Top 10 Film Noirs

1) The Maltese Falcon

And so it all began. This 1941 production is generally considered to have kickstarted the genre, combining various elements of earlier cinema (such as German Expressionism) and popular fiction (like the dime novel). The Maltese Falcon blends these in iconic fashion.

Humphrey Bogart stars as Sam Spade: the classic Noir actor playing the classic Noir character. That image that we all have – of a mac-clad fedora’d PI, stalking the nocturnal cityscape in the rain, pulling guns on low-lives and falling for dames – emanates from The Maltese Falcon.  The grotesque Sydney Greenstreet and the snivelling Peter Lorre support, bumbling both sides of the blurred good-bad line. It created a template for the next decade and a half: cynical private eye, devious femme fatale, duplicitous career criminals and a whisky-soaked rambling hardboiled plot. And a lot of smoking.

2) The Big Sleep

Howard Hawks, the stylish master director behind a diverse string of Hollywood hits, brought Raymond Chandler’s pulp masterpiece The Big Sleep onto the big screen.

The plot is a convoluted mess, with many elements not adding up. It boils down to a decrepit old man, so physically broken that he has to derive all tobacco enjoyment from passive smoking, hiring a detective to investigate his daughter’s blackmailing. Obviously, it’s a little more complicated than this. Indeed, it is so complicated that an addled Hawks himself had to ring Chandler to enquire about some details... Chandler was as clueless. But this muddle reflects the mess that the characters are involved in.

Humphrey Bogart predictably turns out a masterful performance, but newcomer Lauren Bacall ensures that the on-screen chemistry sizzled between the stars unforgettably. Think The Maltese Falcon, then double.

3) The Third Man

The Third Man stands out, partly, because it is European. An all-star cast and production crew (Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Carol Reed, Graham Greene, David Selznick) ensured that this was a hugely successful film, and is still considered one of history’s greatest movies. The startling zither soundtrack, awkward camera angles, and postwar Vienna setting have created a unique European take on the classic Noir.

Cotton plays Holly Martins, a puppy-like writer of cheap novelettes. He is promised a job by old buddy Harry Lime (Welles), but on arrival in Vienna discovers Lime has been killed. Yes – it’s a little more complicated than that. Nosey Martins enters a crash course with the military police, who run the city, and racketeers, who do the same, as well as treading a tragic path of unrequited love with Lime’s old flame, Anna (Alida Valli).

The film’s brilliant dialogue, mesmerizing acting and complex human interactions mean that The Third Man is more than just 'fun': it is a heavyweight production and fantastic viewing. If for nothing else, then watch for the famous last scene, which shows the making of a cynical Noir protagonist out of the mould of an optimistic American.

4) Double Indemnity

It is often Double Indemnity, and not The Big Sleep, which earns the ‘top Noir’ prize in such lists. Written by pulp-master Raymond Chandler in a stupor (as a recovering alcoholic, Chandler insisted that he be locked at home with a typewriter and a box of whisky to be able to do this job) and directed by Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity is told characteristically for the genre through flashback.

A dying Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) narrates the doomed tale of his destruction at the hands of Barbara Stanwyck’s Phyllis Dietrichson, the ultimate femme fatale. Her heart, we eventually learn, is pure evil, although we guess it well before sucker Walter. Stanwyck’s mesmerising performance ensures that it is the most iconic depiction of a femme fatale. Also featured is Edward G. Robinson as a sage-like godfather figure. His acting pedigree in the genre is supported by appearances in Key Largo and Scarlet Street.

5) Gilda

Another Noir that explores the femme fatale is Gilda, only this time in a more sympathetic light. Instead of pure evil, Gilda (Rita Hayworth) is as much of the victim as anyone, a rareity in Film Noir.

Glenn Ford is Johnny Farrell, a two-bit loser of a gambler who ends up working for the enigmatic Ballin Mundson (what kind of a name is that anyway?) played by George Macready. They do nicely, Johnny running Ballin’s lucrative casino. But one day old Mundson appears with a new wife, Gilda. She and Johnny used to know each other well, but their relationship ended acrimoniously. Things heat up, and the makers threw in some criminals for added zest.

Three immature adults arguing in a casino might not sound all that great, but its exploration of the vulnerabilities of Noir characters is gripping and thought-provoking, and not what might be expected.

6) Pickup on South Street / Kiss Me Deadly

Pickup on South Street’s tense opening scene shows pickpocket Skip McCoy using his lightfingered ways to relieve a young woman of her belongings. Unfortunately for Skip, a boastful egotist who lives in a shack with the Hudson River as a fridge, the woman’s purse contained state secrets due to be smuggled from the country. Thus, braggadocious Skip winds up in an international spying conspiracy, and has to outwit both the cops and the criminal traitors. Whilst its hallmarks are all typical Noir, what makes Pickup on South St. interesting is that it is a reflection of Cold War paranoia – a fear of subversion, foreign powers and America’s inability to guard its secrets. On a more immediate level, the broody jazz soundtrack and wiseguy cop-crook banter make Pickup on South Street a lightly entertaining picture.

In terms of plot, nothing about Kiss Me Deadly really stands out. Ralph Meeker is PI Mike Hammer, a Noir staple a little less recognisable as Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. There are some cops (FBI this time), some girls, and a whole lot of nocturnal anger. But what Kiss Me Deadly has is the same as Pickup on South Street: a reflection of Cold War paranoia. This time it’s nuclear annihilation. Hammer is looking for the great whatsit, a MacGuffin which materialises as radionuclide stuff, stolen by gangsters. The result isn’t pretty. 

7) Out of the Past

If there is one depressed Noir male more weary and cynical than Humphrey Bogart it’s Robert Mitchum. Mitchum, whose heavy eyelids alone mark the tragedy of a thousand heartbreaks, plays PI Jeff Bailey, on a case of double-crossing, theft and a femme fatale – you know the score by now. There’s rain, there’s darkness, there’s shooting. There’s a private dick in a mac and a wide-brimmed hat. Over the course of the film, the layers are peeled back and we learn more about how Joe was wronged and outwitted.

This is stereotypical stuff, but, much like The Big Sleep, it is classic stereotypical stuff. Mitchum’s laconic performance engenders real sympathy from the viewer.

8) Sunset Boulevard

After a series of unfortunate events, hack screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) is hired by forgotten silent star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) to work on her triumphant return to the screen. He is by no means a courageous fighter, more of a down-and-outer (to quote Brando) trying to take advantage of an old bat. She is half mad, deluded and suicidal – a worse situation, one might argue. Being a Noir, it doesn’t end well.

Swanson was herself a successful actress in the pre-sound days, and as this was her most significant post-‘20s hit, we can guess where she got her inspiration from. A similar character is her butler, Max. He was once a prominent director and husband of Norma, but gave that all up to care for the love of his life. Max is played by Erich von Stroheim, an Austrian star and director from the silent era, now playing a supporting role to survive. Other similar figures make appearances, like Cecile B. DeMille and Buster Keaton. Art imitating life indeed.

As well as being a brilliant and gripping film, Sunset Blvd. is a stinging critique of the Hollywood system. Its superficial gloss and the madness it throws its forgotten rejects into seem real because, in all likelihood, they are. Listen for the famous ‘All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up!’.

9) In a Lonely Place

If you’ve seen other Bogart Noirs, such as the above or Key Largo, In a Lonely Place will be a pleasant surprise. A film which showcases Bogart’s emotional depth as an actor like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, this film centres on a relationship breakdown and paranoia.

Another unlucky screenwriter falls for Gloria Grahame’s (herself an experienced Noir star) Laurel in a whirlwind romance. Rather annoyingly, he is simultaneously a suspect in a murder enquiry. How tedious! The stress of this position works over his mind until he is a violent bully, convinced the world is out to get him. He is cleared, but it is too late to salvage his relationship.

One of Bogart’s finest performances – a worthy rebuttal to any non-believers of this man’s immense talent.

10) Touch of Evil

In 1958 Orson Welles produced his finest attempt at a Noir. So stylish and dark is this that Welles finished what The Maltese Falcon had started – it couldn’t be pushed any further.

Welles uses his grotesque obesity to good effect as an irredeemably corrupt cop, who frames shady characters left, right and centre in a sleazy border town. Mexican gangsters vie for control, bombing and murdering anyone they need to. However, Mexican detective Vargas (Charlton Heston, who doesn’t look any more Hispanic than a kilt) arrives at the works with a spanner. He is also trying to have a good start to his recent marriage with Janet Leigh’s Susie – a veritable comedy of errors.

The camera angles of The Third Man are times ten, the madness of Sunset Blvd. is revved up, and the brutal sleaze of Double Indemnity is put into overdrive. The writing is tight, the storyline comprehensible, and tragedy tearjearking. A strong cast, featuring Marlene Dietrich, also helps. And look out for the scene which resembles Psycho very strongly.