Film Noir is a universe based around mystery, the femme fatale, and the detective. Sex, lies and murder is the seductive tone that created the visually stimulating art form of cinema that began in the 1940s with The Maltese Falcon.
The film is considered the first real noir that starred Mary Astor and Humphrey Bogart and set off a chain of mainstream hits of films including Double Indemnity; Mildred Pierce; The Postman Always Rings Twice and The Third Man.
The genre ‘Noir’ was coined by French critic Nino Frank and would define the cat-and-mouse murder mystery era of film with memorable fiendish crooks, stylish bombshells, and deadly characters who set the silver screen alight for two decades.
Films that have stood the test of time with style and substance include Alfred Hitchcock’s 1943 Shadow of a Doubt; Billy Wilder’s, Double Indemnity; The Postman Always Rings Twice by Tay Garnett; Gilda starring Rita Hayworth and Orsen Welles’s The Lady From Shanghai.
Scroll through the selection of the top 50 Classic Noir films that include the unforgettable classics The Third Man, Sunset Boulevard and Night Of The Hunter.
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THE MALTESE FALCON, 1941
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Gladys George.
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SHADOW OF A DOUBT, 1943
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, starring Joseph Cotten, Teresa Wright and Macdonald Carey.
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LAURA, 1944
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Otto Preminger, starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews and Clifton Webb.
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MURDER, MY SWEET, 1944
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Edward Dmytryk, starring Claire Trevor, Dick Powell and Anne Shirley.
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PHANTOM LADY, 1944
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Robert Siodmak, starring Ella Raines, Alan Curtis and Franchot Tone.
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GASLIGHT, 1944
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. George Cukor, starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman and Angela Lansbury.
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DOUBLE INDEMNITY, 1944
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Billy Wilder starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.
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TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, 1944
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Howard Hawks, starring Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart.
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FALLEN ANGEL, 1945
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Otto Preminger starring Alice Faye, Dana Andrews and Anne Revere.
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THE LOST WEEKEND, 1945
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Billy Wilder, starring Doris Dowling, Ray Milland, Jane Wyman and Phillip Terry.
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DETOUR, 1945
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Edgar G. Ulmer, starring Tom Neal, Ann Savage and Claudia Drake.
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SPELLBOUND,1945
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, starring Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman.
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MILDRED PIERCE, 1945
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Michael Curtiz starring Joan Crawford, James Flavin and Don O’Connor.
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THE KILLERS, 1946
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Robert Siodmak, starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner.
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THE BLUE DAHLIA, 1946
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. George Marshall, starring, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and William Bendix.
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THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE, 1946
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Robert Siodmak, starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent and Ethel Barrymore.
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NOTORIOUS, 1946
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Leopoldine Konstantin and Claude Rains.
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THE BIG SLEEP, 1946
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Howard Hawks, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
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THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, 1946
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Tay Garnett, starring Cecil Kellaway, John Garfield and Lana Turner.
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GILDA, 1946
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Charles Vidor, starring Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford and George Macready.
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THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, 1947
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Orson Welles, starring Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth.
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NIGHTMARE ALLEY, 1947
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Edmund Goulding, starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray.
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KISS OF DEATH, 1947
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Henry Hathaway, starring Coleen Gray, Victor Mature and Brian Donlevy.
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OUT OF THE PAST, 1947
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Jacques Tourneur, starring Jane Greer, Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas.
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THE DEVIL THUMBS A RIDE, 1947
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Felix E. Feist, starring Nan Leslie, Lawrence Tierney and Ted North.
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RAW DEAL, 1948
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Anthony Mann starring Marsha Hunt, Dennis O’Keefe and Claire Trevor.
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THE SET-UP, 1949
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Robert Wise, starring Robert Ryan, Hal Baylor, Audrey Totter and George Tobias.
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THE THIRD MAN, (aka THE 3RD MAN), 1949
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Carol Reed starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli.
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CRISS CROSS, 1949
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Robert Siodmak, starring, Yvonne De Carlo, Burt Lancaster and Dan Duryea.
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FOLLOW ME QUIETLY, 1949
Image Credit: Everett Colleciton Dir. Richard Fleischer, starring William Lundigan, Edwin Max and Dorothy Patrick.
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WHITE HEAT, 1949
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Raoul Walsh, starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo and Edmond O’Brien.
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BORN TO BE BAD, 1950
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Nicholas Ray, starring Joan Fontaine, Mel Ferrer and Robert Ryan.
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THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, 1950
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. John Huston, starring Marilyn Monroe, Sterling Hayden, Louis Calthern and Jean Hagen.
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D.O.A., 1950
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Rudolph Maté, starring Edmond O’Brien, Neville Brand and Pamela Britton.
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SUNSET BOULEVARD, 1950
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Billy Wilder starring Erich von Stroheim, Gloria Swanson and William Holden.
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PANIC IN THE STREETS, 1950
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox Film/Everett Collection Dir. Elia Kazan, starring Zero Mostel, Jack Palance, Richard Widmark and Paul Douglas.
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NO WAY OUT, 1950
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox Film/Everett Collection Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Sidney Poitier, Richard Widmark, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Lesser Samuels and Philip Yordan.
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STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, 1951
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ruth Roman and Robert Walker.
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THE LAW AND THE LADY, 1951
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Edwin H. Knopf, starring Greer Garson, Michael Wilding and Fernando Lamas.
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IN A LONELY PLACE, 1951
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Nicholas Ray, starring Gloria Grahame, Humphrey Bogart and Frank Lovejoy.
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CLASH BY NIGHT, 1952
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Fritz Lang starring Marilyn Monroe, Keith Andes, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan and Paul Douglas.
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THE BIG HEAT, 1953
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Fritz Lang, starring Gloria Grahame, Glenn Ford and Jocelyn Brando.
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NIAGARA, 1953
Image Credit: 20th Century-Fox/Everett Collection Dir. Henry Hathaway, starring Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten and Jean Peters.
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SUDDENLY, 1954
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Lewis Allen, starring, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Gates and Sterling Hayden
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THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, 1955
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Charles Laughton starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish.
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KISS ME DEADLY, 1955
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. starring, Gaby Rodgers, Ralph Meeker and Paul Stewart.
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THE KILLING, 1956
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Stanley Kubrick, starring Vince Edwards, Marie Windsor, Sterling Hayden and Colleen Gray.
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SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, 1957
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Alexander Mackendrick, starring Tony Curtis, Barbara Nichols and Burt Lancaster.
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TOUCH OF EVIL, 1958
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Orson Wellesstarring Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh.
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CRY TERROR!, 1958
Image Credit: Everett Collection Dir. Andrew L. Stone starring Inger Stevens, James Mason and Rod Steiger.
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