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

PurpleHazel

My friend jbro sent me a list:

1. The Asphalt Jungle
2. Out of The Past
3. Night of The Hunter
4. Double Indemnity
5. The Maltese Falcon
6. Sunset Boulevard
7. M
8. Gun Crazy
9. The Woman In The Window
10.Force of Evil
11.Raw Deal
12.In A Lonely Place
13.Gilda
14.The Prowler
15.The Big Heat
16.Road House
17.Detour
18.The Narrow Margin
19.Pickup On South Street
20.The Big Sleep
21.Tension
22.Thieves’ Highway
23.Kiss Me Deadly
24.Act of Violence
25.Strangers On A Train
26.The Breaking Point
27.The Blue Dahlia
28.The Killing
29.Murder, My Sweet
30.Touch of Evil
31.Caught
32.Too Late For Tears
33.Night And The City
34.Odds Against Tomorrow
35.They Live By Night
36.Quai des Orfévres
37.Key Largo
38.The Postman Always Rings Twice
39.Ride The Pink Horse
40.Somewhere In The Night
41.Two Seconds
42.The Killers
43.Le Jour se leve
44.The Third Man
45.Ace In The Hole
46.Clash By Night
47.Brute Force
48.Laura
49.On Dangerous Ground
50. Gaslight

badseed

Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: FL

https://boxd.it/26hSK

PurpleHazel

Really good list. Coming up with a list of 100 pre-1965 noirs is no small feat. Happy that Act of Violence and The Prowler are getting love.

badseed

Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: FL

PurpleHazel wrote:

Really good list. Coming up with a list of 100 pre-1965 noirs is no small feat. Happy that Act of Violence and The Prowler are getting love.

It definitely was tough; to be honest putting this list together I had to research, as a lot of movies on that list weren't Noir to me. Then I had to do even more research on the true definition of the genre, as I had it labeled pretty simply. So the true benefit to this poll for me has been learning and understanding film noir better than ever before.

With that said, I didn't necessarily sort my list by greatness, or by how much they define the genre. It's kind of a blend of both. Vertigo is my favorite movie on the list, but I couldn't rank it higher than I did because when I think Film Noir, I think black and white, jazzy music, etc. That may be a flaw, as Vertigo definitely has most of the other film noir tropes like the damsel in distress who, the big detective work reveal at the end. But I've always had it labeled as a thriller.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

I thought it was a hard list to do too, but that's because I guess I haven't seen as many as I thought I did , so toward the end of the list I had to put ones that I didn't even like that much just to come up with a hundred. But at least I watched a few in the last few weeks I have never seen before. A couple were really good. But I watched one the other day that was a real stinker. The Naked Alibi. The look of it was fantastic. I've never seen one that looked so noirish before. Almost every scene took place in the pitch black. Talk about dark. It just screamed noir. But the script was horrible, and several times I just had to laugh out loud it was so bad. Some of the scenes were fantastic, but other ones were just mind-bogglingly horrible. And even the usually reliable Sterling Hayden and Gloria Grahame weren't so hot this time. And Gloria Grahame does the worst saloon number you have ever seen. It is jaw-droppingly bad.
But one that I really liked was The Big Knife. I know it's pretty famous, but I never saw it before. I'm trying to watch every single one with "big" in the title because they're usually good. Heh heh

PurpleHazel

badseed wrote:

It definitely was tough; to be honest putting this list together I had to research, as a lot of movies on that list weren't Noir to me. Then I had to do even more research on the true definition of the genre, as I had it labeled pretty simply. So the true benefit to this poll for me has been learning and understanding film noir better than ever before.

Glad something positive has come from our little venture.

Quote:

With that said, I didn't necessarily sort my list by greatness, or by how much they define the genre. It's kind of a blend of both. Vertigo is my favorite movie on the list, but I couldn't rank it higher than I did because when I think Film Noir, I think black and white, jazzy music, etc. That may be a flaw, as Vertigo definitely has most of the other film noir tropes like the damsel in distress who, the big detective work reveal at the end. But I've always had it labeled as a thriller.

My list is also a balance between how much I esteem the films and how well they fit within the definition of film noir as I interpret it. Vertigo has meets many of the characteristics of noir in spades -- an extremely convoluted scheme to conceal and cover up a husband's murder of his wife, obsession, a tragic ending. But the first half of the film feels more like a gothic -- which does have an ancestral relationship to noir. Another reason I ranked Vertigo lower is I felt it needed no help from me -- it's like the heavyweight champion of the world fighting a welterweight.

Last edited by PurpleHazel on 12/08/2018 11:36; edited 1 time in total

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

Look at this list of 1000. Holy shit!!!

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/noir1000.htm

PurpleHazel

bobbyb5 wrote:

But I watched one the other day that was a real stinker. The Naked Alibi. The look of it was fantastic. I've never seen one that looked so noirish before. Almost every scene took place in the pitch black. Talk about dark. It just screamed noir. But the script was horrible, and several times I just had to laugh out loud it was so bad. Some of the scenes were fantastic, but other ones were just mind-bogglingly horrible. And even the usually reliable Sterling Hayden and Gloria Grahame weren't so hot this time. And Gloria Grahame does the worst saloon number you have ever seen. It is jaw-droppingly bad.

Haven't seen it, but I have to confess, you make me want to! All things being equal, I prefer to avoid bad scripts -- haha -- but if the visuals are great, there are a few great scenes, and maybe some that are so bad they're good, I'm interested. At this point, I've seen enough of the good noirs that three-quarters of the ones I watch are middling to bad, so might as well check it out.

bobbyb5 wrote:

Look at this list of 1000.

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/noir1000.htm

Includes neo-noir, so not as impressive as it sounds -- 88 years of noirish movies. Think there may be more 1940-1960 noir films on the list in the OP.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

PurpleHazel wrote:

Haven't seen it, but I have to confess, you make me want to! All things being equal, I prefer to avoid bad scripts -- haha -- but if the visuals are great, there are a few great scenes, and maybe some that are so bad they're good, I'm interested. At this point, I've seen enough of the good noirs that three-quarters of the ones I watch are middling to bad, so might as well check it out.

bobbyb5 wrote:

Look at this list of 1000.

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/noir1000.htm

Includes neo-noir, so not as impressive as it sounds -- 88 years of noirish movies. Think there may be more 1940-1960 noir films on the list in the OP.

You'll probably like it then. It does look very good at least. I mean the photography and stuff like that. Maybe you'll enjoy the couple of laugh out loud scenes. I enjoyed looking at the whole thing though. Especially after they get down to Mexico and the atmosphere turns all dark and seedy. It's mostly the dialogue that's bad. And the way that things just happen for no reason at all, except that the plot required it. Even the tough-guy talk sucked.

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

1. Double Indemnity (1944)
2. The Killing (1956)
3. The Big Sleep (1946)
4. Laura (1944)
5. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
6. White Heat (1949)
7. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
8. Notorious (1946)
9. Scarlet Street (1945)
10. Detour (1945)
11. Touch of Evil (1958)
12. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
13. Rififi (1955)
14. The Third Man (1949)
15. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
16. Gun Crazy (1950)
17. Nightmare Alley (1947)
18. Kansas City Confidential (1951)
19. Ace in the Hole (1951)
20. Act of Violence (1949)
21. Strangers on a Train (1951)
22. In a Lonely Place (1950)
23. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
24. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
25. The Woman in the Window (1944)
26. The Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
27. Key Largo (1948)
28. Brute Force (1947)
29. Rebecca (1940)
30. 99 River Street (1953)
31. Vertigo (1958)
32. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
33. Mildred Pierce (1945)
34. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
35. Angel Face (1953)
36. The Big Heat (1953)
37. House of Strangers (1949)
38. Hot Cars (1956) *
39. Death of a Cyclist / Muerte de un ciclista (1955) *
40. Cape Fear (1962)
41. Where Danger Lives (1950)
42. Gaslight (1944)
43. Caged (1950)
44. The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945)
45. They Live By Night (1948)
46. Fury (1936) *
47. Hangover Square (1945)
48. All My Sons (1948)
49. Night and the City (1950)
50. The Narrow Margin (1952)
51. Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
52. Killer's Kiss (1955)
53. Call North Side 777 (1948)
54. Yield to the Night / Blonde Sinner (1956)
55. Dark Passage (1947)
56. Dark City (1950)
57. You Only Live Once (1937) *
58. Thieves' Highway (1949)
59. Edge of Doom (1950)
60. The Naked City (1948)
61. They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)
62. The Stranger (1946)
63. Hollow Triumph / The Scar (1948)
64. While the City Sleeps (1956)
65. Niagara (1953)
66. Keeper of the Flame (1943) *
67. Witness to Murder (1954)
68. To Have and Have Not (1944)
69. Down Three Dark Streets (1954) *
70. Story of a Love Affair / Cronaca di un amore (1950) *
71. The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)
72. The Big Caper (1957) *
73. The Assassin / Venetian Bird (1952) *
74. Stray Dog (1949)
75. Union Station (1950)
76. Dear Murderer (1947)
77. The Naked Street (1955)
78. Border Incident (1949)
79. The Captive City (1952)
80. Man Hunt (1941) *

* These films may not be eligible, but I think they should be:

Hot Cars (1956) Rare film, but pretty enjoyable. Not listed on criterionforum page, but I think it should be eligible based on its plot. Has anyone else seen it, or even heard of it?

Death of a Cyclist / Muerte de un ciclista (1955) Spanish film, certainly feels noir. Listed on the criterionforum page where it says "Consensus International Noir 1940-65", but not under "generally considered noir."

Fury (1936) and You Only Live Once (1937) Outside the timeframe, but precursors to noir. And if PurpleHazel says they're eligible, these should be fine. But if these two precursors to Film Noir are eligible, is M eligible too? (never mind, let's not go there)

Keeper of the Flame (1943) definitely felt like a noir for 85% of its run time. The ending threw it off however, which is probably why the criterionforum page lists it under "sometimes considered noir." I think it should be allowed though.

Down Three Dark Streets (1954) Also a rare film not listed on the criterionforum page, but I think it should be eligible.

Story of a Love Affair / Cronaca di un amore (1950) Italian film. Listed on the criterionforum page where it says "Consensus International Noir 1940-65", but not under "generally considered noir."

The Big Caper (1957) Not listed on the criterionforum page, but how is this not a noir?

The Assassin / Venetian Bird (1952) Also a rare film not listed on the criterionforum page, but I think it should be eligible.

Man Hunt (1941) I used to separate espionage films from Film Noir. But if the criterionforum page lists so many espionage films under "generally considered noir" then why is Man Hunt listed under "sometimes considered noir"?

Lastly, there are a few other titles on my list that are not listed under "generally considered noir" but are instead listed under "foreign noirs." The Third Man, Rififi, and Yield to the Night for example. I don't have these asterisked because I don't think there's really any debate about them.

But as for the films that are asterisked, I tried to make a case for them above. If some are deemed ineligible, let me know which ones, and I'll edit this accordingly.