Film noir

Film noir is one of two film genres (along with Westerns) invented and perfected solely in the United States. It was not initially intended as a formal genre, but between 1941 and 1955, a large percentage of American films— including some of the very best— shared the characteristics of what later became known as film noir. There were flawed protagonists, alluring femmes fatales, hard-bitten dialogue, high contrast cinematography, and street scenes filmed at night.

At the heart of film noir was an attempt to subvert conventional Hollywood standards of plot (happy endings), character (morally upright heroes), and narrative structure (chronological storytelling). By rejecting those standards, the filmmakers were by extension rejecting the values of postwar urban America, portraying that society as hypocritical and hopelessly corrupt. In so doing, they created a uniquely American genre whose films are still powerful today. Here, then, are 25 films which best embody the characteristics of film noir.

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1. Double Indemnity
Directed by Billy Wilder (1944)
Starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson

2. The Maltese Falcon
Directed by John Huston (1941)
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet

3. The Big Sleep
Directed by Howard Hawks (1946)
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall

4. Sunset Blvd.
Directed by Billy Wilder (1950)
Starring Gloria Swanson, William Holden

5. Out of the Past
Directed by Jacques Tourneur (1947)
Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas

6. The Killing
Directed by Stanley Kubrick (1956)
Starring Sterling Hayden, Elisha Cook Jr., Coleen Gray

7. In a Lonely Place
Directed by Nicholas Ray (1950)
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame

8. Laura
Directed by Otto Preminger (1944)
Starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Vincent Price

9. The Asphalt Jungle
Directed by John Huston (1950)
Starring Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe, Louis Calhern

10. The Postman Always Rings Twice
Directed by Tay Garnett (1946)
Starring Lana Turner, John Garfield

11. The Set-Up
Directed by Robert Wise (1949)
Starring Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter

12. The Killers
Directed by Robert Siodmak (1946)
Starring Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien

13. Crossfire
Directed by Edward Dmytryk (1947)
Starring Robert Ryan, Robert Mitchum, Robert Young

14. The Woman In the Window
Directed by Fritz Lang (1944)
Starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea

15. The Third Man
Directed by Carol Reed (1949)
Starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten

16. The Big Steal
Directed by Don Siegel (1949)
Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix, Ramón Novarro

17. Kiss Me Deadly
Directed by Robert Aldrich (1955)
Starring Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Cloris Leachman

18. Detour
Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer (1945)
Starring Tom Neal, Ann Savage

19. Mildred Pierce
Directed by Michael Curtiz (1945)
Starring Joan Crawford, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth

20. D.O.A.
Directed by Rudolph Maté (1950)
Starring Edmond O’Brien, Pamela Britton

21. Pickup On South Street
Directed by Sam Fuller (1953)
Starring Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter

22. Panic In the Streets
Directed by Elia Kazan (1950)
Starring Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes

23. The Hitch-Hiker
Directed by Ida Lupino (1953)
Starring Edmond O’Brien, Frank Lovejoy

24. Ride the Pink Horse
Directed by Robert Montgomery (1947)
Starring Robert Montgomery, Thomas Gómez, Wanda Hendrix

25. Murder, My Sweet
Directed by Edward Dmytryk (1944)
Starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley

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