A list of 100 essential film noir movies, according to me. The first fifty are more or less in order.
Note: I've left out classics like The Night of the Hunter, The Third Man and Notorious, partly because to me, they're not strictly film noir, even if they have noirish elements and are often included on film noir lists. I went back and forth on a couple of Hitchcock movies (Shadow of a Doubt is his only real film noir), but decided Strangers on a Train could stay in. I’ve also not included “colour noirs” like Niagara and Leave Her To Heaven, even though I love both films.
______
More film noir lists:
"Film Noir: Reflections in a Dark Mirror"…
A list of 100 essential film noir movies, according to me. The first fifty are more or less in order.
Note: I've left out classics like The Night of the Hunter, The Third Man and Notorious, partly because to me, they're not strictly film noir, even if they have noirish elements and are often included on film noir lists. I went back and forth on a couple of Hitchcock movies (Shadow of a Doubt is his only real film noir), but decided Strangers on a Train could stay in. I’ve also not included “colour noirs” like Niagara and Leave Her To Heaven, even though I love both films.
______
More film noir lists:
"Film Noir: Reflections in a Dark Mirror" by Bruce Crowther - All the films mentioned in the index of Crowther’s book. I was given this book on my birthday in 1988 and it played a huge part in accelerating my love for the genre.
Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide - a complete listing from my 1988 copy of Ward & Silver’s book.
"Death on the Cheap: The Lost B Movies of Film Noir" by Arthur Lyons - All the films mentioned in my 2000 US edition of Lyons’ essential book.
My Noirvember 2019 list.
My Noirvember 2020 list.
My Unseen Film Noir Watchlist, which should see me through at least another six Noirvembers.
_______
Note (13/11/21, i.e. Noirvember 2021): I’ve swapped out Union Station and replaced it with Nora Prentiss.
