Favorite Noir Films

[Kasie]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 3:58am

Hey Gang,

I'm writing a short script right now with the intent for it to have an old noir type feel. Like, the ones with the raspy, detective voiceovers and stuff. Anyway, trying to find inspiration and was wondering if you could point me in the right direction. Much obliged!

[nmartin]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 7:41am

Here are some good ones that I think you will find useful.
Murder, My Sweet with Dick Powell and Claire Trevor.
Double Indemnity with Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray.
Detour with Tom Neal and Ann Savage.

They all are classic noir and have voiceovers, ableit Murder, My Sweet is the only one with a voiceover that is a detective.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 8:12am

The Thin Man
The Naked Kiss
Double Indemnity
Out of the Past
D.O.A.
The Big Clock
Touch of Evil
You Only Live Once
The Maltese Falcon
A Woman's Face
Laura

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 12:00pm

Sunset Boulevard is considered to be the consummate noir.

[wexy]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 12:04pm

The Set Up with Robert Ryan
The Asphalt Jungle with Sterling Hayden and Louis Calhern
Gun Crazy with Peggy Cummins and John Dahl.

Updated On: 3/2/13 at 12:04 PM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 12:13pm

Curtiz' adaptation of MILDRED PIERCE is a great example of how to use the genre and filter a story through it. I also love SUNSET BLVD.
CHINATOWN, a much much later one, also does a great job using that genre in a post-modern style, I'd find it very inspiring

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 1:47pm

The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Killers

[JbaraFan1]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 1:50pm

Shadow of a Doubt

[strummergirl]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 4:02pm

Double Indemnity
Mildred Pierce
Out of the Past
Touch of Evil
The Third Man
In a Lonely Place
The Maltese Falcon
Kiss Me Deadly
Gun Crazy
Pickup on South Street

Kinda Count

Chinatown
Brick
Blade Runner
Blood Simple
Fargo
The Man Who Wasn't There

[bobs3]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 6:54pm

BODY HEAT (1981) with William Hurt and Kathleen Turner.

A man who is not as smart as he thinks he is and a woman who is too smart for anyone's good.

It out noirs the film noirs.

favorite line: Turner (in her husky voice) to Hurt, "You're not too smart. I like that in a man."

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 9:04pm

Scarlet Street

[trentsketch]

Posted: 3/2/13 at 10:53pm

An odd choice, but it serves as a pretty sharp critique of the noir form: The Paperboy. It's campy and over the top, but it's meta-noir as well. It has the raspy voice-over (the maid), a disturbing crime to solve with lots of dead ends, and even a femme fatale.

For a very traditional modern example, you can't do better than Winter's Bone. No voice overs, but the story is excellent and the narrative and character arcs are pure old-fashioned noir.

For period examples, I'm big on Hitchcock's Notorious and Laughton's The Night of the Hunter. And if you go with The Night of the Hunter, you might as well tag on Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural to see how noir forms can be applied to other genres; it's an almost shot-for-shot reimagining of The Night of the Hunter as a dark fairy tale with vampires, witches, and Lovecraftian horror.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/3/13 at 7:52am

Is it possible that Night of the Hunter is the greatest American film? Almost more than any other movie I can name, it defies genre. Americana meets the surreal, each at its most pure and primal (Blue Velvet's older cousin). Folk meets gothic. The escape of the children is otherworldly. Pearl's chilling song on the river and Gish and Mitchum rivetingly battling through the counterpoint of "Leaning' are perhaps the two most exquisite musical scenes ever put on film.





Updated On: 3/3/13 at 07:52 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/3/13 at 7:52am

I can say that again.
Updated On: 3/3/13 at 07:52 AM