141 articles
Stage Fright (1950 film)
Stage Fright (1950) is an Alfred Hitchcock Warner Bros. thriller based on Selwyn Jepson's Man Running, starring Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, and Richard Todd, famous for its lying flashback and Cole Porter's "The Laziest Gal in Town."
Strangers on a Train (film)
Strangers on a Train is Alfred Hitchcock's 1951 Warner Bros. thriller based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, in which Robert Walker's Bruno murders Farley Granger's tennis-star wife after a criss-cross murder-swap pact; a National Film Registry selection noted for its suspense set pieces.
Sunset Boulevard (film)
Sunset Boulevard (Sunset Blvd.), 1950 Billy Wilder Paramount film noir starring Gloria Swanson as faded silent star Norma Desmond and William Holden as screenwriter Joe Gillis; 11 Oscar nominations, 3 wins, 1989 National Film Registry.
Suzhou River (苏州河)
Suzhou River (苏州河, Suzhou he) is Lou Ye's 2000 Shanghai romantic drama starring Zhou Xun and Jia Hongsheng; it won Rotterdam's Tiger Award, was banned in mainland China, and is a Sixth Generation classic.
Sweet Smell of Success
Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Alexander Mackendrick's film noir with Burt Lancaster as columnist J.J. Hunsecker and Tony Curtis as press agent Sidney Falco, from a Lehman novelette, a 1957 flop later canonized.
The American Friend
The American Friend (Der amerikanische Freund) is Wim Wenders's 1977 West German-French neo-noir, adapted from Patricia Highsmith's Ripley's Game, starring Dennis Hopper as Tom Ripley and Bruno Ganz as a dying framer coerced into murder.
The Aura
The Aura (El aura) is Fabián Bielinsky's 2005 Argentine neo-noir heist thriller starring Ricardo Darín as an epileptic taxidermist who takes over a dead man's armored-car robbery plan in Patagonia; his final film, an Oscar submission and multi-award winner.
The Big Clock
The Big Clock (1948) is a Paramount film noir directed by John Farrow, starring Ray Milland and Charles Laughton, adapted from Kenneth Fearing's 1946 novel about an editor hunting himself; remade as No Way Out (1987).
The Big Combo
The Big Combo is a 1955 American film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis, starring Cornel Wilde as Lt. Leonard Diamond pursuing gangster Mr. Brown (Richard Conte), famed for John Alton's extreme low-key cinematography and a 2025 4K restoration.
The Big Sleep (1946 film)
The Big Sleep (1946 film): Howard Hawks film noir for Warner Bros. adapting Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel, starring Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall, written by Faulkner, Brackett, and Furthman, with a famous unsolved-chauffeur plot and a 1945 pre-release cut.
The Big Sleep (1978 film)
The Big Sleep (1978) is Michael Winner's neo-noir remake of Raymond Chandler's novel, starring Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe, relocated from Los Angeles to London, with James Stewart and Sarah Miles; critically panned.
The Black Dahlia (film)
The Black Dahlia (2006) is Brian De Palma's neo-noir thriller adapted from James Ellroy's 1987 novel about the unsolved 1947 Elizabeth Short murder, starring Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, and Hilary Swank; it opened Venice 2006 and was a critical and commercial disappointment.
The Element of Crime
The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens element) is Lars von Trier's 1984 Danish debut feature, first of his Europa trilogy: a hypnotized ex-detective relives a serial-killer case in a yellow-tinted, post-apocalyptic Europe; Grand Prix de la CST, Cannes 1984.
The Fallen Idol
The Fallen Idol (1948) is a British thriller directed by Carol Reed, scripted by Graham Greene from his story "The Basement Room", starring Ralph Richardson and child actor Bobby Henrey; it won the BAFTA for Best British Film and Oscar nominations for direction and screenplay.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
The Friends of Eddie Coyle: 1973 Paramount crime drama directed by Peter Yates, starring Robert Mitchum as a Boston gunrunner turned informant; adapted from George V. Higgins's 1972 debut novel, foundational to later Boston crime films.
The Glass Key
The Glass Key (1942) is a Paramount film noir directed by Stuart Heisler, starring Brian Donlevy, Alan Ladd, and Veronica Lake, adapted from Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel; second adaptation after the 1935 George Raft version.
The Good German
The Good German (2006), German title In den Ruinen von Berlin, is Steven Soderbergh's black-and-white film noir adaptation of Joseph Kanon's novel, starring George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire in July 1945 Berlin during the Potsdam Conference; R, 105 min, Warner Bros, released December 15, 2006.
The Hitch-Hiker (1953 film)
The Hitch-Hiker (1953) is a 71-minute American film noir directed by Ida Lupino, generally considered the first noir directed by a woman, starring Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, and William Talman, based on the Billy Cook murder spree and added to the National Film Registry in 2000.
The Killers (1946 film)
The Killers (1946 film), Robert Siodmak's Universal film noir adapted from Hemingway's 1927 short story, produced by Mark Hellinger; Burt Lancaster's debut as the Swede, Ava Gardner's breakthrough, eleven flashbacks, nicknamed the Citizen Kane of noir.
The Kneeling Goddess
The Kneeling Goddess (La diosa arrodillada) is a 1947 Mexican film noir melodrama by Roberto Gavaldón starring María Félix and Arturo de Córdova, about a marble statue of a mistress that triggers blackmail, a suspicious death, and suicide.
The Letter (1940 film)
The Letter (1940) is William Wyler's Warner Bros. drama starring Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie, a planter's wife who kills her lover; seven Oscar nominations, Maugham adaptation, PCA-forced ending change.
The Lineup
The Lineup (1958) is a Don Siegel film noir, spun off from the CBS TV series, starring Eli Wallach as killer Dancer recovering heroin hidden in travelers' luggage in San Francisco.
The Longest Nite (暗花)
The Longest Nite (暗花) is a 1998 Hong Kong crime thriller directed by Patrick Yau and starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Lau Ching-wan, set in Macau.
The Lost Weekend
The Lost Weekend is a 1945 American black-and-white drama directed by Billy Wilder, adapted from Charles R. Jackson's 1944 novel; it won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The Man from Nowhere (아저씨) (2010 film)
The Man from Nowhere (아저씨) is a 2010 South Korean action thriller directed by Lee Jeong-beom, starring Won Bin as an ex-agent rescuing a kidnapped girl.
The Man with the Golden Arm
The Man with the Golden Arm, Otto Preminger's 1955 drama starring Frank Sinatra as recovering heroin addict Frankie Machine, adapted from Nelson Algren's novel; released without a Production Code seal, it prompted the 1956 amendment of the Code's drug statute.
The Moon in the Gutter
The Moon in the Gutter (La lune dans le caniveau) is Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1983 French drama, his follow-up to Diva, adapted from David Goodis's 1953 novel, starring Gérard Depardieu and Nastassja Kinski; it competed at Cannes, flopped, and won three 1984 Césars.
The Naked City
The Naked City (1948) is Jules Dassin's police procedural, produced and narrated by Mark Hellinger, shot on 107 New York locations from Weegee's 1945 photo book, winner of two Academy Awards and template for the TV series Naked City.
The Naked Kiss
The Naked Kiss (1964) is Samuel Fuller's black-and-white neo-noir melodrama, written, produced, and directed by Fuller, starring Constance Towers as ex-prostitute Kelly, with Anthony Eisley and Michael Dante; made for Allied Artists, famous for its subjective-camera opening beating.
The Night of the Following Day
The Night of the Following Day is a 1969 neo-noir kidnapping thriller directed by Hubert Cornfield, starring Marlon Brando, Richard Boone, and Rita Moreno, adapted from Lionel White's novel The Snatchers, filmed in France, released by Universal in 1969.