Film Noir Favorites

[Widebrim]

Night and the City was the blow-out, bad guy film for Widmark. After that, he branched out into "good guy" roles.

 

[rjb1]

It was quite a switch - his character in "Night in the City" is so crooked, sleazy, annoying, etc. that it's hard to even watch it.

 

[rjb1]

Hugh Beaumont was much less of a Ward Cleaver character in "The Mole People". (He wasn't a mole-person himself. He wasn't *that* much different from Ward...)

 

[markkedle]

My favorite are
-Out of the Past
-This Gun for Hire.
Thanks for the nice input.

 

[Atomic Age]

He Walked by Night (1948)
Tension (1949)
Mystery Street (1950)
Slightly Scarlet (1956)
Act of Violence (1948)
The Dark Corner (1946)

Just a few off the top of my head.

 

[Lucky Girl]

These are some great lists...can't wait to check them out!

 

[Widebrim]

My favorite are
-Out of the Past
-This Gun for Hire.
Thanks for the nice input.

Two classics.

He Walked by Night (1948)
Tension (1949)
Mystery Street (1950)
Slightly Scarlet (1956)
Act of Violence (1948)
The Dark Corner (1946)

Just a few off the top of my head.

Love The Dark Corner, and glad to see Tension on somebody else's list; an excellent example.

 

[rjb1]

I saw "The Dark Corner" for the first time about a week ago. Good movie, and I liked seeing Lucille Ball in a leading dramatic role, but the plot seemed to rely too much on unlikely coincidence to move major plot points. I think they (the writers) could have accomplished the same ends in a more plausible fashion.

 

[Widebrim]

^^True, rjb1, but that's part of what makes it Noir...

 

[rjb1]

I tend to agree with respect to Noir (which I am a huge fan of), but there are aspects of "The Dark Corner" that push coincidence to an extreme, I think. However, I can't be too specific without revealing some things which would spoil it for others.
I like the end results of certain aspects of the plot as written, but would prefer that they got there by other means. It could still be "Noir" without making me say, "Hey, wait a minute..." when something happens.

 

[Widebrim]

^^Well, perhaps the winner for coincidence Noir is The Blue Dahlia, with This Gun For Hire up there, too...

 

[EmergencyIan]

Kansas City Confidential (1952)

Call Northside 777 (1948)

Pickup on South Street (1953)

The Big Heat (1953)

- Ian

 

[Heather]

Dunno what happened--thought I was subscribed to this fabulous thread. Always on the lookout for a good film noirs! Adding some to my list....;-)

 

[Locrian]

Hello good people — my first post to the forum. I love Film Noir so this is a good opportunity to jump in.

My favourite film noir is one that is slightly outside the usual time frame: Hitchcock's Vertigo. I have seen this film so many times since its rerelease in the early 80's that I've lost count. But though I love this film I have always been slightly put off by the "reveal" near the end. So I decided to read they book to see whether it was a carry-over from the novel The Living and the Dead by Boileau-Narcejac. It isn't but I also discovered that the book is far grittier and nastier than the film. James Stewart is so likeable in everything he does that he could never be the 'hero' of the book — who is driven insane by his unconfirmed belief that the girl he is currently with is the same one as the girl who died.

Another favourite — also bucking the trend for film noir to be in b&w — is Leave Her to Heaven, with the beautiful, tragic Gene Tierney. The great difference between the novel here and the film is that Ellen actually starts a forest fire. I guess that would have been costly to stage. But apart from that it's very much the same as the film.

Also with Gene Tierney, and mentioned many times above, is Laura. Also a treat for those looking at 40's fashion.

Double Indemnity is great for Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson — though personally I don't find Fred MacMurray believable in the main role.

Edward G. Robinson in The Woman in the Window or Scarlet Street.

And finally, a favourite that I haven't see for far too long: Out of the Past by the great Jacques Tourneur, starring Jane Greer and Robert Mitchum.

There are so many great film noirs — it was a genre that rarely ever failed.

 

[Widebrim]

^^Double Indemnity is a classic, as is Laura and Out of the Past. Vertigo is considered by many to be one of the best American films ever.

 

[Widebrim]

Kansas City Confidential (1952)

Call Northside 777 (1948)

Pickup on South Street (1953)

The Big Heat (1953)

- Ian

All great ones, Ian. My favorite out of the bunch, though, is Kansas City Confidential.

 

[The King of Cool]

So far mine is " DARK PASSAGE " w/ Bogart & Bacall. The filming of this movie was years before their time.

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

Sorry, Wrong Number.
Not a favorite but absolutely a must see.

 

[cigar joe]

These are the "darkest" noirs visually that I've seen so far, some of the best known noir aren't necessarily the darkest ;-)

Armored Car Robbery
The Asphalt Jungle
The Big Combo
Black Angel
Border Incident
The City That Never Sleeps
Crime Wave
Criss Cross
The Crooked Way
Crossfire
Cry Of The City
The Dark Corner
Dead Reckoning
Desperate
Detour
Double Indemnity
Edge of Doom
Fallen Angel
He Walked By Night
Hollow Triumph (The Scar)
Killers Kiss
The Killers
The Killing
Kiss Me Deadly
The Narrow Margin
Night And The City
99 River Street
The Phantom Lady
Raw Deal
Red Light
Scarlett Street
The Seventh Victim
The Strange Lives of Martha Ivers
Sudden Fear
Storm Warming
T Men
The Set Up
The Street With No Name
They Live By Night
They Made me a Fugitive
Too Late For Tears
Touch Of Evil
Where Danger Lives
Where The Sidewalk Ends
The Window

 

[Miss Golightly]

For me it's got to be:

Laura
Leave Her to Heaven
The Asphalt Jungle
Out of the Past
Double Indemnity
The Postman Always Rings Twice
House on Telegraph Hill
The Prowler
Whirlpool
Fallen Angel
Murder My Sweet (Farewell My Lovely)
While the City Sleeps (an overlooked gem)