Let's make a list of must see classic film noir

Double Indemnity

Out of the Past

Mildred Pierce, Sunset Boulevard and Chinatown, obviously.

Phoenix with Nina Hoss and Ronald Zehrlech.

The Prowler

The Sniper

Brute Force

Act of Violence

The Killers

The Killing

Edit Zehrfeld, not Zehrlech

Stranger by the lake

If it's directed by Fritz Lang, odds are it's going to be pretty good. Some examples:

Fury (the prototype noir film)

You Only Live Once

The Woman in the Window

Scarlet Street

Clash by Night

The Blue Gardenia

The Big Heat

Blade Runner

In addition to those mentioned, some of my favorites would include:

Born to Kill

The Narrow Margin

The Killing

Killer's Kiss

Roadhouse (the Ida Lupino film, not the Patrick Swayze film)

The Killers (1st version, with Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster)

Kiss Me Deadly

The Window

Deadline at Dawn

Phantom Lady

The Lady from Shanghai

Perhaps Shanghai Gesture. Also Devil is a Woman is informative.

Shadow of a Doubt

The They Shoot Pictures website has a list of the top film noir movies. Highly recommended.

The Postman Always Rings Twice

Nightmare Alley

Niagara

Quai des Orfevres

The Big Clock

Kiss of Death

The Big Heat

Murder, My Sweet

In A Lonely Place

Touch of Evil

The Third Man

Key Largo

Pickup on South Street

The Reckless Moment (little known, but one of the very best)

Criss Cross

Gun Crazy

Detour

The Big Combo

Laura

The Asphalt Jungle

Gilda

The Maltese Falcon

The Big Sleep

Sunset Blvd.

Crash course

In a Lonely Place is excellent

Night Has a Thousand Eyes, with E.G. Robinson and Gail Russell.

No Man of Her Own, with Barbara Stanwyck. Original story "I Married a Dead Man"

both were written by Cornell Woolrich

r17, r22

[italic]In a Lonely Place[/italic] is must see noir. I saw it on TV a long time ago, it stayed with me and,. later, pleased to find out it was a classic. Like many movies of the time Hollywood softened the impact of Lonely Place, which was based on a popular novel of the time. In the book, Bogart's character is a rapist and multiple murderer and in the end is guilty of the crime. The director changed it to Bogie has a hot temper and merely suspected until later found innocent.

Nevertheless, Bogart played it as written. An amazing performance.

Turner Classic Movies' weekly feature "Noir Alley" shows a film noir every Sat. night at 9:00 (PST) and reruns it the following Sun. morning at 7:00 PST. The host is Eddie Muller, whose introduction and post-film windup provide lots of interesting background info about authors, directors, producers, and actors. Even if I'm not interested in a certain movie, I record the show each week so that I can watch Muller's commentary because that's always fun.

^ As of tonight, the featured film is Berlin Express.

My suggestions include Detour, The Big Sleep and Night Nurse.

Horny men are waiting 4 u here

Desert Fury, a rare color noir. It’s fabulous.

Double Indemnity (Fred Macmurray as a bad guy!), Sunset Boulevard, The Third Man.

Detour is essential. The blueprint.

Some repeats...

Out of the Past

DOA

Detour

Kiss Me Deadly

Great list so far, guys! One of the reasons I love the DL. I’m not the OP, but I’m enjoying this so much...

These are all great suggestions and I’m really enjoying the additional recommendations of the excellent Noir Alley feature on TCM every Sat. night/Sun. morning featuring intros and outros by Eddie Muller as well as that of the recent German throwback noir film, Phoenix, someone mentioned upthread starring Nina Hoss. *So* good....

Sudden fear Raw Deal The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers Cape Fear Roadhouse

Extra votes for: Mildred Pierce Double Indemnity In a Lonely Place

If you are including neo-noir, I highly recommend Body Heat and The Last Seduction.

R25 Fun fact: Eddie Muller co-wrote Tab Hunter's autobiography with him.

I'll mention some of these ^^^ again for emphasis, but this is a great list so far: Gun Crazy Detour Blonde Ice (magnificent, and rarely mentioned in Noir discussions) The Narrow Margin "A" pictures include Double Indemnity, Laura, In a Lonely Place, Crossfire, and Sunset Boulevard.

Why not tell why you recommend a film?

The Honeymoon Killers

"Obsessione" one of the first "noir" films, L. Visconti's wartime unauthorized version of the novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice. It predates the Hollywood version by a few years.

Rarely shown in the US due to copyright issues, but shows up at festivals

And the lead, Massimo Griotti, is smokin

Jennifer (1953). Good story, great acting, amazing cinematography by James Wong Howe.

The Damned Don't Cry (1950)

This is a surprisingly good doco (2005) on the film and the Warner Brothers noir formula. Director Vincent Sherman (who had an affair with Crawford) is interviewed briefly at age 99. The film also featured hottie Steve Cochran, an underappreciated actor who appeared frequently in noir films of the era.

Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).

Cicely Tyson and Harry Belafonte are still alive.

Found this list I made for myself a couple years ago. A bunch are repeats, some may be new suggestions:

Gaslight (1944)

Laura (’44)

Double Indemnity (’44)

Mildred Pierce (’45)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (’46)

Strange Love of Martha Ivers (’46)

Born to Kill (’47)

Out of the Past (’47)

Sorry, Wrong Number (’48)

Raw Deal (’48)

Road House (’48)

In a Lonely Place (’50)

Sunset Boulevard (’50)

A Place in the Sun (’51)

Sudden Fear (’52)

The Bigamist (’53)

Angel Face (’53)

Dial ‘M’ for Murder (’54)

Night of the Hunter (’55)

A Face in the Crowd (’57)

Midnight Lace (’60)

Diabolique (Clouzot)

Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (If you can find it)

Brick (2005, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

[quote] Why not tell why you recommend a film?

OP did not ask us to.

1st and foremost, The film noir of film noirs: The big sleep. No one beats Bogart/bacall Laura, with the gorgeous Dana Andrews The night of the Hunter (not sure it counts as a ' noir', but unforgettable nonetheless) Leave her to heaven is worth a watch, as is' ' the Shangai gesture' '. There's one with bacall, newman and wagner that's pretty cool. They drive by night. There's one with farley grange.

R30 and R46, meet R26.

No one likes a thread monitor, R47,

Strangers on a Train of course. Film noir with homoeroticism

Nightmare Alley

Angel Face, Pickup on South Street, Sudden Fear, Laura, The Big Cllock, Scarlet Street, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon, Blade Runner:

There's a somewhat obscure one on TCM on 12/28 "Repeat Performance" with lovely Colleen Gray. It is beautifully shot and the story is really intriguing. Check it out!!

Just for this time of year, Christmas with Raymond Chandler

Blood Simple

1984

Joel and Ethan Coen's first feature film

I'm a huge devotee of the genre. Here are a few that people don't know well but are excellent--I don't know if anyone's mentioned these:

Heat Lightning (1934) -- One of those films that was noir before there was such a thing as noir! Set in the Arizona desert in the middle of nowhere, with two great actresses who are almost forgotten today: Aline McMahon and Ann Dvorak. made before the in stantiation of the Hays Code, so incredibly honest for its day.

My Name is Julia Ross (1945) -- As much of a Gothic as it is a noir, this extremely unusual film about identity and memory was re-made in 1987 as Dead of Winter, and Stars Nina Foch and Dame May Whitty.

The Red House (1947) -- This is one of Martin Scorsese's favorite noirs. It's unusual in that it has a rural setting, but it has a first-rate cast: Edward G. Robinson, Judith Anderson, Julie London, and Rory CXalhoun. The scene where the heroine (Allene Roberst) goes to see the red house for the first time in unforgettable.

It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) -- Set in London's East End right after the war, Googie Withers plays a girl who had to hid a prison escapee in her backyard

They Live By Night (1948) -- This is probably the best known on my list, because it was directed by Nicholas Ray. Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell in an excellent and suspenseful story, from the same novel later adapted as "Thieves Like us"

Caught! (1949) --Genuinely great film, directed by Max Ophuls. Barbara Bel Geddes plays a young woman married by a Howard Hughes-like sociopathic multimillionaire (played by Robert Ryan) just to spite his psychiatrist. When she becomes pregnant, she realizes he will not let her leave him.

Side Street (1950) -- The always watchable (and incredibly beautiful) Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell together again. Excellent and (for the time) rare location shooting in the streets of Manhattan

The House on Telegraph Hill (1951) -- Almost surreal story of Holocaust survival and intrigue, with Richard Basehart and Valentina Cortese. The titular house is a wonder--it looks like it might fall down at any moment.

99 River Street (1953) --Unbelievably watchable film with the gorgeous John Payne as a boxer who says he would use his fists to kill his girl if she were cheating on him, but somehow winds up being the hero.

R52, I agree that "Repeat Performance" sounds intriguing but I don't see Coleen Gray listed in its credits (at link). Thanks for the tip, though -- I've asked TCM to send me an e-mail reminder so maybe I won't forget to see it.

Two recommendations that may cause controversy. Cat People (1941) and Bad Education (2004). The first has the feeling and look and heightened emotion of noir, the second the twist and sadness and feeling of regret.

The Song of Bernadette

Another vote for The Maltese Falcon, considered by many to be the first film noir, setting the template for many to follow – – morally ambiguous antihero, morally ambiguous leading lady, lighting effects, editing, music… John Huston took Dashiell Hammett‘s crime novel that had been filmed at least twice before, and really broke new ground.

Deadline at Dawn.

A young Susan Hayward helps gorgeous Bill Williams solve a murder mystery.

Robert Ryan was in a lot of great post-war noirs: Woman on the Beach, Crossfire, Act of Violence, Caught, The Set Up, On Dangerous Ground, Clash by Night. Compelling, intense, and oddly sexy. Great actor.

Dark Passage with Bogart and Bacall is so-so, but worth watching for the performance of Agnes Moorehead as Madge the lunatic.

Anyone who hasn't seen Kiss Me Deadly should stop everything and watch it now.

I know it's been mentioned (see "hall monitor") but after seeing an enjoying every noir I could find over the last two years, it sticks with me as none of the others have. Robert Aldrich's best. Ralph Meeker is hot. The script and cinematography combine in a relentless nightmare, and it all leads to something that drives the viewer beyond noir's conventions into something - terrible. And ours.

Mary!

R63 The opening scene in Kiss Me Deadly with Cloris Leachman running hysterical and barefoot in the street at night is burned into my memory for all time.

“M” 1931 “Metropolis” 1927. ...always the Criterion versions, now

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows)

The Third Man

Love the already mentioned "M" and " Diabolique. "

In addition to Lang's original, the 1951 Joseph Losey remake of M (set in LA) is well worth seeing. It turns up on TCM occasionally.

R40 That big neglected California estate is really the star of the movie, with its looming shadows, hollow, empty rooms with echoing footsteps and creepy mirrors. There's a melancholy sense of 50's SoCal and a strong buildup of suspense as Lupino rushes through the lonely spaces surrounded by waving palms searching for a dead girl. You're right about the excellent cinematography.

R63/R64, there are so many great quotes and moments in the movie. The way they torture Christina at the beginning of the film is disturbing, especially since you just see her legs and hear her screaming. I would be interested in a remake of the movie, but one that replaces the cold war paranoia with global warming/technology shifts and doesn't try to recreate the 50s atmosphere.

A Touch of Evil is probably the last great film noir (not including neo-noir films like Chinatown).

STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR (40) is, arguably, the first American film noir. It's phenomenally expressionistic. Peter Lorre stars.

[quote]The way they torture Christina

This sounds like something I need to check out!

Bur R72, no wire hangers were involved, it's too open to the imagination for you.

Detour has some funny lines that have stuck with me:

[quote]That’s life. Whichever way you turn, fate sticks out a foot to trip you.

[quote]Your philosophy stinks, Pal. We all know we’re gonna kick off, someday.

[quote]I guess I’m getting kinda used to you.

[quote]Well, that’s a habit you can start breaking.

Body Heat

Another early film in the cycle: I WAKE UP SCREAMING (41). Stunning camerawork by Edward Cronjager, and a brilliant performance by proto-Datalounger Laird Cregar.

City by Night (1947) -- Helen Lawson is woefully miscast as a naive, frigid wife but entrancing none the less. The final scene in the film after her character has 'turned bad' and become a jaded sidepiece is a classic. How many times did us young gaylings reenact that throwing of the half-empty (Helen, insisting on realism, downed it) Scotch bottle before falling off a balcony? She allegedly had an affair with Jack Carson during filming and gave him a nasty case of VD.

"City That Never Sleeps" (1953) is a strange movie. Stars Gig Young Mala Powers William Talman Edward Arnold Chill Wills Marie Windsor Paula Raymond. "Niagara" is another one from '53 with Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotton. "A Kiss Before Dying" (1956) is in color and Niagara is too. Robert Wagoner pushes Joanne Woodward.off the roof of a building in this.

A few good ones that haven't been mentioned (sorry if I missed them): The Big Combo (fantastic cinematography), The Lady From Shanghai (that ending!) and The Seventh Victim (noir is broader than you might think.)

If you're looking for an overview OP you might find this documentary interesting. Of course you can't cover everything in an hour but it's not a bad start.

Please report back! It would be interesting to hear what you're watching and what you think about it.

Draw the line noir (title of movie) neo-noir?

[quote] She allegedly had an affair with Jack Carson during filming and gave him a nasty case of VD.

I always liked to give my costars a little something to remember me by.

[quote] Draw the line noir (title of movie) neo-noir?

What a mysterious post.

Force of Evil, John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, Marie Windsor

Which ones are on Netflix please?

Jagged Edge

Mulholland Drive

You're only speaking for yourself, R48, and who gives a shit what you think? Begone, scold.

^R48 is R46, who got corrected.

Did anyone see the Noir Alley movie last night/this morning: "Cash On Demand" 1962? Uncharacteristic product from Hammer Films (known for British horror movies), starring Peter Cushing (ditto). Very good, well written and acted, black and white crime movie version of "A Christmas Carol" -- unusual but great fun.

[quote] Which ones are on Netflix please?

You'll have to check that out yourself.

"Leave Her to Heaven" was mentioned in another thread. I had never seen it.

OMG...if you haven't seen it, you must.

A lush technicolor noir. Gene Tierney is so beautiful I gasped at some of her close-ups. And the fashions!

The story is gripping. Tierney's character fascinating.

Ditto on "My Name is Julia Ross." Here is the entire film. Watch it, damn it!

A Lonely Place has already been mentioned. I would say most of Gloria Grahame's movies during that time. She was pure hussy on and off the screen.

I would also highly recommend Caged. I know it is a prison movie, but damn it is good.

Plus, one of the best lines ever! Get out! End of the line tramps!

Ask and ye shall receive!

Ask and ye shall receive!

R91 She is beautiful but that overbite is damn distracting.

Black Narcissus

Barbara Stanwyck was queen of Noir. And Ruth Roman, Barbara Rush, Jan sterling, and every B movie star out there was working regularly during the 40's and 50's when Noir was huge. One of my personal favorites has always been Shadow of a Doubt. Love that movie.

Too Late for Tears and Lizabeth Scott

Other favorite noir actresses besides Stanwyck, Gloria Grahame, and Lizabeth Scott:

Ida Lupino (almost EVERYTHING she is in is good if only because she's in it--she never gave a bad performance I've seen, and she was often sublime--probably the best Hollywood dramatic actress after Stanwyck)

Marie Windsor

Claire Trevor

Audrey Totter

Jane Greer

Coleen Gray (although she usually played the good girl in films noirs, as in 'Nightmare Alley,' she was highly praised for making the parts seem genuine and--in Pauline Kael's words "freshly thought out")

Ann Savage (played one of the most memorable villains of all time in all film in "Detour")

The greatest male actors in film noir were Humphrey Bogart (supremely) and Robert Mitchum. But other excellent actors in the genre:

Richard Widmark

John Payne

Alan Ladd

John Garfield

Edward G. Robinson (did his most subtle work in the genre--and he was one of the best actors of all time)

Richard Conti

Sterling Hayden

Laurence Tierney

Tom Neal

Farley Granger

‘Woman on the Run’ starring the always fabulous, Ann Sheridan.

The Dark Corner from 1946 starring Lucille Ball is pretty good. Fun to see her in an early, non-comedic role.

Dana Andrews is my favorite noir actor.

Always understated, and underrated.

BLACK WIDOW is available to view for free on YouTube. It is an interesting artifact of a turbulent time in the Hollywood as is it scrambled to hold onto its audience. A film noir starring Ginger Rogers, Van Heflin and Gene Tierney, but filmed in gigantic widescreen Cinemascope and drenched in color and all the light needed to shoot in widescreen. It looks and feels like a 50's musical, but it's supposed to be a thriller. In the end, it's just a mess. But an interesting mess.

The Stranger with Orson Welles and Edward G. Robinson.

R100 New Yorker writer's top 10 Stanwyck films...

Bumping this for lock down entertainment suggestions. Your welcome.

The Damned Don't Cry (1950)

I think I posted the doco @ R41 about Crawford and the hot AF and aptly named noir king, Steve Cochran.

The Big Heat with Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame.

[quote] Roadhouse (the Ida Lupino film, not the Patrick Swayze film).

R9 , thank you for clarifying that.

Here's my list.

1. Wise Blood (John Huston, Flannery O'Connor story).

2. L.A. Confidential.

3. Chinatown.

4. Rain (Joan Crawford, Somerset Maugham story).

Nocturne (1946) George Raft, Lynn Bari

Lady in the Lake (1946) Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter

Mystery Street (1950) Ricardo Montalban, Elsa Lanchester

Anything with the GREAT Audrey Totter. As mentioned “The Set-Up”.

What not Young Frankenstein?

Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price redid years later with Will Smith in I Am Legend based on an old book

Included with Amazon Prime: Detour, a Kiss Before Dying, He Walked by Night, Woman on the Run and the Red House, among others.

I looked over Netflix offerings. They just don't offer that many old classic movies of any kind.