Top 25 Noir Films

7/28/2019 Top 25 Noir Films

1/5

Often I'm asked to cite my "Top Ten" from

the classic film noir era, so I figured it was

about time to post something "definitive."

Take this with a grain of salt, because I am

not one to apply academic criteria to art,

popular or otherwise. These are simply films

that I have viewed and enjoyed multiple

times, and expect to appreciate even more as

time goes on.

A "classic" is in the eye of the beholder anyway;

to me there's only one way to assess a film's

greatnessis it still engrossing the sixth time

you've seen it?Because our goofy culture lovesto see everything ranked, I'm even putting them

in order of preference, although it's ridiculous to

think that Night and the Cityis somehow 2.6%

better than Out of the Past. Consider the listing a

sort of carnival barometer, ranging from

INFATUATED to PASSIONATE.

RAW DEAL

Eagle-Lion, 1948.

Rambunctious pulp made transcendentthrough Anthony Mann's direction, John

Alton's lighting, and a satisfying gender

switch in which the Angel and the Tramp

duke it out over the guy.

CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPSRepublic, 1952.

Any movie that is narrated by the city itself earnsspecial honors for cinematic chutzpah. Plus, its

got Marie Windsor and William Tallman as lovers.

That's noir.

TOUCH OF EVIL

Universal, 1958.

Under all the visual razzle-dazzle there's a

genuinely moving story: Pete Menzies turning

Judas on Hank Quinlan, the mentor who's

become a monster. Just imagine Ricardo

Montalban instead of Heston.

SCARLET STREETUniversal, 1945.

Deeply perverse, and immensely enjoyable for

the ways writer Dudley Nichols and Fritz Lang

run circles around the Production Code. Were the

three leads ever any better?
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2/5

DETOUR

PRC, 1945.

You'd have thought it would lose the

mystique, being liberated from the limbo of

"Movies Till Dawn" and mass-distributed on

DVD. Incredibly, it still casts its fetid, doom-

laden spell, every time.

TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAYWarner Bros., 1951.

If WB had gone with a tragic finishimagine

Cochran throttling Roman only to learn he wasn't

guilty in the first placethis hard-as-nails road

picture would be a classic.

THE PROWLER

United Artists, 1950.

Silent producer John Huston's goodbye gift to

wife Evelyn Keyes: a terrific role in a truly

weird film. Dated by the pregnancy angle, but

relentlessly compelling.

GUN CRAZYUnited Artists, 1950.

No picture before or since has more deliriously

used side arms as sexual symbols. Loopy, corny,

overheated, but one big adrenaline rush of

creative moviemaking from start to finish.

ACT OF VIOLENCE

MGM, 1949.

It directly confronts lingering WWII

nightmares, mixes up the "good" guy versus

"bad" guy premise to stunning effect, is

beautifully directed and shot, and features

ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW


Abraham Polonsky had always wanted to make a

film about the African-American experience, but

ghostwriting this was as close as he got. Robert

Wise's best noir, hands up.


3/5

great work from the four leads. Damn near

perfect.

THE KILLING


If you believe that a good script is a

succession of great scenes, you can't do

better than this. Hey, that scene was so

good, let's do it again from somebody else's

perspective.

THEY LIVE BY NIGHTRKO, 1949.

Film noir's version of Romeo and Juliet, made

with amazing conviction by Nicholas Ray. A

smart, soulful film full of evocative details,

including a wonderfully intricate soundtrack.

THIEVES' HIGHWAY

20th Century-Fox, 1949.Not nearly as uncompromising as the original

novel, but a wonderful, politically-charged

melodrama in its own right. This is the film

that got me hooked on noir.

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESSUnited Artists, 1958.Almost improvisational in the making, with the

palpable hostility of the filmmakers seeping into

every shot. All captured brilliantly by his serene

highness, James Wong Howe.

THE KILLERS

Universal, 1946.

Hemingway's short story is fleshed out into

an incredibly involuted screenplay, which

Siodmak renders as the ultimate noir

dreamscape. The Citizen Kane of crime

movies.

MOONRISERepublic, 1948.

Relentlessly romantic optimistic Frank Borzage is

the last guy you'd expect to turn out an effective

film noir, but this was his sound era masterpiece,

redemptive ending and all.


4/5

OUT OF THE PAST

RKO, 1947.

Face it, the meandering script is saved by

Frank Fenton's dialogue. But this is how we

want noir to look and sound, so it gets cut

lots of slack. Mitchum is great, Douglas never

better, and Jane Greer is 22 years old.

NIGHT AND THE CITY20th Century-Fox, 1950.

Even more baroque than Touch of Evil, the

greatness of this film is its stubborn refusal to

allow the tiniest ray of light into Harry Fabian's

headlong descent in hell. Is this the ultimate noir

ending?

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

20th Century-Fox, 1947.

Little by little, as this film resurfaces in the

mainstream, it will come to be seen as

Tyrone Power's greatest contribution to the

movies. "Pffft-Every boy had a dog!"

THE MALTESE FALCONWarner Bros., 1941.

Okay, it's talky, set-bound and not all that

exceptional to look at. But it's the most brilliantly

self-contained detective story ever written,

perfectly cast. It never gets stale.

DOUBLE INDEMNITY

Paramount, 1944.

Cain's basic blueprint has served as

foundation for most of the unhappy homes in

Dark City; but for that sloppy subplot with

Nino Sachetti this would be #1. Too bad

Wilder didn't make Postman, too.

THE ASPHALT JUNGLEMGM, 1950.

"I wouldn't cross the street to see garbage like

that," said the head of the studio that made this,

the granddaddy of all caper films. A pure "crime"

film, with every character indelible.


5/5

SUNSET BOULEVARD

Paramount, 1950.

To those who think this isn't noir: Man uses

woman. Woman uses man. Queasy sex.

Betrayal. Madness. Gunshots. He's face down

in the pool he always wanted. Case closed.

CRISS CROSSUniversal, 1949.

Stupidly, I used to think there was something

missing at the core. But it keeps getting better

ever time I see it. De Carlo in the parking lot

pleading straight to the camera might be noir's

defining moment.

IN A LONELY PLACE

Columbia, 1950.

This incredible rethinking of Dorothy B.

Hughes' disturbing serial killer novel is as

close as a studio film ever got to "personal

filmmaking." No noir iconography, just a

profound darkness of the soul.

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Top 25 Noir Films