Posted on 08/08/2026 2:55:55 PM PDT by Tacrolimus1mg
I'm looking to introduce my future husband to some film noir, either on DVD, streaming or film (I have a number of projectors to choose from). He didn't watch a lot of classic movies growing up, and we're both late eighties babies, so there wasn't a ton of it on TV to begin with. I didn't really get to indulge this hobby until my dad started restoring projectors.
List me your favorite noir films, popular or obscure. I'd like to see some I haven't heard of before.
Thank you in advance!
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“The first one that comes to my mind is “The Asphalt Jungle”
I agree. Great storyline and every actor in it was perfect.
Here Comes Mr. Jordan 1941
(Heaven Can Wait 1978 with Warren Beatty was a “remake)
Side Street (1949)
Kansas City Confidential
The Phenix City Story
The Killing
Tension (1949)
All The Kings Men
Night of the Hunter
The Hitch-hiker (1953)
Gun Crazy
The Prowler
The Window
Too Late For Tears
The Wrong Man
The Woman in the Window
Scarlet Street with Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=03VbWmd3f10
Quicksand with Mickey Rooney
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UepbwNjmSJY
The Killers
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qN8CKO-_th8
Are you nuts? Do you know how addicting film noir is? It’s addictive. He’ll be watching TCM instead of taking care of you. In the middle of the night, he’ll be watching TV instead of sleeping. He’ll lose his job. He won’t care as long as he can watch The Big Sleep over and over. Or The Maltese Falcon. You’ll be supporting him as he feeds his obsession. Just don’t do it.
Besides all the older stuff the first two that came to mind were Body Heat and Blue Velvet.
Murder, My Sweet 1944
Dick Powell, Clare Trevor
The original 1950 version.
The House on Telegraph Hill (Richard Basehardt)
Start watching Noir Alley on Turner Classic Movies.
Someone recently suggested Frank Sinatra in “The Man with the Golden Arm” - loved it, free online
I would choose Susan Hayward’s Academy Award winning performance as Barbara Graham, a poor woman sentenced to death in CA, “I Want to Live!” 1958. Maybe it is a female fav
I am adding “The Lady from Shanghai (1947)” .
Out of the Past , Jane Greer is quite the femme fatale there.
I’m a big fan of film noir movies.
Here is one that no one should miss.
Pickup On South Street. Richard Widmark, Thelma Ritter, Jean Peters. Great achievement in the field which grew in stature as the years went by. Has anti-Communist angle, too.
I’m going to cheat here and offer this link:
100 Best Film Noir movies.
https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/best-film-noirs/
and book on my shelf:
Film Noir Guide by Michael F. Keaney (covers 1940-1959).
Public Enemy, White Heat, other James Cagney ones.
Little Caesar, Vice Squad, A Bullet for Joey (with James Cagney) are Edward G. Robinson classics.
By the way, thanks for this great thread.
Look forward to good viewing.
You are a person of refined tastes in cinema.
Something to mention is the Peter Gunn TV series was a film noir extension from the earlier films. Gunn’s “friends in low places” as Hershell Bernardi used to call them were right out of the old movies.
A little bit outside the box but “L.A. Confidential” has a great cast and is a perfect intro to the genre. This came out much later though.
Just about all of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films. “The Scarlet Claw” was my favorite.
The Man who knew too much ..
1934 version by Hitchcock in England ..(I never saw)...
or 1956 American film by Hitchcock (I saw)
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