Film noir: your favourites

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If 'M' is considered noir, wouldn't it be the earliest?

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 10 April 2004 06:34 (twenty-two years ago)

My faves are "Scarlet Street" (Lang); "In a Lonely Place"; and of course "Double Indemnity."

I think the first noir was "Stranger on the Third Floor," 1940, RKO.

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Saturday, 10 April 2004 17:59 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

Double Indemnity it being re-released on DVD in August. Looks barebones, though, as my price is only $9.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 10 May 2004 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the low price is because you only get one indemnity.

― jazz odysseus (jazz odysseus), Monday, 10 May 2004 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

shut your yap, bo' or i squirt lead!

― Dave Amos, Monday, 10 May 2004 07:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Monday, 10 May 2004 11:16 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Any neo-noir recommendation, then?

― Le Baaderonixx de Benedict Canyon (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 08:50 (twenty years ago)

'devil in a blue dress'

― the Enrique who acts like some kind of good taste gestapo (Enrique), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 09:02 (twenty years ago)

"Romeo is Bleeding," "The Last Seduction," "Blow Out."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 09:39 (twenty years ago)

Brick

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 13:53 (twenty years ago)

No mention (unless I'm missing it) of Laura, a personal favourite.

― frankiemachine, Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:16 (twenty years ago)

Brick was amazing, and is as noir as noir gets.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:35 (twenty years ago)

From today, actually:
http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/features/bnoir.asp

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 16:27 (twenty years ago)

No mention (unless I'm missing it) of Laura, a personal favourite.
I think lauren put it on her list. It should also be mentioned that someone once referred to Dr. Morbius the Waldo Lydecker of ILX.

In any case, frankiemachine, I would have thought you would have mentioned The Man With The Golden Arm, although I guess that's not a noir per se.

― Redd Temple Player (Two Headed Dogg) (Ken L), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 17:36 (twenty years ago)

post-noir:Blood Simple - Cohen bros.

― dont stop go, Tuesday, 2 May 2006 17:40 (twenty years ago)

four weeks pass...

I've been going to a bunch of those Bs Colin linked to, and highly recommend He Walked by Night -- John Alton-photographed, great LA sewer chase finale (year before Third Man), and the closeup on Richard Basehart as he removes a bullet from his side is an all-time masochistic moneyshot.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:54 (twenty years ago)

Man, I missed the whole thing, and was this close to going to see He Walked By Night.

― Sons Of The Redd Desert (Ken L), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:03 (twenty years ago)

Now that it's finally on DVD, Otto Preminger's Fallen Angel should be recognized as good if not better than Laura.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:24 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah, I saw that on TCM last year during the Mitchum festival.

― Sons Of The Redd Desert (Ken L), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:30 (twenty years ago)

There are another few weeks, Ken! (DeForest Kelley -- unrecognizably young -- was in Canon City last night, and is in one of the Fuller pair I'm going to June 14.)

common '50s noir police descrip: "white American male"

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:32 (twenty years ago)

I haven't seen it yet, admittedly, but I want to pistol-whip whoever wrote Brick upthread.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:09 (twenty years ago)

I'll be at Heather's bar tonight from 8 till 1am, 13th off of A if you happen to be in NYC and have your pistol handy.

Brick was a more accurate translation of just about every Raymond Chandler book I've read then any Film Noir I've seen, including say, The Big Sleep or Murder, My Sweet.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:33 (twenty years ago)

Has anyone seen Naked City yet? I have just read that a film was made (after the Weegee book?). I'm intrigued to say the least.

I'm such a dumbass for only now realizing it refers to the shadows in the film.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:35 (twenty years ago)

The Big Combo is my favourite. It has all you need: tough-talking hoods, no-good, dime-store molls, flashes of machine-gun fire, cigarette smoke curling in the blinking neon light of a burlesque sign, and inky blackness.

― David Orton (scarlet), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:21 (twenty years ago)

Brick was a more accurate translation of just about every Raymond Chandler book I've read then any Film Noir I've seen, including say, The Big Sleep or Murder, My Sweet.

How? Be specific. Give examples.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:28 (twenty years ago)

(Bearing in mind that my favorite Chandler adaptation I've seen is the least "faithful": Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye.)

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:28 (twenty years ago)

army of shadows, though it stretches the definition of "noir" just a tad

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:30 (twenty years ago)

up until the very last scene, Altman's Long Goodbye is pretty damn faithful to Chandler, or at least the character of Marlowe.

(though similarly, my favorite Hammett adaptation is Miller's Crossing)

Anyone seen The Girl in Lover's Lane? I watched it as an MST3K episode, but it seemed like a really successful small town noir.

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:39 (twenty years ago)

1. Deadline at Dawn
2. A Bout de Souffle

― JTS (JTS), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 19:36 (twenty years ago)

Now that it's finally on DVD, Otto Preminger's Fallen Angel should be recognized as good if not better than Laura.
-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

Oh yeah, I saw that on TCM last year during the Mitchum festival.
-- Sons Of The Redd Desert

Actually, I haven't seen that one, but it looks pretty good. I was talking about Angel Face, which is mentioned in the very first post of this thread.

― Sons Of The Redd Desert (Ken L), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 19:52 (twenty years ago)

I've mentioned it on both the Mitchum and Robert Wise threads, but I'm going to third my recommendation for Blood On The Moon - a straight-up hard boiled noir, only it's a western.

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 19:52 (twenty years ago)

Other obscure faves...

- House Of Bamboo (Robert Stack & Robert Ryan in post-WWII gangster Tokyo. Sam Fuller directs)
- Scandal Sheet
- Nightmare Alley (Tyrone Power as a carny mentalist)

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:01 (twenty years ago)

I wasn't that into the Naked City...and Night and the City is my favorite movie ever pretty much, so I wanted to love it. (both Dassin).

I found the dialogue in Brick, like Millers Crossing, totally stylized in a way similar to the books, they also shared the protaganist as punching bag cliche so common in the books. There was just something about the way the lead in Brick kept being knocked out, then seeing just a hint of light, then passing out again, then waking up somewhere else, then getting beat up, that to me represented the feeling I get from the Chandler books. Murder, My Sweat is one vintage noir that does this, of course, with it's expressionistic passing out sequence. The complicated plot that really doesn't matter so much, crime lords and their henchmen, the playing of sides against each other. All classic pulp fiction/film noir things.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:01 (twenty years ago)

I'm glad someone mentioned Nightmare Alley, it's one of my favorite movies.

― Bluebell Madonna (Ex Leon), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:02 (twenty years ago)

I've mentioned it on both the Mitchum and Robert Wise threads, but I'm going to third my recommendation for Blood On The Moon
Chris, you also plugged it on this thread

― Sons Of The Redd Desert (Ken L), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:14 (twenty years ago)

One of the things I love most about noir is the black humour. Have just remembered D. Indemnity and some of the lines, like Neff's double entendre about insurance coverage when Phyllis is barely ‘covered’ by clothing:

"I’d hate to think of your having a smashed fender or something while you’re not, uh, fully covered."

It's still amazing that they could get away with some of this stuff considering the times.

Neo-noir can also be fab.

― salexander (salexander), Thursday, 1 June 2006 02:10 (twenty years ago)

Murder, My Sweat is one vintage noir that does this...

Is this the one about the athelete with really stinky perspiration?

I second the recs for Detour and Long Goodbye because they seem to not get as much respect as they deserve.

― nickn (nickn), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:55 (twenty years ago)

I think "The Thin Man" is considered to be the first noir?

This is madness, surely? "The Thin Man" may be a Hammet adaptation, but it's still basically a screwball comedy where the main characters solve crimes!

Are these as good as that warner bros gangster box set that they resemble?

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 1 June 2006 21:15 (twenty years ago)

I haven't seen the gangster sets, but I have vol. 1 of those noir sets and it is single-source-lighting-tastic.

― Keywords: revenge, knife, granddaughter, demonic-possession, rock-star, eel (Aus, Thursday, 1 June 2006 21:19 (twenty years ago)

Is there a good website out there with a concise list (and/or blurbing) of the best of noir?

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Thursday, 1 June 2006 23:55 (twenty years ago)

http://noiroftheweek.blogspot.com

Not exactly what you're asking for, but it's in my bookmarks.

― Keywords: revenge, knife, granddaughter, demonic-possession, rock-star, eel (Aus, Thursday, 1 June 2006 23:56 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, that's a good site.

― Sons Of The Redd Desert (Ken L), Friday, 2 June 2006 00:00 (twenty years ago)

The gangster box set is absolutley essential - it's basically a Cagney's Greatest Hits, with some Bogart and Edward G. Robinson thrown in. Also, has a newsreel, a cartoon and a short film before each feature (I think the abscense of this is what disappointed me about the noir sets, at first.)

check it out

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 2 June 2006 11:13 (twenty years ago)

I haven't read a whole lot of the pulp that led to noir -- one each by Cain, Hammett, Chandler -- but I prefer the bonus of chiaroscuro lighting in the films, and the ability of some actors to make the dialogue seem less ass.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 June 2006 12:18 (twenty years ago)

all three of them are well worth reading. Which Hammett have you read?

― p@reene (Pareene), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:02 (twenty years ago)

Maltese Falcon ... Big Sleep and Postman Always Rings Twice for the others. (I'm eager to read Mildred Pierce before long, which sure isn't likely to come up as a film noir favorite despite the murder linchpin.)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:19 (twenty years ago)

You should at least read Red Harvest, as so many movies works off it's basic plot.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:30 (twenty years ago)

You gotta read Red Harvest -- despite it being a western, it's like the pulp novel/film noir rosetta stone.

if you've read The Big Sleep you've read Chandler, basically -- but Farewell, My Lovely is my personal favorite Marlowe book.

― p@reene (Pareene), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:31 (twenty years ago)

Mildred Pierce the book is good, but it's not noir, although the film version tries to turn it into noir. Double Indemnity the book is great, although plotwise it's pretty similar to Postman. The later Cains are more episodic, with more likeable characters - it's only really Postman and Double Indemnity that have a real tragic noir feel to them with their flat prose, amoral protagonists, sense of desperation and 'perfect' murders that don't come off.

― Revivalist (Revivalist), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:40 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I want to read lots more Hammett and Cain. (The uniform loathsomeness of the Big Sleep characters kinda turned me off Chandler.)

I've also had the novel Out of the Past is based on -- Build My Gallows High -- forever, but haven't read it (tho I've read that Daniel Mainwaring's adaptation of his own book is judged an improvement).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:46 (twenty years ago)

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I absolutely love Deadline at Dawn. So happy it’s back for a rewatch.

― Gacy and the Sunshine Band (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 12 November 2025 18:48 (six months ago)

watched “sweet smell of success” recently - so good

― ||||||||, Wednesday, 12 November 2025 20:02 (six months ago)

one month passes...

Witness to Murder (1954) is fun. Not great, but the cinematography is extra-noiry, and I’ll watch pretty much anything Stanwyck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Btx0ApKXU

― cinematic hobo hip-hop rock ‘n’ roll blues-jazz soul-review (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 16 December 2025 15:31 (five months ago)

George Sanders too, it seems.

― Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 16 December 2025 16:35 (five months ago)

Oh, the cinematographer is John Alton!

― Nicholas Raybeat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 16 December 2025 16:47 (five months ago)

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