What is your favorite film noir
Pickup on South Street.
Definitely The Third Man. But I’d almost argue that TTM should not be considered solely film-noir because of the connotations of the genre as being one of primarily B-movies. TTM is definitely not a B-movie, nor is Touch of Evil or Sunset Boulevard. There should be somewhat of a distinction there.
When regarding more typical B-movie film noirs, I’d say Blast of Silence is pretty good, and might be my favorite. Definitely better than I expected for a very low-budget flick.
The connotation of film noir only being b-movies is a myth. True, for the most part they are b-films. But when one looks at all the defining early works of noir — “The Maltese Falcon”, “Double Indemnity”, “Laura”, “The Big Sleep” — these are all a-films. So it’s not so simple. I would say that when noir was commodified, when it became cognizant of itself as a genre, it was expressed mostly as b-films.
If we want to problematize “The Third Man” as classic film noir, we don’t have to use its production budget to do so. One could make the argument that it was not produced in America as a Hollywood film with a Hollywood director, and therefore not classic film noir. But I’d rather say there are exceptions to every rule, and “The Third Man” is the classic case of an exception.
Road House (48)
The House on Telegraph Hill
The Bribe
Where the Sidewalk Ends
They Drive By Night (1940)
Stray Dog (1949)
Inferno (1953)
Les Diaboliques (1955)
Double Indemnity and Out Of The Past
Have to go with Double Indemnity.
Out of the Past
Double Indemnity
Laura
The Third Man
The Maltese Falcon
Touch of Evil
Army of Shadows
Le Samourai
Le Cercle Rouge
Chinatown
Blade Runner
out of the past
the third man
kiss me deadly
i could swear i’ve already answered this
There are so many great noir movies that it’s impossible to pick. Current favorite, though:
double rates for women! ^
i’m gonna have to find this now…
It’s readily available in the Columbia Noir Classics Vol. 1
In terms of classic noir (The Maltese Falcon to Touch of Evil), these three stand out the most to me:
Double Indemnity
The Third Man
The Maltese Falcon
some lesser known but still great noirs
99 river street
raw deal
phantom lady
Does neo-noir count?
Blood Simple
Kiss Me Deadly
Have yet to see Kiss Me Deadly, but The Big Heat and Chinatown are my favorites.
Well, you know ALL of Welles’s films have a noir touch, from Citizen Kane on. The “horror movie” lighting, the crazy angles, the mirrors, the weird montage. Touch of Evil, of course, is a fairly straight forward noir thriller but it is also one of the most wonderfully sleazy movies ever made, also weirdly funny, completely Wellesian, meaning it really defies all catagories but the Wellesian. He also did Mr. Arkadin, which has many noir touches. Robert Wise, who was stuck with the job of trimming The Magnificent Ambersons, shows a great deals of Welles’ influence in his own work. Take a look at The Day The Earth Stood Still, which coiuld be called a noir sf movie, ike the later Bladerunner of Ridley Scott.
Noir is a bit restrictive as a catagory for me. But I know when I’m seeing it, quite often in films that wouldn’t be catagorized by French critics as true Noir. In a separate reply, I’m gonna put down a list of films I see as showing noir chacteristics or influence.
Rififi. But i have to re-watch Chinatown, because i love Polanski but i didn’t like the movie.
@Alex
What didn’t you like about Chinatown if I may ask?
“What is your favorite film noir?”
I’d say….
BLUE VELVET (David Lynch, 1986)
VERTIGO (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
THE THIRD MAN (Carol Reed, 1949)
anything with Humphery Bogart
One way or another, we all work for our vice.
It was long time ago, i still didn’t knew who Melville, Huston or Fritz Lang were nor knew anything about noirs.
To Paulofilmo: Say more That is a rather enigmatic statement but interesting.
I’d probably have these in my top 5, in some order:
In a Lonely Place
Murder, My Sweet
Mildred Pierce
Where the Sidewalk Ends
The Killers, or The File on Thelma Jordon, or Phantom Lady, or Criss Cross, or something else by Siodmak
Haven’t you bothered me enough, you big banana-head?
i believe that’s a vote for the asphalt jungle ^
40’s – Double Indemnity
50’s – Sweet Smell Of Success
60’s – Le Samourai
70’s – (dead heat) Chinatown, The Long Goodbye
80’s – Bladerunner
^ Great selections! I agree with many of those myself.
Brought to you by the letter D:
D.O.A
Detour
Dr. Szell
Detour- it’s impossible to choose just one but since Ulmer’s great, bleak poverty-row movie seems to be more obscure/unknown than i thought it was, I’ll plug that one.