Film Noir Movie Recommendations

[SoulfulRecover]

I have been wanting to watch some film noir movies but have zero idea where to start. What are some must see movies?

 

[limr]

Well, of course there's Casablanca which is one of my favorites, and the other Bogey classic, The Maltese Falcon, but I feel even more strongly that you definitely definitely need to see The Third Man. Orson Wells, Joseph Cotton. It's a great story, but also just a really beautiful film.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

Thanks! Ive seen Casablanca before and it was good. The only other one I remember, is the opening scene was the longest running single shot in film history. Other than that, I don't remember what it was though and no idea if it still holds that title

 

[Derrel]

One of my favorite movies was made with dozens of clips from film noir original master footage. The film was made in 1982, and it is Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid...it's a sort of tongue in cheek send-up that uses some of the most famous noir scenes and actors to create its plot action. Stars Steve Martin and the lovely Rachel Ward, this is a movie I ran in its original theatrical release, and it is one of the films I've sat through literally over one hundred screenings of, and have not grown utterly sick of. Watch it, and then begin your noir film explorations.

The costumes for Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid were done by Edith Head, in her last film job ever. She did some of the original costumes, some 35- to 40 years earlier. Talk about continuity!

 

[Derrel]

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid has an excellent WIkipedia entry for it, which has a nice listing of the noir and pulp detective film clips that its old-time scenes were appropriated from. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[SoulfulRecover]

I think I found the one I was talking about:

 

[SoulfulRecover]

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid has an excellent WIkipedia entry for it, which has a nice listing of the noir and pulp detective film clips that its old-time scenes were appropriated from. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

very cool. definitely on the watch list. Going to find it this evening

 

[vintagesnaps]

I took an online course on film noir this summer thru TCM and Ball State continuing ed. The website page is still up, and the course was still available in a Read Only format but the host site, Canvas Network, has since started new courses. There is a pdf link lower right that shows the list of movies - I had to look, there were so many...
TCM presents Summer of Darkness

Some of the 'on the run' movies that were good were Gun Crazy and They Live by Night, with a long sequence at the beginning shot from a helicopter (drones? nothing new under the sun... lol).

I like Blue Gardenia (Raymond Burr plays a heckuva slimeball), and The Asphalt Jungle (w/a small early role for Marilyn Monroe). I like The Naked City and Kansas City Confidential, and films like While the City Sleeps, crime dramas with location footage of the city.

Kiss Me Deadly is a good later noir Mike Hammer film; into the '50s they were still shooting these low budget B movies in B&W since they were the second movie shown in theaters after the feature film. D.O.A. is good, it's told by the guy who, well, he just isn't having a good day. Some like Lady in the Lake shown from the viewpoint of the detective are good, or The Glass Key or any of the Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett. You can't beat Bogie.

One I'd never seen before was 99 River Street, that has a pulp art DVD cover that has nothing much to do with the movie! The Killers with Burt Lancaster is really good - the scene in the diner had me on the edge of my seat...

I've always liked these type movies but one of my favorites now is Elevator to the Gallows, w/a soundtrack by Miles Davis who apparently improvised watching the film. I love the scene where one of the main characters is wandering along the streets of Paris as she's waiting and wondering what's happened... It was filmed using just the streetlights and light from store fronts and car headlights; supposedly the negative was quiet dense and took some work developing it but the result I think captures the mood of Paris streets at night beautifully.

 

[vintagesnaps]

How about a trailer for a taste of some noir...

I Walk Alone - (Original Trailer)

 

[SoulfulRecover]

Ended up watching I Walk Alone last night and it was very enjoyable! Tonight we feel obligated to watch Back to the Future II but tomorrow we will try another noir film.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

Found a HUGE lot of films on a youtube channel: Timeless Classic Movies

 

[nycphotography]

Thanks! Ive seen Casablanca before and it was good. The only other one I remember, is the opening scene was the longest running single shot in film history. Other than that, I don't remember what it was though and no idea if it still holds that title

I don't think you mean Hitchcock's "Rope" , but it's similar in that the entire movie was edited to appear in real time and as a single running take. It used very long takes and cleverly disguised the edit cuts.

 

[limr]

Found a HUGE lot of films on a youtube channel: Timeless Classic Movies

Oooooh, cool!

Heh - some of those look like they'd be great candidates for Mystery Science Theater 3000

 

[SoulfulRecover]

Found a HUGE lot of films on a youtube channel: Timeless Classic Movies

Oooooh, cool!

Heh - some of those look like they'd be great candidates for Mystery Science Theater 3000

yeah im sure there are quite a few cheesy ones but hey, free classic movies!

 

[The_Traveler]

Out of the Past Out of the Past (1947) Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas Rhonda Fleming, Jane Greer - the first and best of the second wave, more sophisticated film noir.
Interesting and complex plot, great photography, great music.

The Third Man with Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and a bunch of others. Fantastic camera work adds to a great plot set in post-war Vienna The Third Man (1949)

Shadow of a Doubt - Jospeh Cotten Touch of Evil (1958)

The Stranger - Orson Welles, Edward G Robinson The Stranger (1946)

Touch of Evil Orson Welles Charleton Heston Janet Leigh Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Those 5 are just no miss (Touvh of Evil is sort of a miss but worth seeing)