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
United Artists, 1959.
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.
7/28/2019 Top 25 Noir Films
3/5
great work from the four leads. Damn near
perfect.
THE KILLING
United Artists, 1956.
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.
7/28/2019 Top 25 Noir Films
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.
7/28/2019 Top 25 Noir Films
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.