Best Ever (Classic) Film Noir [POLL] - Games

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

Whatever happened to the poll about acting performances? That person is missing in action.

PurpleHazel

I pmed CGD. No reply.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

https://letterboxd.com/writer70/list/noir/

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

Wait a minute, did you mean that the ONLY films eligible are the ones on the top list of the Criterion thing, or just that the ones on the bottom list aren't eligible? If something isn't on that list it's not eligible? Even if it's on some other list? If so, I'll just change mine. Cuz I put a few that weren't on that list.

HokeMoseley

1. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
2. Out of the Past (1947)
3. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
4. The Set-Up (1949)
5. Rififi (1955)
6. White Heat (1949)
7. They Live by Night (1948)
8. Double Indemnity (1944)
9. The Killers (1946)
10. Night and the City (1950)
11. Violent Saturday (1955)
12. The Killing (1956)
13. Moonrise (1948)
14. Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
15. The Big Heat (1953)
16. The Big Sleep (1946)
17. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
18. Mildred Pierce (1945)
19. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
20. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
21. Pitfall (1948)
22. Criss Cross (1949)
23. The Narrow Margin (1952)
24. Crime Wave (1953)
25. Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
26. Detour (1945)
27. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
28. Scarlet Street (1945)
29. Brute Force (1947)
30. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
31. When Strangers Marry (1944)
32. Gun Crazy (1950)
33. On Dangerous Ground (1951)
34. Desperate (1947)
35. Strangers on a Train (1951)
36. The Stranger (1946)
37. High Sierra (1941)
38. Panic in the Streets (1950)
39. Dark Passage (1947)
40. He Ran All the Way (1951)
41. Big House, U.S.A. (1955)
42. Where Danger Lives (1950)
43. Armored Car Robbery (1950)
44. Cry of the City (1948)
45. Road House (1948)
46. Key Largo (1948)
47. Sudden Fear (1952)
48. The Breaking Point (1950)
49. Dillinger (1945)
50. Kiss of Death (1947)

Last edited by HokeMoseley on 01/15/2019 15:25; edited 4 times in total

PurpleHazel

bobbyb5 wrote:

Wait a minute, did you mean that the ONLY films eligible are the ones on the top list of the Criterion thing, or just that the ones on the bottom list aren't eligible? If something isn't on that list it's not eligible? Even if it's on some other list? If so, I'll just change mine. Cuz I put a few that weren't on that list.

It's a little confusing. The only 1940-1959 American films that are eligible are are the ones on the first (top) list, "Films Generally Considered Film Noir (1940-1959)" (the last film on that list is The Wrong Man).

None of the movies in "Films Sometimes Considered Film Noir (1940-1959)" are eligible (the first film on that list is A Woman's Devotion) -- though I wouldn't squawk about the Hitchcock ones (other than Lifeboat!). The "Generally Considered Film Noir" list is very broad already -- 478 movies. Anything less noir than To Have or Have Not (which is on that list) probably isn't noir! (Half-joking to make a point.) If someone wants to include a film from the "Sometimes" list, ask about it in the thread and we'll hash it out.

None of the films on the "Post-Classic Period Noirs (60s)" are eligible except the 9 I list in my OP.

The films in the "Appendix: Foreign Noirs" list are probably eligible if they came out before 1960. I haven't even heard of a lot of those films, though I've seen some of them. "The Foreign Noirs" list, unlike the others, was crowd-sourced by members of that forum -- the other lists were compiled by a moderator who's an adjunct film professor and has probably seen close to 400 noirs.

None of the lists address 1930s films. The only two 30s American films I'm including on my list are Fritz Lang's first two Hollywood films, Fury and You Only Live Once. Since film noir's visual element is rarely present in 30s Hollywood films, I only think a few are eligible. I'm also including one 30s French "Poetic-Realism" film, Le jour se leve. Other noirish ones include Port of Shadows and Pepe le Moko.

My decision to use the first list makes things a little more confusing, but I feel it's the best inclusive list available, so it seemed worth the trouble.

Hope that clears things up.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

PurpleHazel wrote:

It's a little confusing. The only 1940-1959 American films that are eligible are are the ones on the first (top) list, "Films Generally Considered Film Noir (1940-1959)" (the last film on that list is The Wrong Man).

None of the movies in "Films Sometimes Considered Film Noir (1940-1959)" are eligible (the first film on that list is A Woman's Devotion) -- though I wouldn't squawk about the Hitchcock ones (other than Lifeboat!). The "Generally Considered Film Noir" list is very broad already -- 478 movies. Anything less noir than To Have or Have Not (which is on that list) probably isn't noir! (Half-joking to make a point.) If someone wants to include a film from the "Sometimes" list, ask about it in the thread and we'll hash it out.

None of the films on the "Post-Classic Period Noirs (60s)" are eligible except the 9 I list in my OP.

The films in the "Appendix: Foreign Noirs" list are probably eligible if they came out before 1960. I haven't even heard of a lot of those films, though I've seen some of them. "The Foreign Noirs" list, unlike the others, was crowd-sourced by members of that forum -- the other lists were compiled by a moderator who's an adjunct film professor and has probably seen close to 400 noirs.

None of the lists address 1930s films. The only two 30s American films I'm including on my list are Fritz Lang's first two Hollywood films, Fury and You Only Live Once. Since film noir's visual element is rarely present in 30s Hollywood films, I only think a few are eligible. I'm also including one 30s French "Poetic-Realism" film, Le jour se leve. Other noirish ones include Port of Shadows and Pepe le Moko.

My decision to use the first list makes things a little more confusing, but I feel it's the best inclusive list available, so it seemed worth the trouble.

Hope that clears things up.

I had a bunch of films from the second list on my list, but I removed most of them. I don't know, maybe you could look at my list and see if the couple remaining ones are okay. They were listed in other sources like Wikipedia so I thought they were okay. No big deal though. I could just put something else instead.

PurpleHazel

bobbyb5 wrote:

maybe you could look at my list

Most of the handful you have left I haven't seen, so can't really pass judgment on them. The Hoodlum Priest, which I have seen, is 1962, but if you want to keep it on, it's fine. I wouldn't put Witness for the Prosecution on a list -- it's more of a courtroom drama-mystery -- but it in the end it's up to you. What happened to The Big Night? That was my favorite pick of yours, because of its obscurity. It'll be on my list, though pretty far down. Ossessione's a good call -- I added it to the Non-U.S. Films list in the second post. From what I've seen online, Brighton Rock's supposed to be one of the best British noirs. Hope to watch it before the poll wraps up. You always have an interesting mix of movies on your lists. You've seen a helluva a lot of older British films -- where did you see these?

Last edited by PurpleHazel on 11/14/2018 23:17; edited 3 times in total

PurpleHazel

HokeMoseley wrote:

[WORK IN PROGRESS]....

Excellent list.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

PurpleHazel wrote:

Most of the handful you have left I haven't seen, so can't really pass judgment on them. The Hoodlum Priest, which I have seen, is 1962, but if you want to keep it on, it's fine. I wouldn't put Witness for the Prosecution on a list -- it's more of a courtroom drama-mystery -- but it in the end it's up to you. What happened to The Big Night? That was my favorite pick of yours, because of its obscurity. It'll be on my list, though pretty far down. Ossessione's a good call -- I added it to the Non-U.S. Films list in the second post. From what I've seen online, Brighton Rock's supposed to be one of the best British noirs. Hope to watch it before the poll wraps up.

I don't know what happened to The Big Night. I must have deleted it by accident when I was deleting other ones. I really like it so I'm going to put it back. I forgot that Hoodlum Priest wasn't in the 50s. I'll take that off, and Witness for the Prosecution. Yeah, Ossessione is great, and it's also the original Postman Always Rings Twice. That's probably why people like it. Brighton Rock is very good. Most of the British ones I've seen are pretty good. Especially Fallen Idol.