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

PurpleHazel

If you’re a fan of classic movies, I hope you’ll take part in our poll! The final list will be 100 films and lists max out at 100. Any size list is welcome. As with the Neo-Noir Poll, the rankings of lists of 50 or more will get the same score as the rankings of 100-film lists. You can post lists in this thread, post links to Letterboxd or IMDb lists, or pm lists to me. No films less than 30 minutes, TV series or unranked lists.

Any film that’s on this list of 478 1940-1959 U.S. films (the first list) is eligible:

http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/vie...mp;t=13777

If your first response to the inclusion of some of the films on this list is, “Wait a minute, that movie’s not noir!” that’s okay. That was my first response too. This list is meant to be inclusive. You and I may not consider every film on this list to be noir, but it’s unlikely that any 1940-1959 U.S. film not on this list is noir.

[Only 1940-1959 U.S. films from the top list, “Films Generally Considered Noir” are eligible. None of the films on the subsequent lists are eligible except the 1960-1964 films I list below and probably most of the foreign films.]

Eligible 1960-1964 films: Cape Fear (1962), Underworld U.S.A. (1961), The Naked Kiss (1964), Blast of Silence (1961), Experiment in Terror (1962), Key Witness (1960), Five Minutes to Live (1961), Johnny Cool (1963)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) isn’t included in the latest (4th) edition of The Film Noir Encyclopedia (I didn’t see their list till after I started the Neo-Noir poll), but since I excluded it from the earlier poll, it’s still eligible.

Last edited by PurpleHazel on 01/05/2019 09:57; edited 7 times in total

PurpleHazel

1940-1959 Non-U.S. Noir Films I’ve Seen:

U.K.:
The Third Man
Odd Man Out
They Made Me a Fugitive
Brighton Rock
No Orchids for Miss Blandish
Stolen Face*
Man Bait (aka The Last Page)*
Blackout (aka Murder by Proxy)*

*From VCI's Hammer Film Noir Set Vol.1 (early low-budget Hammer films co-produced with a U.S. B-film company. Stolen Face stars Lizabeth Scott -- playing two roles! -- and Paul Henreid)

France:
Les Diaboliques (1955)
Rififi (1955)
Casque d’Or (1952)
Touchez pas au Grisbi (1953)
Elevator to the Gallows (1957) [haven’t seen]

Italy:
Ossessione

Japan:
Stray Dog

Some Better-Known Noir Films:

Alfred Hitchcock: Strangers On a Train, Notorious, Shadow of a Doubt, Spellbound, The Wrong Man, Suspicion, Vertigo, I Confess

Orson Welles: Touch of Evil, The Lady From Shanghai, The Stranger, Mr. Arkadin

Starring Humphrey Bogart:
The Maltese Falcon
The Big Sleep
Key Largo
To Have and Have Not (Not putting it on my list, but it’s eligible)
Dark Passage
In a Lonely Place
High Sierra
They Drive By Night
Dead Reckoning
The Harder They Fall
The Enforcer
Knock On Any Door
Conflict

Sunset Boulevard
The Sweet Smell of Success
Mildred Pierce
Gilda
White Heat
Laura
Double Indemnity
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Kiss of Death
Cape Fear (1962)
D.O.A.
A Place in the Sun
The Naked City
The Big Heat

Eddie Muller's (nicknamed "The Czar of Noir") Top 25 Noir Films:

http://www.eddiemuller.com/top25noir.html

Last edited by PurpleHazel on 01/10/2019 10:41; edited 7 times in total

badseed

Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: FL

Quote:

To Have and Have Not (Not putting it on my list, but it’s eligible)

Lol what? Did I miss something? Either you really dislike this movie or don't consider it noir.

That massive list you provided probably has enough that I can fill my list of 84 out to 100. Of course I'd love to watch some more before the deadline. Hopefully I can find some on YouTube or something as my current situation means I won't be able to spend any money, even though I had plans to have a decent noir collection by now.

PurpleHazel

badseed wrote:

Lol what? Did I miss something? Either you really dislike this movie or don't consider it noir.

Definitely like it! Just don't really consider it noir. But it appears on enough noir lists that I absolutely consider it eligible.

Quote:

That massive list you provided probably has enough that I can fill my list of 84 out to 100.

Cool!

Quote:

Of course I'd love to watch some more before the deadline. Hopefully I can find some on YouTube or something

I've never really streamed free movies online except for shorts (and TV shows), but if I come across anything of decent quality, I'll let you know.

PurpleHazel

If you still have cable/satellite, TCM shows a film noir every Saturday night at midnight EST. Tonight's offering is The Threat, which I haven't seen. They also rerun the films Sunday mornings at 10am EST.

badseed

Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: FL

PurpleHazel wrote:

If you still have cable/satellite, TCM shows a film noir every Saturday night at midnight EST. Tonight's offering is The Threat, which I haven't seen. They also rerun the films Sunday mornings at 10am EST.

Unfortunately cable has not been restored yet, at least not in my neighborhood. Only reason I have internet access is my aunt and cousin snagged some free phones that were being given away with a month of unlimited hotspot. One month after the disaster there's unfortunately still some areas without power.

PurpleHazel

badseed wrote:

Unfortunately cable has not been restored yet, at least not in my neighborhood. Only reason I have internet access is my aunt and cousin snagged some free phones that were being given away with a month of unlimited hotspot. One month after the disaster there's unfortunately still some areas without power.

I would've been surprised if you did have cable service so soon (when I said "you" in the post, I meant the universal "you"). Glad you have power and internet, at least.

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

Looking forward to this poll. Hope a lot of users participate. I will try to watch whichever noirs Filmstruck offers for the two weeks it has remaining.

badseed

Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: FL

Can anyone find Mercury? That dude went ghost af and we were pretty tight. Makes me wish I'd have found him on another site or Facebook or something so I could beg him to return. Did he give any reason why he left?

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

badseed wrote:

Can anyone find Mercury? That dude went ghost af and we were pretty tight. Makes me wish I'd have found him on another site or Facebook or something so I could beg him to return. Did he give any reason why he left?

Yeah. A couple months ago, Mercury mentioned on his thread in music diary section that he was working two full-time jobs or something, and didn't have any free time. But he said he would come back. I hope he does and participates on this poll. Come to think of it, haven't seen much from Gowi lately either. This poll could use some of his input too.