What makes film noir so fascinating? There are a lot of components that come into play with noir films, but cynicism, suspenseful music, a mysterious plot, figures lurking in the shadows, femme fatales, and fedora-wearing detectives are some of the staples of the classics. Film noir, or “dark cinema,” was first coined by a French film critic in 1946 to describe the downtrodden themes in American movies. Although the term wasn’t widely adopted by American directors until years later, the ’40s and ’50s are regarded as a classic era that produced pioneering noirs such as “The Maltese Falcon” and “Double Indemnity.”
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“The Big Sleep”
Lauren Bacall was just 19 years old when she met 43-year-old Humphrey Bogart. By that time, Bogart had been solidified as a Hollywood leading man thanks in part to his breakout role in “The Maltese Falcon.” Two years after they tied the knot, Bogie and Bacall starred in the “The Big Sleep,” one of their many film collaborations over the years. In the 1945 film, directed by Howard Hawks, Bogart plays a private investigator hired by an aging millionaire to settle his daughter’s debt (Bacall).
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“Murder, My Sweet”
“Murder, My Sweet” was one of the first films to be classified as noir. Released in 1944 and based on the novel from Raymond Chandler, the film was originally titled “Farewell, My Lovely” but the name was changed due to audience feedback during early screenings. Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger, Miles Mander, and Mike Mazuki star in the Edward Dmytryk thriller about a private detective entangled in a murder mystery. “Murder, My Sweet” marked the silver screen debut of the Phillip Marlowe (Powell) character whom Bogart portrayed in “The Big Sleep.”
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“Sunset Boulevard”
“Sunset Boulevard” is one of the more popular film noirs on the list. It landed on AFI’s 100 greatest films of all time and the film score has been regarded as a masterpiece. The 1950 noir film, directed by Billy Wilder, centers around a Hollywood actor from the silent era (played by Gloria Swanson) who hires a struggling screenwriter (William Holden) to help her stage a comeback. “Sunset Boulevard” fuses fiction with the harsh realities of Hollywood, and art somewhat imitates life for Swanson. Similar to her character in the movie, Swanson launched her career in silent film but “Sunset Boulevard” became her comeback role and earned Swanson an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
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“Shadow of a Doubt”
Alfred Hitchcock made a ton of movies in his career, but “Shadow of a Doubt” was his favorite. According to his daughter, Hitchcock fell in love with “Shadow of a Doubt” because “he loved the thought of bringing menace into a small town.” The Oscar-nominated psychological thriller, starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotton, has been described as a “masterpiece” of mystery and suspense. It’s deviates a bit from the typical noir themes in that there’s no femme fatale or detective leading the storyline – which is about a guy named Uncle Charlie (Cotton) who skips town to visit his sister and her kids in Northern California. His niece (played by Wright) later discovers that charming Uncle Charlie is suspected in a murder case.
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“No Way Out”
Sidney Poitier made his feature film debut in “No Way Out,” a 1950 noir directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The film, co-starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, and Stephen McNally, was one of the earliest film depictions of racism in the medical field as the plot centers around the sole Black doctor (played by Poitier) in a hospital where two white racist brothers who are being treated for gunshot wounds. After one of the bigoted criminals dies on the operating table, the doctor is erroneously accused of killing him.
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“Brighton Rock”
Set in 1940s England, “Brighton Rock” was adapted from a novel of the same name. The noir film, helmed by English director John Boulting, revolves around a murder mystery involving Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough), a gang leader who kills his rival and uses a waitress as his alibi. The murder is eventually ruled a suicide, but Ida Arnold (Hermione Baddeley), a woman who was with the victim prior to the murder, launches her own investigation. “Brighton Rock” features Carol Marsh, William Hartnell, Harcourt Williams, Nigel Stock, and Wylie Watson.
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“The Breaking Point”
“The Breaking Point” is a noir crime drama adapted from the Ernest Hemingway novel “To Have and Have Not.” John Garfield stars as Harry Morgan, a cash-strapped shipping boat captain who connects with a shady lawyer (played by Wallace Ford) and persuades him to smuggle a group of Chinese immigrants on his boat. The charter from Mexico to California hits turbulent waters and Morgan ends up in a shoot out. Patricia Neal, Juano Hernandez, Sherry Jackson, Edmond Raymond, and Victor Sen Yung also appear in the film. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
