeed in the end if it weren't for...


Oh well, you all should just watch if you haven't already. Such a fun, pulpy noir. 

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post #42 of 59
2/4/12 at 5:43pm

It's absolutely amazing how terrible Glenn Ford comes across in the movie. It's practically part of a holy trinity along with Laura and Kiss me Deadly in the deconstruction of the macho male lead.

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post #43 of 59
2/4/12 at 5:45pm

.

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post #44 of 59
2/4/12 at 5:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parker View Post

I love this movie (and that nifty poster) but Fat Elvis already mentioned it up top.

The best last line in noir history? Quite possibly.

 



Damn!  How did I miss that?  Sorry and great choice, Fat Elvis.  I've got another pick and will switch it out.   Agree about best last line in noir. 

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post #45 of 59
2/4/12 at 8:11pm

18. The Blue Dahlia (1946) d. George Marshall

 

Plot: A war hero (Alan Ladd) returns home from the War and finds his partying wife kissing another man. They have a terrible fight, and later she is found dead. Soon he's on the run, wanted by the cops, his only contact a woman (Veronica Lake) who he's not sure whether she is in on the set-up or not. 

 

The film is a fast-paced, hard-boiled classic. Alan Ladd is at his steely no nonsense best, Veronica Lake, a sexy Femme fatale, and the screenplay, another gem from the one and only Raymond Chandler.

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post #46 of 59
2/4/12 at 8:32pm

19.

 

drunken-angel-poster.jpg

 

The beginning of one of the most legendary collaborations in film history, between Kurosawa and Mifune, whose experiences in the army left him in an emaciated state rather befitting his character, who is wasting away from tuberculosis. A doctor tries to help the young tough, but the filth of the occupied city seems inescapable. It's a bitter "fuck you" to the American occupiers (albeit hidden pretty subtly to slip it past the censors), and a despairing cry for the waste of postwar Japan.

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post #47 of 59
2/5/12 at 2:48pm

 

1. Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955)

2. Detour (Edward G. Ulmer, 1945)

3. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)

4. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)

5. Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947)

6. Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951)

7. Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944)

8. The Killers (Robert Sidomak, 1946)

9. The Killing (Stanley Kubrick, 1956)

10. Scarlet Street (Fritz Lang, 1945)

11. The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)

12. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)

13. Crime Wave (Andre De Toth, 1954)

14. D.O.A. (Rudolph Mate, 1950)

15. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)

16. The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953)

17. Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)

18. The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946)

19. The Blue Dahlia (George Marshall, 1946)

20. Drunken Angel (Akira Kurosawa, 1948)

 

Let's jump-start this with a celebration of the first lady of film noir, Miss Gene Fucking Tierney:

 

21. Leave Her To Heaven (John M. Stahl, 1945)

 

So what if it's in color? It's one of those rare "Techincolor noirs" that had an impact on the young Martin Scorsese -- the big revelation flashback in Shutter Island is a straight-up visual nod to this picture. Stahl's use of colors make the mountains and the lush life seem as oppressive, as constricting, as the shadows that surround your traditional black and white noir. It's the mother of all "she crazy" movies whose roots extend forward to Fatal Attraction and Swimfan, but I believe nobody did it better than Tierney does here. This is one where it helps to go in unspoiled, and -- despite my being a perpetual, constant cheerleader for this movie since I discovered noir and have been posting about it on these boards -- it remains criminally underseen and underappreciated. But Tierney absolutely deserved her Oscar nomination for acting behind sunglasses. Even though she's probably my favorite "classic film actress," and her life was so sad, you just want to hug her -- I'd still be wary. Because of this picture. Plus, you get incest and the last act is basically a chance for acting sensation art historian Vincent Price to rip the scenery off the walls, piece by piece. See it.

 

22. Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950)

 

When you go into a movie, you want to put everything but the movie aside. And you can certainly do that here to focus on Richard Widmark's desperate performance, the nobility of Stanislaus Zbysko (a real-life wrestler), and the quiet suffering of Tierney and her British counterpart, Googie Withers. You can marvel at Dassin's black-and-white London, or how the plot has few -- if any -- sympathetic characters. But this is one case where knowing the real life story lends the piece an incredible sadness and anger. This was Dassin's last movie made in America. He was blacklisted during the movie, but it was only through the machinations of producer Darryl F. Zanuck (who, also, told him to hire the depressive, recently institutionalized Tierney) that he was able to finish the film before leaving for Europe. Despite moments of quiet grace, such as the scene Herbert Lom's gangster shares with his father, Zbysko, Night and the City is unrelenting in its pessimism. "It doesn't matter who you are, or how hard you work," the film says. "The world breaks you." Or, to quote writer Allan Guthrie: "Noir protagonists are not heroes...They lose. Even when they win, they lose. And they die, of course. But then, we all die. We're fucked."

 

23. Blast of Silence (Allen Baron, 1961)

 

"Danger signs." This film -- financed independently, starring, written, and directed by Baron -- is a recent addition to the pantheon of great noirs. Underseen on its release in 1961, I assume it languished in obscurity but not in esteem until the recent Criterion release. Ed Brubaker of Criminal's a fan, and so's Patton Oswalt, and you should be too. Shot on location in New York City, it captures the harsh lonlieness of that metropolis -- especially around the holidays -- better than most films I can think of. And because it's an independent, it takes risks -- from its surprising violence, to its second person voice over, to its subject matter -- and those risks bear rewards. The film will get in your head and refuse to leave. 

 

 

 

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post #48 of 59
2/5/12 at 9:04pm
Thread Starter 

Night and the City is so fucking boss. It was going to be the one I mentioned next. And Leave Her to Heaven is so chillingly melodramatic. Haven't seen Blast of Silence yet, so I'll definitely add that to the list.

24. The Narrow Margin (1952)

A B-level film noir that deserves the respect of an A, the Narrow Margin is pulpy, taut, twisty, suspenseful, flawlessly directed and wonderfully acted. There's an unbelievable twist that hits late in the game, but by that point you're too busy riding the dark train into the black heart of the American psyche to care. A fun, pulpy noir with great tough guy dialogue and surprisingly strong character work from Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor (who is simply awesome in a pretty complex role) and Jacqueline White. 

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post #49 of 59
2/5/12 at 9:15pm

25.

88d055e8_Bunny_Lake_Is_Missing.jpeg

dir. Otto Preminger, 1965

 

Holy shit, this movie. A little girl goes missing and a frantic young mother goes through the depths of psychological hell to find her...if she exists. 

 

It's like the little sister of Psycho and it's every bit as brilliant. Otto Preminger is the fucking boss here & his visual style is strikingly modern. It flows like a David Fincher film in black & white. The scares are genuinely terrifying & the mystery is a suspenseful psychological shell game that never lets up until the final, creepy-as-fuck reveal.

 

Whatever hype exists behind this brilliant gem is fully justified. It's a masterpiece.

Reply
post #50 of 59
2/6/12 at 8:13am
Thread Starter 

So Art, I find it interesting that you listed Bunny Lake in both the film noir thread and neo noir thread. I think it's possible for it to be listed in both (one of the few films I can see arguing either way over) but I'm curious about what you think its true genre is, or if it even really matters. 

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