Film noir is marked by expressionistic lighting, jarring editing, and skewed camera angles. Interiors are dark and claustrophobic, while exteriors are often shadowy urban night scenes of wet asphalt and dark alleyways. There is an oppressive atmosphere of menace, anxiety, and suspicion that pervades the dingy realism and shows the dark, cynical side of human nature. Plots are frequently convoluted and told with flashbacks, acerbic dialog, and reflective or confessional first-person voiceovers.
After Dark, My Sweet
James Foley, 1990
Cast: Jason Patric, Rachel Ward, Bruce Dern
From the novel by Jim Thompson (M / Thompson)
DVD / AFT
Angel Heart
Alan Parker, 1987
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet
DVD / ANG
Big Sleep
Howard Hawks, 1946
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone
From a Philip Marlowe novel by Raymond Chandler (M / Thompson)
DVD / BIG
Blade Runner
Ridley Scott, 1982
Cast:Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah
From Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (SF / Dick)
DVD / BLA
Blood Simple
Joel Coen, 1984
Cast: John Getz, Frances McDormand, M. Emmet Walsh, Dan Hedaya
DVD / BLO
Blue Velvet
David Lynch, 1986
Cast: Isabella Rosselini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope Lange, Dean Stockwell
DVD / BLU
Body Double
Brian De Palma, 1984
Cast: Craig Wasson, Gregg Henry, Melanie Griffith
DVD / BOD
Border Incident
Anthony Mann, 1949
Cast: Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Howard Da Silva
DVD / BOR
Cape Fear
J. Lee Thompson, 1962
Cast: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchem, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin, Martin Balsam
Based on John D. MacDonald’s novel The Executioners (F /MacDonald)
DVD / CAP
Le Cercle Rouge = The Red Circle
Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970
Cast: Alain Delon, Andre Bourvil, Gian Maria Volonte
DVD / CER
Chinatown
Roman Polanski, 1974
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Hillerman, Bert Young
From the novel by Jim Thompson
DVD / CHI
Il Conformista = The Conformist
Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970
Cast: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Gastone Moschin
Based on the novel by Alberto Moravia
DVD / CON
Dance With a Stranger
Mike Newell, 1984
Cast: Miranda Richardson, Rupert Everett, Ian Holm
DVD / DAN
Dark City
Alex Proyas, 1998
Cast: Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, Ian Richardson
DVD / DAR
Les Diaboliques = The Devils
Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955
Cast: Simone Signoret, Vera Clouzot, Paul Meurisse
DVD / DIA
D.O.A.
Rudolph Maté, 1950
Cast: Edmond O’Brien, Pamela Britton, Luther Adler
DVD / DOA
Double Indemnity
Billy Wilder, 1944
Cast:Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
Based on the novel by James M. Cain (M / Cain)
DVD / DOU
Gun Crazy
Joseph H. Lewis, 1950
Cast: Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger
Based on a short story by MacKinlay Kantor in Author’s Choice (F / Kantor)
DVD / GUN
Heat
Michael Mann, 1995
Cast: Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer
DVD / HEA
In a Lonely Place
Nicholas Ray, 1950
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy
Based on the novel by Dorothy B. Hughes (M / Hughes)
DVD / IN
Killer Bait
Byron Haskin, 1949
Cast: Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, Dan Duryea
Based on Roy Huggins’ Saturday Evening Post serial
DVD / KIL
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Shane Black, 2005
Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen
Based on the novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them by Brett Halliday)
DVD / KIS
Kiss Me Deadly
Robert Aldrich, 1955
Cast: Ralph Meeker, Paul Stewart, Albert Dekker
Based on the novel by Mickey Spillane in The Mike Hammer Collection
DVD / KIS
L.A. Confidential
Curtis Hanson, 1997
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito
Based on the novel by James Ellroy (M / Ellroy)
DVD / LA
Lady in the Lake
Robert Montgomery, 1946
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Audrey Trotter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames
Based on the novel by Raymond Chandler (M / Chandler)
DVD / LAD
Last Seduction
John Dahl, 1993
Cast: Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, Bill Pullman
DVD / LAS
The Maltese Falcon
John Huston, 1941
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet
Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett (M / Hammett)
DVD / MAL
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Joel Coen, 2001
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, James Gandolfini, Adam Alexi-Malle, Richard Jenkins, Scarlett Johansson
DVD / MAN
Memento
Christopher Nolan, 2000
Cast: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss, Joe Pantoliano
DVD / MEM
Mulholland Drive
David Lynch, 2001
Cast: Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring, Dan Hedaya
From the novel by Jim Thompson (M / Thompson)
DVD / MUL
Night of the Hunter
Charles Laughton, 1955
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, Peter Graves
Based on the novel by Davis Grubb (F / Grubb)
DVD / NIG
Nora Inu = Stray Dog
Akira Kurosawa, 1949
Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Eiko Miyoshi
DVD / NOR
Notorious!
Alfred Hitchcock, 1946
Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern
DVD / NOT
Scarlet Street
Fritz Lang, 1945
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea
Based on the novel and play La Chienne by Georges de la Fouchardiere
DVD / SCA
Se7en
David Fincher, 1995
Cast: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Richard Roundtree
DVD / SEV
Strangers on a Train
Alfred Hitchcock, 1951
Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
Based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith (M / Highsmith)
DVD / STR
Sunset Boulevard
Billy Wilder, 1950
Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim
DVD / SUN
Taxi Driver
Martin Scorsese, 1976
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel
DVD / TAX
The Third Man
Carol Reed, 1949
Cast: Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard
Based on the novel by Graham Greene (F /Greene)
DVD / THI
Touch of Evil
Orson Welles, 1958
Cast: Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles, Marlene Dietrich, Joseph Calleia, Ray Collins, Akim Tamiroff, Zsa Zsa Gabor
DVD / TOU
The Usual Suspects
Bryan Singer, 1995
Cast: Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Pete Postlethwaite, Kevin Spacey
DVD / USU
The Wrong Man
Alfred Hitchcock, 1956
Cast: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle
Based on a true story
DVD / WRO