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A noir Filmography: Films considered noir
Filmography
Films are listed in chronological order, with director, performers (Austrians/Germans, Austro/German-Americans), and links where possible. Most of these films are available on DVD or video. Many can be viewed from time to time on AMC or TCM. Release dates, which vary in different sources, are taken from Tuska. Films with a link marked "..at IMDb" link to detailed information (cast, crew, etc.) for that film at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) site.
- Scarface (1932) - Howard Hawks. With Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, George Raft, Boris Karloff. One of the earliest films to display noir characteristics; release delayed by censorship problems. Remade much less successfully in 1983.
- Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) - Boris Ingster. (Note: I'm trying to find out more about Ingster. Can you help?)
- Citizen Kane (1941) - Orson Welles' classic film
- The Maltese Falcon (1941) - John Huston. With Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre. Considered by many to be the first film noir, but classified as film gris by Tuska. "The Maltese Falcon" at IMDb
- The Shanghai Gesture (1941) - Josef von Sternberg. With Gene Tierney, Victor Mature, Mike Mazurki, Walter Huston.
- Casablanca (1942) - Michael Curtiz. With Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt. Music by Max Steiner. If not a true noir, still a truly great film. For more, see our Casablanca page, Casablanca at IMDb and Roger Ebert's review of Casablanca.
- Shadow of a Doubt (1943) - Alfred Hitchcock. With Joseph Cotten, Teresa Wright. Few of Hitch's mysteries qualify as true noirs, but this one does. Hitch's Suspicion (1941) and Saboteur (1942) are “near-noirs.”
- Double Indemnity (1944) - Billy Wilder. With Fred McMurray, Barbara Stanwyck. (See the Double Indemnity book.) A classic noir, along with Wilder's later Sunset Boulevard (1950). Wilder wisely cut a filmed gas chamber scene from the final version. - Double Indemnity at IMDB
- Laura (1944) - Otto Preminger. With Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price. - Laura at IMDB
- Ministry of Fear (1944) - Fritz Lang. With Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Dan Duryea.
- Murder, My Sweet (1944) - Edward Dmytryk. With Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley.
- Phantom Lady (1944) - Robert Siodmak. With Ella Raines, Franchot Tone, Alan Curtis. Not a true film noir but it has the look.
- To Have and Have Not (1944) - Howard Hawks. With Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan. Bacall's film debut. Based on the Hemingway novel.
- The Woman in the Window (1944) - Fritz Lang. With Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson, Dan Duryea.
- Mildred Pierce (1945) - Michael Curtiz. With Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Eve Arden. A “woman's film” a la noir. Revived Crawford's dormant career.
- The Big Sleep (1946) - Howard Hawks. With Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall. Actually made in 1944 but released later. (A 1978 remake with Robert Mitchum follows the Chandler novel more closely but is a less successful film.)
- Detour (1946) - Edgar G. Ulmer. With Tom Neal, Ann Savage. A true film noir and a cult classic! Made on a miniscule budget. Remade, with Tom Neal Jr., in 1992.
Film noir on DVD and Video
- Gilda (1946) - Charles Vidor. With Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford. The sexiest film noir of all time. Filmed by Austrian Rudolph Maté, who later directed his own film noir classics (DOA below).
- The Killers (1947) - Robert Siodmak. With Burt Lancaster (his debut) and Ava Gardner. A true film noir loosely based on a Hemingway story. The 1964 remake with Lee Marvin is most notable for being Ronald Reagan's last movie role.
- Out of the Past (1947) - Jacques Tourneur. With Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Jane Greer. Remade as Against All Odds in 1984.
- Act of Violence (1948) - Fred Zinnemann. With Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor.
- Key Largo (1948) - John Huston. With Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall; music by Max Steiner.
- Ruthless (1948) - Edgar G. Ulmer. With Zachary Scott, Louis Hayward, Sydney Greenstreet, Raymond Burr.
- Border Incident (1949) - Anthony Mann. With Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy.
- Criss Cross (1949) - Robert Siodmak. With Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo. Cameraman: Austrian Franz Planer. Remade as The Underneath in 1994.
- D.O.A. (1949) - Rudolph Maté. With Edmond O'Brien and Pamela Britton. Considered one of the best films noirs ever. Shot on location in L.A. and San Francisco. Remade in 1969 (as Color Me Dead) and 1988 ("noisy and needless remake of the film noir original." - L. Maltin). Maté also directed two other noirs starring William Holden: The Dark Past (1948) and Union Station (1950). - "D.O.A." at IMDB
- The Third Man (1949) - Carol Reed. Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, "Third Man Theme" by Anton Karas and the classic "cuckoo clock" line uttered by Orson Welles' character. The film is also enhanced by the character acting of German-speaking actors such as Paul Hoerbiger (The Porter), Ernst Deutsch ("Baron" Kurtz), Erich Ponto (Dr. Winkel), Siegfried Breuer (Popescu), and Hedwig Bleibtreu (Old Woman). The British and US versions of this film differ in running time and narration. Also see The Third Man Vienna Locations (About.com), The Third Man at IMDb and Roger Ebert's Review of The Third Man
- Armored Car Robbery (1950) - Richard Fleischer
- Sunset Boulevard (1950) - Billy Wilder. With Gloria Swanson, William Holden, and Erich von Stroheim as the butler. Wilder upset Hollywood with this brutal portrayal of a down-on-his-luck screenwriter and a has-been star. - Sunset Boulevard at IMDB.
- The Big Carnival / Ace in the Hole (1951) - Billy Wilder. With Kirk Douglas.
- Detective Story (1951) - William Wyler. With Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker. Wyler's brother Robert co-wrote the script.
- The Big Heat (1953) - Fritz Lang. With Glenn Ford, Gloria Graham. - The Big Heat at IMDB
- The Blue Gardenia (1953) - Fritz Lang. With Ann Baxter, Raymond Burr, Nat King Cole. "Solid film with twist ending." (L. Maltin)
- The Desperate Hours (1955) - William Wyler. With Humphrey Bogart, Frederic March. Highly rated tale of escaped convicts terrorizing a family. Badly remade in 1990.
- Touch of Evil (1958) - Orson Welles. With Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles. One of the last true noirs of the “classic” era. - Touch of Evil at IMDB
Film noir Web Links
Note: The Ephraim Katz Film Encyclopedia lists more than 80 films that classify as film noir from 1941 to 1955.
Jon Tuska's book Dark Cinema: American film noir in Cultural Perspective (Greenwood Press, 1984) lists over 300 films between 1940 and 1959—fewer than a third of which he labels “true” films noirs, as opposed to a film gris or a melodrama done in the noir style. But even Tuska's strict definition still leaves a body of almost 100 film noir works.
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