The Greatest Noir Movies to Watch On a Stormy Night time
Noirvember has arrived: that time of year, when film fans greet the change in weather by watching crime flicks, popularized in the 1940s and 50s.
Film noir, which translates to “black movies,” explores the shades of gray in the lives of cops, criminals, and everyone in between. These films find dignity in cruel gangsters and darkness in crusading detectives, suggesting that no one is all good or all bad.
Made by masters such as Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, and Orson Welles, the best noir films represent cinema at its best, featuring humanity at its worst.
1. The Big Heat (1953)
At their center, noirs deal with the blurred line between heroes and villains, showing how fast a good person can slip into the dark depths. No movie illustrates that tension better than The Big Heat, starring Glenn Ford as cop Dave Bannion.
As Bannion investigates the death of his partner, he finds himself both attracted and disgusted by the criminal underworld, including the beautiful Debby Marsh (Gloria Grahame) and the brutal Vince Stone (Lee Marvin). Directed with style by German Expressionist Fritz Lang, The Big Heat captures the best of the genre’s moral ambiguity.
2. The Third Man (1949)
The introduction of Harry Lime (Orson Welles) stands among the best character first appearances of all time. Throughout The Third Man, author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) searches post-war Vienna for news about his missing friend Lime, insisting upon the man’s innocence against military man Major Calloway (Trevor Howard).
When Lime finally appears, Welles changes the tone of the film, embodying the moral ambiguity of the era.
3. Rebecca (1940)
Based on the novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca ranks among the best of Alfred Hitchcock’s works. Less concerned with crime and punishment than most of the works on this list, Rebecca stars Joan Fontaine as a young woman who falls for the rich and suave George Fortescue Maximilian de Winter (Laurence Olivier).
After the two marry, the new Mrs. de Winter becomes aware of her predecessor, Rebecca, who died by drowning. At times haunting and romantic, Rebecca captures the tragedy at the heart of Hitchcock’s best works.
4. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Less romantic but no less tragic, Shadow of a Doubt follows a young woman who worries that her beloved uncle may not be what he seems. Tired of her middle-class California life, young Charlie Newton (Teresa Wright) thrills at the prospect of her namesake Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) coming to visit.
Despite Uncle Charlie’s ceaseless charm, young Charlie begins to suspect something sinister behind his easy-going smile. Shadow of a Doubt builds to an unsettling climax, making it one of the darkest movies in Hitchcock’s oeuvre.
5. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Like Shadow of a Doubt, The Night of the Hunter deals with the distance between the perception and reality of a beloved figure. That figure comes in the form of Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), a preacher who rolls into town and wins the hand of the widow Willa Harper (Shelley Winters).
Powell’s sermons about love and hate may fool the townspeople, but the kids John and Pearl (Billy Chapin and Sarah Jane Bruce) know that Harry has come to find the money hidden by his old cell-mate, Willa’s husband. The sole directorial effort by actor Charles Laughton, The Night of the Hunter is a chilling Southern Gothic noir.
6. A Touch of Evil (1958)
Written and directed by Orson Welles, A Touch of Evil begins with a jaw-dropping single-shot sequence in which motorists drive around, unaware of the bomb hidden inside the vehicle. A Touch of Evil only gets better from there, taking an unflinching look at corruption on the country’s southern border.
Although most will wince at the sight of Charlton Heston playing a Mexican investigator, he dominates the screen, especially when clashing against Welles as alcoholic American police captain Hank Quinlan. Equal parts mesmerizing and melancholy, A Touch of Evil captures the complexity of international politics.
7. Double Indemnity (1944)
The Femme Fatale is an integral part of film noir, a beautiful woman who lures the hero into temptation. And no Femme Fatale has ever outdone Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity. Stanwyck enters the film by descending the stairs and entering cinema history.
Stanwyck’s Phyllis Dietrichson convinces doofus insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) into murdering her husband, with the promise that they’ll run off together and live off the life insurance payouts. बिल्कुल, things don’t go their way, as a wily adjuster, played by a pitch-perfect Edward G. Robinson, gets on the case.
8. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Although Hitchcock popularized the idea of the “MacGuffin,” an object that drives the plot but doesn’t really matter, John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon best demonstrates the concept. For all the double and triple crosses in The Maltese Falcon, the audience never learns much about the statue, nor do they care.
बजाय, the film focuses on private investigator Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart), who takes a case involving a beautiful and mysterious woman (Mary Astor), after the murder of his partner. The Maltese Falcon revels in its grimy world, but Bogie excels as the deceitful but compelling investigator.
9. The Big Sleep (1946)
Although many things happen in film noir, the pleasure of the movies does not always involve the specifics of the plot. Case in point: The Big Sleep, directed by Howard Hawks. When screenwriters William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, and Jules Furhman got confused while adapting the Raymond Chandler novel The Big Sleep, they called the author to ask him about a particular killing.
Chandler admitted that he forgot the identity of the killer and told them to ignore it. तथापि, The Big Sleep still works, thanks to Humphrey Bogart’s rumpled gumshoe Philip Marlowe and a cast of colorful characters played by greats such as Lauren Bacall, John Ridgley, and Martha Vickers.
10. Out of the Past (1947)
To be sure, every entry on this list has a cynical worldview. But few match the level of despair in Out of the Past, directed by horror legend Jacques Tourneur. Screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring, adapting his own novel Build My Gallows High, crafts the story of Jeff Bailey, a man (Robert Mitchum) who wants nothing more than to move on from his criminal history.
But no matter what type of new life he makes for himself, Jeff cannot forget the seductive Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer), nor her ruthless gangster boyfriend Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas). Tourneur employs the same shadowy visuals he developed while making RKO horror pictures, which accentuate the sadness of Mitchum’s tragic take.
11. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
The Billy Wilder classic Sunset Boulevard is so famous and influential that it gets quoted even by those who have never seen it. Lines such as “I’m ready for my close-up” or “We didn’t need dialogue, we had faces!” come from Norma Desmond, an aging silent film star played with imperious vulnerability by Gloria Swanson.
Viewers meet Desmond via Joe Gillis (William Holden), who narrates a movie that begins with a shot of his dead body floating in a pool. Joe comes to Swanson’s decrepit mansion hoping to get work penning her comeback, which leads to a twisted story of ambition and nostalgia gone wrong. Both a celebration and condemnation of Hollywood’s glory days, Sunset Boulevard earns its place in cinema history.
12. Kiss of Death (1947)
No one would count Kiss of Death star Victor Mature among the Hollywood greats, but director Henry Hathaway employs him well as ex-con Nick Bianco in Kiss of Death. After Bianco squeals about a crime to a duplicitous D.A. (Brian Donlevy), he becomes the target of his old accomplices.
Whatever the shortcomings in Mature’s performance, Richard Widmark more than overcomes them as the psychotic contract killer Tommy Udo. Widmark sets the bar for cinematic psychos for decades to come, निर्माण Kiss of Death one of the most influential films of its generation.
13. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Marlyn Monroe seems like the ideal actor to play a Femme Fatale, but she only has a bit part in an early role in The Asphalt Jungle. Directed by John Huston, from a screenplay he wrote with Ben Maddow, The Asphalt Jungle follows a heist masterminded by released convict Doc Riedenschneider (Sterling Hayden), a story filled with double-crosses and surprising reveals.
More of a straightforward crime story than a psychological study like many of the others on this list, The Asphalt Jungle offers a thrilling tale, even if it underuses Monroe.
14. Ace in the Hole (1951)
Most of the movies on this list have a cynical worldview, but none outdo Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole. Written by Wilder, along with Walter Newman and Lesser Samuels, Ace in the Hole stars Kirk Douglas as reporter Chuck Tatum, who takes a job at a small-town paper after being fired from his high-profile gig.
When Tatum learns about miner Leo Minosa (Richard Benedict), he thinks he’s found a ticket back to the big time. Ace in the Hole portrays the worst of humanity and the news media, as Tatum uses the tragedy for his own ends.
15. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Author James M. Cain may not have the name recognition of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hamet, but his works have been adopted into some of the best noir movies of all time, including Double Indemnity और Mildred Pierce.
The Postman Always Rings Twice screenwriters Harry Ruskin and Niven Busch had to tone down much of the explicit parts of Cain’s tale of a drifter driven (John Garfield) to murder by a captivating woman (Lana Turner). But director Tay Garnett still finds ways for the couple to light up the screen, implying a tawdry tale despite the limitations from censors.
16. In a Lonely Place (1950)
Humphrey Bogart proved an ideal noir protagonist, playing the definitive down-on-his-luck detective. Director Nicolas Ray casts Bogart in his sorrowful In a Lonely Place, not as a gumshoe, but as a screenwriter. Bogart plays screenwriter Dix Steele, whose career has stalled, in part because of his poor temper.
Based on a novel by Dorothy B. Hughes and adapted by Andrew P. Solt and Edmund H. North, In a Lonely Place finds Dix’s involvement in a murder investigation, which brings a spark back into his life.
17. Suspicion (1941)
Many of Hitchcock’s films have a romantic element, even as they explore the dark parts of the human soul. That approach only intensified when the director started working with Cary Grant, as in 1941’s Suspicion. The adaptation of the novel Before the Fact by Francis Iles, Suspicion stars Joan Fontaine as a woman who falls for free-wheeling aristocrat Johnnie Aysgarth (Grant), who sweeps her off her feet.
तथापि, she begins to suspect that her loving husband may not be what he purported to be, fearing for her life. Hitchcock demonstrates his mastery of the medium by balancing romance and thriller in equal measure.
18. The Stranger (1946)
Although rarely discussed among his greatest works, there’s no denying the pure power of Orson Welles’s third directorial feature, The Stranger. Welles plays Professor Charles Rankin, a respected member of a small Connecticut town who is, in fact, an Axis fugitive called Franz Kindler.
When war criminal hunter Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) discovers Rankin’s secret, he hurries to find evidence for a conviction before becoming Kindler’s next victim. Welles may have hated the movie’s dramatic climax, but audiences won’t be disappointed with the mesmerizing visuals.
19. Strangers on a Train (1951)
Based on the Patricia Highsmith novel by the same name, Strangers on a Train has an irresistible premise. Weak-willed tennis pro, Guy (Farley Granger), lacks the courage to kill his wife and marry his mistress until he shares a train car with braggart Bruno (Robert Walker), who hates his own father.
The two make a pact to murder each other’s targets, a seemingly perfect crime that goes wrong. Hitchcock takes advantage of every ounce offered by the story, adapted for the screen by Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde, showing the depths of evil in even people who seem good.
20. The Public Enemy (1931)
One of the earliest films noir, The Public Enemy secured James Cagney’s reputation as an electric screen presence and Warner Bros. claim as the home of violent movies. Cagney and Edward Woods play lifelong criminals who rise to power in the prohibition era.
Made before the limitations of the Hays Code, The Public Enemy features carnage that shocks even modern viewers. फिर भी, director William A. Wellman deserves all credit given to him, for his ability to capture Cagney at his most terrifying.
21. Notorious (1946)
For their second collaboration, Hitchcock and Cary Grant took themes of their first movie, Suspicion, into the realm of espionage with Notorious.
To find escaped German war criminals, American agent Devlin (Grant) teams with Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), herself the daughter of an infamous criminal. The two engage in a dangerous and flirtatious game of cat and mouse, especially when they target Sebastian (Claud Rains), a friend of Huberman’s father.
22. Scarlet Street (1945)
In most noir movies, Edward G. Robinson either plays a frightening criminal or an intelligent figure of justice. But in Fritz Lang’s Scarlet Street, Robinson steps into an unusual role, playing the meek patsy Chris Cross. A clerk with dreams of being a famous artist, Cross thinks he’s scored the big time when he meets the stunning Kitty March (Joan Bennett). But in Cross, Kitty has found the ideal mark, a source of money for her and her boyfriend Johnny (Dan Duryea).
Robinson shines in the part, retaining enough of an edge in his meek character to keep the tension high in Scarlet Street.
23. Nightmare Alley (1947)
Many modern viewers first learned of Nightmare Alley through the Guillermo del Toro remake में 2021. But the first adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s novel came in 1947, directed by Edmund Goulding and written by Jules Furthman.
This version stars Tyrone Power as carnival barker Stan Carlisle, who rises to power as a popular magician and soon gets involved with a secretive psychiatrist. Goulding’s powerful visuals accentuate the morality tale at the center of Gresham’s novel, matched by Power’s fearless and fiery turn.
24. Key Largo (1948)
Directed by John Huston from a script he co-wrote with Richard Brooks, Key Largo feels like a collection of noir all-stars. A hotel in the titular Florida city serves as the meeting place for veteran Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) and Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall), the widow of his war buddy.
The meeting comes on the onset of a hurricane, driving other surprising guests to the establishment, including gangster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson), alcoholic singer Gay Dawn (Claire Trevor, in a role that won her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar), and Nora’s father-in-law (Lionel Barrymore). Only the passions of these volatile guests outdo the racket of the storm.
25. The Killing (1956)
The Killing may be one of Stanley Kubrick’s earliest films, but it already contains signs of his technical proficiency. Based on the novel Clean Break by Lionel White, The Killing stars Sterling Hayden as Johnny Clay, a career criminal who hopes to retire after one last score.
Clay’s plans go wrong when his untrustworthy wife (Marie Windsor) learns about the heist and tells her lover (Vince Edwards). The reveal complicates what should have been a simple job, creating a horrible mess, all presented through Kubrick’s quiet and controlled camera.
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