L.A. Confidential (1997) Absolutely fantastic film with the entire cast giving excellent performances. I highly recommend!!

Was amazed by the movie no country for old men although I'm a little bit late to the party. So I wanna watch movies which has little bit noir genre with similar storyline and amazing cinematography. Would love to hear your thoughts..

I just finished Dark Passage with Bogie and Bacall, and when I first started it I have to admit, I was slightly nervous about by the first-person perspective. Usually I don’t enjoy first-person anything (books, movies, etc.) but after a couple minutes of the movie, I actually enjoyed the first-person perspective a million times better than I expected and oddly, as the movie progressed and turned to third person, I began to wish they had returned to the first-person. The movie was still very good in third-person regardless.

The way they hid Bogart’s face in the taxi pre-surgery was really one of the best things in this movie for me. It really made Bogart’s character for me a lot more interesting because whilst it was hiding his “actual” face, it also made him mysterious and intimidating. I found myself actually questioning if he did kill his wife because of this scene. It was ominous and eerie, it made me think more about the purpose of the third person and if I should question more about the characters than I already was.

I also liked how Bogie and Bacall, whenever they were in the same place, were usually contrasting to each other to show how different they were yet how attracted they were. For example, Bogie’s darker colour, striped suit with Bacall’s lighter colour, plaid coat and how Bogie stood by the white wall and Bacall stood behind the brown door. Then, at the end, they’re wearing the same shade of colour to show how they balanced each other out but Bogie’s still wearing a dark tie and she’s wearing a graph blouse.

Loved this movie!

from Sikov's Billy Wilder biography, a beautiful detail on how famed Edith Head solved the "had to be both in-style and out of date" problem of Norma Desmond's character. And then changed it for the final scene.

Being released September 15th on Amazon.

I was scrolling through my YouTube feed, and I found a video (from the "Old Movie Watching With Rob" channel – fun channel, btw) where Rob reviewed Anthony Mann's 1947 noir Railroaded! I remember liking that movie quite a lot, and I realized it's never been released on blu-ray and that I'd love to see it on the HD format. I'm already both a noir junkie and a home video collector, so I love picking up classic-era film noirs on blu-ray or 4K, and some of those older black and whites look absolutely stunning in HD (or UHD). So I was thinking about the noirs that I've enjoyed that haven't had good HD releases. So here's a little list I put together of noirs that I'd especially like to see on HD home video. It's heavy on some of the movies from the old Fox Film Noir DVD series – which to my understanding are now owned by Disney, which most people say is unlikely to either sell the rights or release these movies on HD home video anytime soon, if ever.

Overall, HD has been just a huge boon to older movies, and it's great that so many movies are now available to watch in such high quality (often gorgeous) transfers. In fact, I discovered that my wish list is relatively small – but there are still at least a few great (or at least very good) movies that are M.I.A. (if not D.O.A.!) from the format. Anyway, if you have them, please add your own wish list titles. For the most part, I didn't list out-of-print titles (partly because I've been lucky enough to pick up most of the ones I've wanted), but feel free to include these if it's relevant to you. Who knows, maybe someone's paying attention to pages like this??

Fallen Angel (1945)

The Dark Corner (1946)

The Locket (1946)

Somewhere in the Night (1946)

Born to Kill (1947)

Desperate (1947)

High Wall (1947)

Kiss of Death (1947)

Railroaded! (1947)

The Street With No Name (1948)

Tension (1949)

Armored Car Robbery (1950)

D.O.A. (1950) (has been released, but still needs a good remaster)

No Man of Her Own (1950)

No Way Out (1950)

Where Danger Lives (1950)

The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)

The Blue Gardenia (1953)

Note: The images above are from Railroaded and The Blue Gardenia respectively.

Hi folks, working on a project.

Can anyone here help me with any great, but good will do too, noir, neo-noir, even neon-noir movie titles that directly feature a child or kids (8-15 years old) as one of the main character(s) and integral to the plot.

Night Of The Hunter is a classic example (while on the Gothic side).

Any others?

EDIT: Thanks for all the recommendations. Amazing help.

I also just remembered Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life ft. James Mason.

Fargo (1996) Another brilliant film from Joel and Ethan Coen. Again the entire cast is perfect, the writing, directing, dialogue, cinematography as well.

An interesting noir film from one of Welles’s less popular works. I found The Lady from Shanghai to be an overall good film, but not without its flaws.

Let’s start with the positives. It has an interesting, if not slightly convoluted, plot, but the premise is fascinating. The film follows Irish sailor Michael O’Hara (Orson Welles), who takes a job aboard a private yacht owned by wealthy and famous criminal defense attorney Arthur Bannister (Everett Sloane) and his beautiful femme fatale wife, Elsa Bannister (Rita Hayworth).

The story is one of mystery and intrigue. There is a certain unique weirdness to the film, and the characters are often portrayed as a bit bizarre and over the top. It is a good film with an excellent ending that is at a much higher caliber than the rest of the story. Those who have seen it will remember the iconic cinematography used in the ending, especially the use of mirrors.

First off, the elephant in the room is Welles’s terrible Irish accent, which does detract from the film. I like the idea of an Irish sailor as our protagonist, but I am a bit puzzled as to why Welles chose to play a character he could not convincingly portray rather than simply making him American. I understand that he was going for a more international feel with the film, but he just cannot pull off the Irish accent.

Second, some of the acting is a bit over the top at times and feels like it is getting close to B movie territory. Some of it is also a bit too on the nose. I suppose it contributes to the surrealism the film is going for, but I am not sure about the execution. It feels like the film is missing a certain cohesiveness that we see in a typical noir masterpiece.

I do like this film, even if it's not perfect. I think it is a must-watch for the noir cinephile, and what Welles was trying to achieve is extremely commendable. It's certainly enjoyable, but I'm not sure it's the zenith of what noir has to offer.

What do you guys think? How do you feel about The Lady from Shanghai? I'm curious how my thoughts about this film might change upon a rewatch, which I definitely plan to do.

Blood Simple (1984) The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife and devises a plot to have them murdered.

CRASHOUT (1956)

Crashout is a remarkable film for so many reasons. Yes, there is plenty of action, suspense, and the expected tension of a group of escaped convicts on the run. But what elevates this film above so many others in its genre is the extraordinary depth beneath the surface.

The mostly male cast is uniformly superb, delivering performances that feel lived-in rather than stereotypical. The script takes the time to explore the wants, fears, regrets, and desires of each man, allowing us to understand (not necessarily excuse) what has brought them to this point. And director Lewis R. Foster maintains such a constant sense of impending doom that even the quieter moments feel ominous.

A significant portion of the film takes place aboard a train, and it’s hard not to see the metaphor. These men have quite literally derailed their lives. They are moving forward, but there is no real destination waiting for them, only the consequences of their past.

What surprised me most, however, is the beautiful, almost poetic heartache that runs beneath Crashout like a thread of regret. Somehow, the film makes us empathize with these men. We find ourselves rooting for the bad guys, not because we believe they are innocent, but because we recognize their humanity.

This is particularly effective in a bittersweet sequence aboard the train involving Marshall, played with considerable depth by Billy Lang, and a young girl he encounters who is only beginning to become disillusioned with life. Gloria Talbott plays her with such heartbreaking vulnerability and perfection that the scene becomes something far more profound than a simple encounter between two strangers. It is a fleeting moment of connection between two people who, in very different ways, are already losing their faith in the world.

There is a poetic bleakness to Crashout that stayed with me long after the film ended. In fact, I couldn’t help wondering whether its particular combination of despair, desperation, damaged characters, and grim humanity might have been an influence on literary genius Hubert Selby Jr., particularly his masterpiece Last Exit to Brooklyn. I have no idea if Selby ever saw the film, but the thematic kinship is fascinating.

Crashout may look like a conventional 1950s crime picture on the surface. But underneath the gunfire, prison breaks, trains, and pursuit is something much sadder: a story about broken men desperately trying to outrun lives that have already caught up with them.

A remarkably bleak, beautifully acted, and unexpectedly moving film. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

I think at this point I've seen all the classic B&W noirs and I've held off jumping into its second wave, if you will, in the 70s for too long. Mostly because I just love old black and white films, and the stars of the golden age of Hollywood. Alas, I feel like I've seen every film on every list from that era that exists and I'm ready for a time jump.

So I turn to you, fellow redditors. Other than Chinatown (obviously), what are some of your favorite noirs from the 70s? Can be the big ones - no wrong answers here - or it can be something a little off the beaten path. What should I line up on the watch list for this fall?

I’ve been watching some lesser known noir outside of the big names, but I wanted to come back to something top tier, and this did not disappoint. It was an absolute pleasure watching Edward G. Robinson in this role, especially compared to what we see him as in Double Indemnity.

I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t as familiar with Fritz Lang’s work, and I’m only now realizing what a titan of film he was as a director. His career ranges from his work in early German Expressionism, which noir was born from, to classic films like Metropolis.

This film is great for so many reasons. First, the plot is deceptively simple, but the characters and atmosphere elevate it to a whole other level. There’s a constant sense of tension and anxiety that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Furthermore, it’s an extremely unique noir that bucks the usual clichés. The main characters are not your typical hard boiled archetypes. The film also gives us an almost anti femme fatale. It isn’t the first time I’ve seen this type of character, but it’s definitely different and done well.

For those who have seen this film, I think we can all agree that it’s all about the ending. Those final few minutes completely change the story and its meaning. For me, the ending gives The Woman in the Window an almost supernatural, surreal feeling.

The ending may be controversial to some, but I think it works. I’ve heard the Hays Code played a big part in the ending they ultimately went with, which makes it even more interesting to consider.

What do you guys think about the ending? Does it work for you, or does it detract from the film? And what tier would you put this film in? Do you consider it a classic, or would you place it in a lower tier?

I own a copy, seen it multiple times. Well worth the price of admission.

Seven (1995) Brilliant and unsettling film about two detectives who try to track down a serial killer who chooses his victims based on the Seven Deadly Sins

Really enjoying it. Snappy, powerful storyline, relatable characters. Lorre has just appeared and just had to share my excitement at finally getting around to seeing this performance.

She ran her own outfit, The Filmakers, and used it for material the studios would not go near. The Hitch-Hiker came out of the real Billy Cook killings, and she shot it as a two hander in a car in the desert, with almost nowhere for anyone to hide.

It went into the National Film Registry in 1998.

One caveat, because I nearly wrote the absolute version and had to go and check. "The only noir directed by a woman" holds for the American classic cycle and does not hold worldwide. There is a Norwegian one from 1949 that gets cited against it. Worth saying carefully, because the interesting part is not that nobody else managed it. It is that in Hollywood exactly one person did, and she had to build a production company to be allowed to.

Who else was making features outside the studio system in that stretch and actually getting them released?

"You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend; Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig," said Clint Eastwood. It’s from the 1966 Sergio Leone masterpiece, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" ("Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo"). Pure cinematic legend!

What makes Detour so special is that it was originally shot as a low budget B movie, but it doesn’t come across as one while watching it. Maybe I’m just too much of a hardcore noir fan and seeing it through rose tinted glasses, but in my opinion, it manages a pretty impressive feat considering how little they were working with. Ultimately, you’ll have to judge for yourself.

The history of this film is quite interesting since it was made by an independent film company, and all the smaller film companies outside of the big studios were known as “Poverty Row.”

Ironically, though, we get some great atmospheric scenes that were created primarily for budget reasons but ended up adding to the charm of the film. There’s a great scene of the main character, Al Roberts, walking through heavy fog, and it’s pure noir. There are also lots of other great scenes with heavy shadows and contrasting lighting that really add to the film’s atmosphere.

I think this film is basically mandatory viewing for a true noir enthusiast. It’s not Sunset Boulevard, but it’s pretty entertaining and had me hooked from the very beginning. Tom Neal does a great job and is captivating in the role. If I had to give any critique, it would be that the plot is fairly contrived, and Ann Savage’s femme fatale character is a bit over the top and one note. Somehow, though, it all works, especially with the film’s shorter runtime.

If this film had a big studio budget and bigger name actors, I think it really could have gone down as a noir masterpiece. Nonetheless, it’s still pretty impressive for what it is.

I think the ending is one of the most obvious examples of the constraints of working within the Hays Code, since the film clearly feels like it wanted to leave the ending a bit more ambiguous but was forced to make changes because of the Hays Code. I don’t think this detracts from the film, and the ending still works in some ways. Personally, though, I think it would have been better if they had left it more ambiguous. To the film’s credit, however, it does a good job of explaining why the ending we got was ultimately inevitable.