My Thoughts on Film Noir

I have been conscious of the genre of Film Noir for over 20 years. During the VCR era and when AMC was what TMC has become I recorded and watched a great deal; Out of The Past, His Kind Of Woman, Kiss of Death, The Big Combo, Call Northside 777, Where The Sidewalk Ends, DOA, Detour, Murder My Sweet and many others. I bought the Warner Bros Noir Set # 1 about 4 years ago along with Eddie Muller’s book; Dark City. Recently, however I have made a more intense study of the ouvre and have decided to write down some of my observations, mainly for my own benefit, but from which I hope some of you may benefit in some part.

Using my own DVD Collection, Netflix , TCM and Fox Movie Classics I have watched the following movies and given each my own very subjective rating on a scale of 1 to 4:


Double Indemnity (1944) 4
High Wall (1947) 4
The Naked City (1948) 4
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)4
The Big Heat (1953) 4
Gun Crazy (1950) 4
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)4
The Killers (1946) 4
Gilda (1946) 4
The Lady from Shanghai (1947) 4
Sunset Blvd. (1950) 4
Night and the City (1950) 3.5
Brute Force (1947) 3
Cry of the City (1948) 3
Mildred Pierce (1945) 3
Pickup on South Street (1953) 3
The Lost Weekend (1945) 3
The Set-Up (1949)3
Thieves' Highway (1949) 3
T-Men (1947) 3
Touch of Evil (1958) 3
Kiss of Death (1947) 2.5
Shadow of a Doubt (1943) 2.5
The Big Sleep (1946) 2.5
The Blue Dahlia (1946) 2.5
Force of Evil (1948) 2
Laura (1944) 2
The Big Clock (1948) 2
The Woman in the Window (1944) 2
The Maltese Falcon (1941) 1.5
Fear in the Night (1947) 1
House by the River (1950) 1
Lady in the Lake (1947) 1


33 movies; 11 of which I gave 4 stars. In reviewing these 11 I realized that only two were directed by the same director, that many studios are represented and most of classic noir era is spanned.

Double Indemnity (1944) Wilder Paramount 1944
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)Preminger 20CF 1950
The Big Heat (1953) Lang Columbia 1953
Gilda (1946) Vidor Columbia 1946
The Lady from Shanghai (1947) Welles Columbia 1947
High Wall (1947) Bernhardt MGM 1947
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)Huston MGM 1950
Sunset Blvd. (1950)Wilder Paramount 1950
Gun Crazy (1950)Lewis UA 1950
The Naked City (1948)Dassin Universal 1948
The Killers (1946)Siodmak Universal 1946


In other words, the Auteur theory doesn’t fit my preference for a movie, nor does a particular studio or production year. I loved Preminger’s Where The Sidewalk Ends but was disappointed by Laura. I enjoyed Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat but felt cheated by Woman in the Window and couldn’t stomach House by The River. Asphalt Jungle directed by John Huston may be my favorite Noir of all but I dislike The Maltese Falcon. Lady From Shanghai is probably my 2nd favorite Noir but I have never been able to love Touch of Evil (and lord, I’ve tried to love that film). Only Billy Wilder makes the list twice with the excellent Double Indemnity and the incomparable Sunset Blvd. In a way Sunset Blvd is in a class by itself like Citizen Kane and a movie that is so uniquely great that I do not believe it can be compared to other films.

What I do know about my preferences is that I dislike overly talky, stagy films. I prefer real locations to movie sets, big cities to countryside and brunettes to blondes (Hayworth and Turner excepted and Gloria Grahame gets special consideration because she is so unique as an actress). I like Mitchum and Ryan and Widmark more than Conte, Andrews or Victor Mature and that I really like Glenn Ford.

I also realize after watching Rififi, Breathless, Bob Le Fambeur, Les Doulos, Class Tout Risques, etc. that I actually prefer French New Wave to American Noir. Just as the Beatles and The Rolling Stones took American Blues and made a new kind of Rock n’ Roll, so I feel that Melville, Truffaut & Goddard took Noir and made the greatest cinema ever.

Anyway these are just a few of my musings on a rainy, Saturday night. Time to watch a movie…

The Postman Always Rings Twice is next in my queue.


Tim Brophy